KerbalX

Description

A cute little totally-stock plane, loaded with basic science. Flies well, but somewhat underpowered due to its single small Juno turbojet; nevertheless, even with a near-full fuel load, it can reach an altitude of over 6,500 m in steady flight on Kerbin if you climb it very slowly and gradually, and it can easily exceed 200 m/s in a shallow dive. Its huge control surfaces make it quite agile and responsive.

Vmu is about 72 m/s; be careful not to overrotate during takeoff, since the large, responsive control surfaces make it easy to enter a steep climb, lose speed, and stall the plane (there’s an extra wheel on the underside of the aft fuselage to help prevent tailstrikes during rotation and landing flare).

The LY-05 wheels don’t have brakes, so landing can be a bit hairy. It’s best to bleed off as much speed as possible in the flare before touchdown, and, once on the ground, cut the engine completely and bleed off speed with gentle zigzagging turns (be careful not to roll to the side and bust a wing on the ground, since the Butterfly’s narrow wheelbase makes it pretty tippy); once you’re below 60 m/s or so, elevator deflection can be used to increase drag and help slow the plane. You’ll need a lot of space to slow down; I find that the big flatlands on the KSC peninsula work well for this.

Another option for landing is to (carefully!) ditch the plane in water, and then taxi onto dry land; the fixed landing gear don’t cause a significant problem here as long as you keep the splashdown speed reasonably low (~50 m/s) and enter the water wings-level with a shallow flightpath angle and pitched slightly up. (Although it doesn’t matter in KSP, the dorsally-mounted air intake is ideal for water operations, minimising the risk of ingesting water spray thrown up by the forward parts of the aircraft.)

Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.8.0; its root part is Mark1Cockpit.

Details

• Type: SPH
• Class: aircraft
• Part Count: 28
• Pure Stock
• KSP: 1.8.0