Flight Question XR5 Take-Off

[KuatYards]

Every time i try to take off in the XR5, either i come crashing down to earth, or the runway is too short, any help?

 

[sorindafabico]

What runway are you using???

You must take-off when the chick says "rotate" and must make that "cross-inside-circle" symbol (the velocity vector) stay above horizon level. If that symbol is below horizon level, you'll crash sooner or later.

---------- Post added at 06:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:24 PM ----------

Plus: the XR documentation (look for it in "Doc" folder) has a good ascent tutorial

 

[KuatYards]

Wideawake intl Runways, and as for the velocity marker I can't see it once i go into the climb for orbit

 

[jangofett287]

If you try to fly the XR5 up the same way you fly the XR2, you'll just run out of lift, stall, and fall back into the lower atmosphere.

 

[KuatYards]

Then that might explain my problem :lol:

 

[garyw]

Remember that you don't really want to CLIMB to orbit. You want to ACCELERATE to orbit. So the key is to get up speed, climb out of the thick atmosphere then accelerate until your path is orbital.

 

[sorindafabico]

Wideawake intl Runways, and as for the velocity marker I can't see it once i go into the climb for orbit

This is weird, the Wideawake runways are long. Just apply full throttle and wait the right speed.

If you aren't seeing the velocity vector symbol, just take a look on SurfaceMFD and let vertical speed always above or equal zero.

 

[Pipcard]

Press H until you see the word "Surface" in green at the top, and a circle with a cross in it in the middle.

(I forgot, does that work with XR vessels? Can someone check? (because I'm currently at school))

 

[KuatYards]

Thanks all, finally got it up... almost crashed once though...

 

[jangofett287]

You may well find if you climb too fast your scrams die before you reach orbit. in this case try to control a glide back down into thicker atmosphere where your scrams work again, build up more speed and climb back out again. the longer you can run your scrams the better

 

[liber]

XR-5 and other great XR vehicle is very easy to fly,ascend and reentry.
There are autopilot who make all much easier.
You could after engine start press Altitude hold and control pitch with numpad 2 and 8.
I climb to 25 km and than level,fire SCRAM,shut down engine,pres number 3 to open display for temperature monitor.
Than slowly increase or decrease pitch,gaining speed and try not to burn in process.
About 60 km back to rocket engine.

 

[sorindafabico]

Also, you can use trim (insert/delete keys) to manually control your pitch. Trim works very well in XR ships.

Always keep an eye on temperature gauges.

 

[Tommy]

If you can't see the velocity marker during the climb - it indicates that you have pitched up too quickly and have an excessive angle of attack, causing the vessel to stall.

 

[Scav]

Setting the Attitude Hold autopilot (screen #2 on the bottom MFD) to 30-35 degrees works well for me on the takeoff -- but no higher than that until I'm at least a few hundred meters off the ground and I've got some airspeed to play with. Any higher, and you risk stalling the vehicle before it even gets off the ground.

I almost always leave Attitude Hold off until I reach V1.

 

[n122vu]

Another method:

Accelerate with full throttle until you reach V1. Activate airspeed hold (Alt + S) Pitch up to 10 degrees. At wheels up, raise landing gear. Once landing gear up, turn to your ascent heading. Once you are turned to your heading, disengage airspeed hold with spacebar, accelerate to full throttle again, and pitch up to 70 degrees. Maintain this pitch until about 20-24 km, then level off. Accelerate to Mach 3.5, open the scram doors, engage the scrams. Once the scrams are producing enough thrust, slowly back down the main engines. Fly with scrams as long as possible, usually until around 60-65 km. Use the attitude hold autopilot to control your pitch and maintain a vertical speed of about +100 m/s during the scram burn. I just let the scrams shut themselves off automatically once they get too hot. Remember to close scram doors, then engage main engines at full again, raise ApA to desired altitude, coast to ApA, then circularize your orbit.

That's how I do it anyway. Works well for me.

 

[NukeET]

That's how I do it anyway. Works well for me.

That method works well for me too.

Even works OK if you've maxed out the cargo load too...see here.