KerbalX

Description

Who needs landing gear? The Gnat 2 uses a set of metal skids for takeoff and landing - this way, you know in your bones when you’ve touched down!

(DISCLAIMER: The manufacturer assumes no responsibility for gouged runway pavement.)

A stock aircraft called Gnat 2. Built with 33 of the finest parts, its root part is Mark2Cockpit.

The drag produced by the landing skids produces a considerable nose-down pitching moment, which gets stronger with increasing speed (and the Gnat 2 can reach over 300 m/s in level flight at low altitudes!). This can be countered using elevon trim; use the Translate U/D axis group to trim the elevons noseup or nosedown. The elevon trim is set by default to 8° noseup, which I’ve found is a good setting for takeoff, but be sure to keep an eye on the flight-control-input-magnitude gauges at the bottom of the staging pane, and trim the elevons as necessary to keep the pitch-command needle centered.

During takeoff, the aircraft should rise from the runway on its own when it reaches the proper speed. If the tail comes up enough to completely level the aircraft’s pitch attitude with the nose skids remaining on the ground (it’s normal for the tail skids to lift slightly off the ground before the nose lifts off, but nowhere near high enough to bring the fuselage pitch attitude down to level), this is an indication that the aircraft is out of trim in the nose-down direction.

For landing, be sure to flare for a very gentle, slightly-nose-high touchdown to minimise the risk of a nose-over. Having no wheels, it also (obviously) has no wheelbrakes, and, while the friction from the skids dragging along the ground does help to slow the aircraft, it provides a lot less deceleration than wheelbrakes would; you’ll have to throw the Wheesley engine into reverse thrust if you want to slow down quickly.

The Gnat 2 was originally built in KSP 1.7.0, where it had the nose skids further back (and with the lower I-beam portion of the skid roughly centered on the upper girder longitudinally, rather than extending well out in front) and the wingtip skids further forward; when I tried it out in 1.10.0, it proved completely unlandable, bouncing on the nose skids and violently nosing over every single time, forcing me to modify the skid configuration to its current form.

Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.10.0.

Details

• Type: SPH
• Class: aircraft
• Part Count: 33
• Pure Stock
• KSP: 1.10.0