KerbalX

Description

A stock aircraft called FV1. Built with 14 of the finest parts, its root part is mk1pod.

The FV1 (Flying Vehicle 1), a craft bearing only the faintest resemblance to any sort of aircraft, nevertheless kicked off a long, eventful, and successful career-mode playthrough where, as a self-imposed challenge, I used only craft built in the Spaceplane Hangar, Wrong Brothers-style.

The modular girder segment on top of the command pod is to balance out the drag from the bottom-mounted girder segment serving as a crude skid (I found that, without it, the asymmetric drag force from the skid girder was too much for the command pod’s minuscule reaction wheels to counter, causing the craft to almost immediately nose over into the ground and explode).

For the best chance of not killing the pilot, pull up immediately upon liftoff, while the FV1 is still moving relatively slowly and the command pod’s reaction wheels still have relatively good flight-control authority; this helps to ensure that the craft’s trajectory arcs high enough to give the slow-opening Mk16 parachute enough time to deploy and slow the craft to a survivable speed before impact.

Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.10.1. (Actually, it dates all the way back to KSP 1.2.2, explaining the old-timey command pod and Flea designs, but I created a new career-mode game in KSP 1.10.1 with it so I could get these images.)

Details

• Type: SPH
• Class: ship
• Part Count: 14
• Pure Stock
• KSP: 1.10.1