Dhumla Flight Trial 1

weather failed to cooperate today to allow for the Dhumla to begin its flight testing. Forecasting into next week is not yet accurate enough to rely on so we will see how things are looking come Monday for another attempt

weather should hold for good conditions to finally allow for a flight trial later today after 2nd sunrise. Ground crew are already organizing to get the Dhumla prepped for flight, maritime crew also driving our safety boat down to launch into the water

briefing has wrapped, Flight Officers Tedman and Aldeny are heading out to begin preflight while controllers get their consoles setup to monitor. Plan will be takeoff to 2.5km ASL, basic maneuvers, landing pass, touch & go, full stop landing

Dhumla has all engines running, Ted is in command this flight and Aldy has commed FD Lanalye with request to taxi out to the active. Aircraft has been tanked up to 30% capacity, carrying 1.2t of liquid fuel. No cargo mass is aboard for initial testing

no change to procedure has been made since ground testing. If an abort is required on the take off roll, reverse thrust will be applied while flaps are raised before wheel braking is used to avoid any swerving

everyone pensive after FD Lanalye granted take off clearance to the aircraft sitting out on Rwy27. Any moment now the 4 engines will roar and propel the vehicle down the runway and up to take off speed of 80m/s, or Vr - rotate! Control yoke will be pulled back and....

away they go! ~700m of roll followed by a smooth rotation off the runway with a steady 15-17m/s positive rate of climb. Aircraft is cleaned up - flaps & gear raised - as it passes through 800m continuing on runway heading until 2km

Ted is turning south before the mountains to heading 225 as they pass through 2km, reports no issues. Speed is 160m/s in the climb with throttle pulled back to 80%. Aircraft will bank no more than ~15° so pilots can get an initial feel for roll stability

aircraft is trimmed level @ 2.5km & Tedman reports he has been mostly HOTAS negative. Aircraft is cruising at 195m/s, they are already abreast of Umbarg. With more recovery room now he will put the Dhumla through a series of sweeping turns with gradually increasing angles of bank

nothing to report during the maneuver tests - Dhumla reached angles upwards of 40° both directions and flight crew reports no rollover - they can bank and the aircraft holds its position after controls are centered. Excellent! Ted has now begun to descend back towards KSC

left-turn landing approach has begun with a downwind leg out over the water. The crew will simulate a landing while passing over the runway at ~500m, allowing them room to recover if the approach is too slow and pitch moment overcomes control authority to keep nose up

approaching 10km out on final approach, Ted is finding things aren't quite what they expected from the simulator and is working the throttle a lot to find that good sweet spot of being able to descend while still holding level with authority remaining for a small flare

this aircraft requires a very flat approach and almost has to do a 3-point landing so the strain is not all placed on only one set of the two pairs of rear wheels, which do not contact the runway at the same time if the aircraft is flared nose up too high

Dhumla has flown by over head and is already turning north and re-configuring to setup for another pattern approach, right-turn this time. Ted says he has a good feel for it, will perform a touch and go as planned

with Ted rolling out of base leg onto final Aldy will shortly complete the landing configuration by setting full flaps and dropping the gear. Aircraft is just under 10km out <400m. Ted will be aiming to keep his approach speed at around 95-100m/s

coming down too steep, Ted had to level out and coast over almost half of the runway before touching down. Full throttle and pulling up flaps got the aircraft back into the air before running out of runway. Flight crew feel good about going full stop on their next attempt

aircraft is on short final <3km out and approach looks much better, aircraft should just clear the threshold and give the crew the full 2.2km length of the runway to come to a stop after touchdown - way more than they will need

Ted performed another T&G when the aircraft refused to settle on the runway. In fact it rebounded into the air several times rather hard. Gear was raised okay but everyone now wondering if it should have been retracted at all. Photo from approach just before initial landing

gear raise was just part of the checklist so was done without thought. If they are damaged & can't be lowered again flight crew will shut down engines, lock propellers and glide down to ditch in the water just offshore. Rescue boat remains on standby

back on final approach, gear is confirmed down and locked - phew! May still be damaged though so Ted is trying to approach even flatter and really hopes to grease this next attempt. Fuel remains for several more but main concern is the gear right now

a few more slight bumps on landing but halfway down the runway the aircraft finally settled and additional reverse thrust was applied to bring them to a stop shortly afterwards. Taxiing back to the HAB now, Ted says he can feel something off with the undercarriage

C7 & Genesis have finished their initial review of the Dhumla and its flight data. Gear is damaged, but thankfully can be repaired without needing to be replaced. Greater concern is lack of pitch authority at landing speeds making the aircraft tough to settle on landing

bounciness on both landings was due to Tedman holding so far back on the yoke at touchdown to keep the nose up even a little bit. The vertical strake will be modified to hold weights that will shift CoM further towards the rear. Can be removed if needed when carrying cargo loads

next launch attempt is ready for operations to begin tomorrow @ 13:08 UTC - 🚀 GO PROGENY! 🚀 catch up on everything else that happened this past week and also learn more about the strange weather from yesterday: kerbalspace.agency/?p=8592