Basic flight with DGIV

[Dimkin]

Hello all!
I've downloaded the DGIV addon. The first thing I want to learn is how to make proper landing. Anyone have good tutorial for that?
Thanks.

 

[ar81]

Try to have as less mass as possible.
Else, your landing gear could suffer.

Make your vertical speed less than 2 m/s and your speed closer to 200 to 250 m/s.

 

[RisingFury]

Try to have as less mass as possible.
Else, your landing gear could suffer.

Make your vertical speed less than 2 m/s and your speed closer to 200 to 250 m/s.

At over 200 m/s, you're guaranteed to break the gear.

DGIV can pull of a landing at around 75 m/s, but to be on the safe side, I land at around 120.

 

[Dimkin]

What about airbrakes, flaps, wheel brakes? And what about the MDF's? How do i find the port?

 

[RisingFury]

You mean a full reentry?

 

[Bj]

You could try a vertical touchdown. (fuel providing) It's sometimes easier.

 

[Dimkin]

I mean what if I want to fly from one airport to another? I know there is a way to do it with intering low orbit for short period of time and then make reentry to the target, is there any tutorial about that?

 

[Bj]

I mean what if I want to fly from one airport to another? I know there is a way to do it with intering low orbit for short period of time and then make reentry to the target, is there any tutorial about that?

Not as far as I have seen, but really the only 'airports' in Orbiter are Habana and Cape.

I suppose its simple enough though. Just fly like an airplane toward your airport and don't leave the atmosphere entirely or gain too much speed.

Happy flying

 

[Arrowstar]

Not as far as I have seen, but really the only 'airports' in Orbiter are Habana and Cape.

I suppose its simple enough though. Just fly like an airplane toward your airport and don't leave the atmosphere entirely or gain too much speed.

Happy flying

But , of course, the higher you fly, the faster you can go and the less heating you'll experience.

 

[ar81]

I mean what if I want to fly from one airport to another? I know there is a way to do it with intering low orbit for short period of time and then make reentry to the target, is there any tutorial about that?

Cape Cañaveral to Habana...
Try aiming at Habana.
Use Orbit MFD and Aerobrake MFD with Habana as target
Climb with nose at 45 degrees until apoapsis is a bit less than 40 km.
As you reach apoapsis, fly leveled and keep velocity constant and travel at a speed where you keep temperature below 700 celsius.
Move the impact point in aerobrake MFD until it is close to Habana.
The turn off engines and glide until you land.

DGIV is like a flying brick, so it will brake pretty well.

 

[HiPotOk1978]

If you want more airports in Orbiter, your have to add them, I created one in Tucson, AZ USA, Another interesting one to try to reach is Ascension Island, out the Atlantic but these are all add-ons that your have to install. Several people have created other landing strips of various quality that you can add. One thing to remember about the DGIV is that it is a spaceplane. Her home is in space, but she handles very nicely in the upper atmosphere traveling hypersonic speeds. if your going to be flying low altitudes like the troposphere or stratosphere where commercial air breathing aircraft fly, your range is going to be limited, but the engines on the craft in question don't burn O2 from the air so your not limited to these altititues. You can get some serious range by flying up into the mesosphere and fly around the planet several times with the engines around 5% power. I am going to see what I can do for a scenario involving a supersonic flight from my airport I created to say KCS in a few days so watch orbithangar.com for it

--Edit--

I just tried a flight from ReFuel Corporate using the DGIV. I was able to fly there and touch down but it was more of a ballistic missile trajectory than a flight. The first attempt I did was a sub orbital flight around 28km, but I ran out of fuel cause well the thing isn't made for that. The second flight was nearing mach 10, but it was a a pain in the butt to keep a steady altitude and lots of oscillation from 48-55km. The third flight I reached a peak altitude of around 90km then a reentry approach to KCS. The stock DG with its scram engines is really more suited to the task of that sort of flight your refering to. As far as navigation, I used MapMFD when I punched in the cape, it gave me heading and distance. Once I got into VOR range, I followed the beacon in

 

[ar81]

If you fly above 45 km, you are likely to heat your vessel, therefore risking a burn.
At least in Orbiter.

 

[Dimkin]

If you want more airports in Orbiter, your have to add them, I created one in Tucson, AZ USA, Another interesting one to try to reach is Ascension Island, out the Atlantic but these are all add-ons that your have to install. Several people have created other landing strips of various quality that you can add. One thing to remember about the DGIV is that it is a spaceplane. Her home is in space, but she handles very nicely in the upper atmosphere traveling hypersonic speeds. if your going to be flying low altitudes like the troposphere or stratosphere where commercial air breathing aircraft fly, your range is going to be limited, but the engines on the craft in question don't burn O2 from the air so your not limited to these altititues. You can get some serious range by flying up into the mesosphere and fly around the planet several times with the engines around 5% power. I am going to see what I can do for a scenario involving a supersonic flight from my airport I created to say KCS in a few days so watch orbithangar.com for it

--Edit--

I just tried a flight from ReFuel Corporate using the DGIV. I was able to fly there and touch down but it was more of a ballistic missile trajectory than a flight. The first attempt I did was a sub orbital flight around 28km, but I ran out of fuel cause well the thing isn't made for that. The second flight was nearing mach 10, but it was a a pain in the butt to keep a steady altitude and lots of oscillation from 48-55km. The third flight I reached a peak altitude of around 90km then a reentry approach to KCS. The stock DG with its scram engines is really more suited to the task of that sort of flight your refering to. As far as navigation, I used MapMFD when I punched in the cape, it gave me heading and distance. Once I got into VOR range, I followed the beacon in

I have a couple of questions:

1. What if i want to put an airport/spaceport at some specific coordinates? If yes, how?
2.If Im not mistaken the idea of fast high altitude flights isnt new even in real world! Do you remember how much did you fly and how much time did it take? Also, you must take into account the spin direction of earth, no?

 

[ar81]

1.To change the location of the base marker, just open the corresponding .CFG file and edit Location. However, if the base has surface tiles you can't move them.
2.If you fly inside atmosphere, Earth rotation does not matter.

 

[Bj]

I have a couple of questions:

1. What if i want to put an airport/spaceport at some specific coordinates? If yes, how?

The most basic way to make a airport is to do something like

BASE-V2.0
Name = Al Anbar
Location = +43.0 +33.5
Size = 2000

BEGIN_OBJECTLIST
LPAD2
    POS 0 0 0
    SCALE 0 0 0
    TEX Lpad02
      NAV 132.20
END
END_OBJECTLIST

This should go under;
...\orbiter060929_base\Config\Earth\Base\(whatever base name).cfg

to add buildings however you have to add;

BEGIN_OBJECTLIST
BLOCK
    POS -85 0 27.5
    SCALE 30 20 15
    TEX1 Fcd07 1 1
    TEX2 Fcd07 1 1
    TEX3 Roof01 2 1
END
END_OBJECTLIST

look under canaveral.cfg for examples.

 

[MJR]

There should be a brief checklist on the cpu in the cockpit of landing and requirements if I am not mistaken. I have not played in moths so I am not sure.

 

[HiPotOk1978]

I have a couple of questions:

1. What if i want to put an airport/spaceport at some specific coordinates? If yes, how?
2.If Im not mistaken the idea of fast high altitude flights isnt new even in real world! Do you remember how much did you fly and how much time did it take? Also, you must take into account the spin direction of earth, no?

part 1 has allready been answered in the thread...

but part 2... a craft like the DGIV, DG, Vanguard, ect ect are not in the real world... but if we are talking about recreating a realistic flight from airport A to airport B, wouldn't it make more sense to not use a space flight sim and maybe M$'s Flight sim?

the first flight was a failure and the second was so difficult with the up and down rollercoaster crap that I didn't check the flight time... the last one where I played missile was a flight time around 1h... Wish those kinda of flight times were offered in real life

 

[Hielor]

2.If you fly inside atmosphere, Earth rotation does not matter.

Not true:
http://www.classzone.com/books/eart...904/es1904page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization

 

[HiPotOk1978]

never thought about that, I have observed that phenomenon when doing reentries and atmo flights. thx for the link it makes sense, and is predictable. Similar to interstellar flight, you have to lead your target

 

[Dimkin]

Not true:
http://www.classzone.com/books/eart...904/es1904page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization

This is exactly what I thought would happen, when you detach from earth you are flying straight line (minus the starting speed from rotation of earth) while earth continue to spin!

So, the question is: If I'm flying from one place to another, how would I know what azimuth should i hold to arrive where i need?