For the first time in nearly 4 months the Deuce takes to the skies once again to see if improvements in the build process have fixed serious stability issues that plagued the original prototype
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Kerbal Space Agency
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altho the original Deuce cabin will not be used again for flight it will still be used, integrated into a training simulator for our pilots
Kerbal Space Agency
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Val & Jeb spent their first full day working in the new Deuce simulator. Still very basic setup under development but they say its real cool
Kerbal Space Agency
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with the lack of Civvie missions, Jeb & Val have put more time in the Deuce sim to really get their multi-crew work habits nailed down. We plan to put them both in the cockpit when flight trials resume next year
Kerbal Space Agency
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excellent takeoff run saw the Deuce cover just over a kilometer (~1/2 the runway) at full throttle to achieve minimum takeoff speed, took a few big hops. Still a few minor items to test but the big item of the day looks like a PASS
Kerbal Space Agency
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taxiing back to the HAB, C7 will once again study data before clearing flight trials later today, assuming weather conditions improve enough to allow for flying
Kerbal Space Agency
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rain held off and skies have cleared with a ceiling of around 4km, C7 found earlier ground trials satisfactory and have cleared Jeb & Val to perform flight trials! They are heading out now to preflight
Kerbal Space Agency
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preflight complete, Deuce has clearance from Flight to taxi out to runway 27. It is a bit breezy out of the SSW but within limits, not enough to bother taxiing all the way out to Rwy19. Jeb once again in command to use his past experience to gauge Deuce handling changes
Kerbal Space Agency
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in position and holding, takeoff clearance has been granted, the crew are running through the final takeoff checklist - Flaps: Set, Brakes: Check, Trim: Set, Strobes: On, Control Movement: Free, Tail Wheel: Locked...
Kerbal Space Agency
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textbook departure from KSC as the Deuce climbed out at 75m/s with a slight sideslip as the wind gusted. Gear raised, wings cleaned up by 800m - now passing through 1.2km for 2.5km ASL approaching 10km to the west of KSC
Kerbal Space Agency
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Jeb has vectored hdg225 to stay clear of the mountains, still working his way up to 2.5km to establish a level cruise. He says it handles like a Civvie, a bit unbalanced along the longitudinal axis but no longer wants to just roll over to the left
Kerbal Space Agency
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coming back around north with a smooth 25° banked turn, now at 2.5km cruising around 135m/s at full throttle Jeb almost flew too close to the mountains on the turn he forgot more room was needed for how fast he was moving (Civvie generally operates at 90-100m/s)
Kerbal Space Agency
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Commander Val shares her view from the cockpit looking towards KSC, 36km off into the distance, from 1.7km AGL as they cruise northeast. Jeb has his hands on the controls but giving no input, aircraft is happily flying itself straight and level
Kerbal Space Agency
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Flight is pleased with cruise performance and given Jeb permission to begin a series of steep turns, starting at 30° and working up to 45°. Such turns dump lift & can drop aircraft into a spiral if tail slides out or nose falls too quickly
Kerbal Space Agency
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both Jeb & Val took turns performing steep turns and had no sideslip issues or any trouble keeping the nose up to maintain 2.5km +/- 150m. Deuce is heading back for KSC to perform some stalls over the water, recovery ship is standing by
Kerbal Space Agency
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cutting throttle and nosing up, Jeb will hold the yoke full back and continue to do so as the aircraft gradually sinks unless it fails to recover itself, in which case he will pitch down and apply throttle
Kerbal Space Agency
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outstanding! Aircraft nosed itself down to recover speed & after a few bobs settled into a glide at ~63m/s with a vertical speed no greater than 6m/s at idle thrust. Jeb says at no point did it want to roll over. He's now setting up for a landing pattern
Kerbal Space Agency
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15km east on final for Rwy27 Jeb dropped gear w/o issue and will make a pass over the runway to assess approach speed with room to recover. Based on stall testing just performed, he should aim to maintain ~50m/s with full flaps
Kerbal Space Agency
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climbing out and coming around for a touch and go on this next pass, Jeb says even with full flaps approaching 60m/s has the aircraft running out of pitch authority and nosing down, aiming now for a 65-70m/s approach
Kerbal Space Agency
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touch and go was successful, Jeb says it definitely gets slippery below 80m/s and likes to tail wag but this was expected based on engineer's preflight briefings. Everyone happy to see the aircraft mostly performing as anticipated. Deuce is coming around now for landing
Kerbal Space Agency
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we have touchdown and full stop! Jeb made a tight pattern, dropping gear on base leg & rolling out of a short 5km final, bringing the aircraft down gently at 57m/s. Everyone in Flight Control has big stupid grins on their faces - a great return to flight for the Deuce!!
Kerbal Space Agency
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with aircraft flying again we give you Ops Tracker v2.0.0 so you can once more visualize their paths around Kerbin - now you can also pop on as many as you like! Today's flight: kerbalspace.agency/Tracker/tracke…
Kerbal Space Agency
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the lack of a rocket launch has made this past week no less exciting, that's for sure. Catch up on all that happened along with additional information via bit.ly/OpsSummary1-15…
