Deuce Flight Trial 7

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…

late start to the day waiting for overcast skies to break up but weather has improved enough for Jeb & Val to head out for preflight, Deuce pressure checks yesterday were carried out with no issues

preflight complete, taxi and takeoff clearance granted, Deuce is on its way out to Rwy09 to head off into easterly winds, thankfully we don't share weather with the KB crew up north, winds only 6-8kts off the water

good departure, Jeb will hold his climb at full throttle and we will see how high they go. Unpressurized aircraft can fly as high as 4.5km ASL and we're hoping the Deuce will be able to reach at least 6km

approaching the mountains with little room to spare, Deuce is climbing now through 4.5km, traveling 86m/s climbing about 5m/s, Val is keeping a close eye on the cabin pressure

6km achieved! It was a bit of a struggle though, vertical speed is less than 1m/s and Jeb is leveling off and working to trim it out before seeing how the aircraft maneuvers up in the thin air

coming around in a gentle bank gave Jeb no trouble with holding the nose level, they will continue to maintain 6km, reducing throttle to 80% cruise setting to allow a good deal of engine performance data to be captured

originally traveling ~120m/s upon leveling out at 6km full thrust, reduction to 80% has gradually decreased speed to ~90m/s which Jeb reports is still rather stable. Flight has ordered him to throttle back up to 100%

throttle cut to begin descent for landing. Full thrust level flight was unable to increase speed, meaning the propellers can sustain momentum but not gain it through the thin air. With a very slight climb though they did take the cruise height record up to 6.503km

lined up on final 29km out for Rwy09, flaps have been adjusted for greater extension since last flight to hopefully allow for a slower approach - although whether or not that will be a good thing is what we're going to find out

rough landing! 55m/s didn't give enough airflow over the elevators to maintain pitch and the nose dove just a few meters off the ground, hitting hard on the main gear. Jeb was already applying full power and managed to recover on the bounce - barely

a thankfully-intact Deuce is taxiing back to the HAB from using nearly all the runway to stop after floating a ways due to the first bounce. Jeb says he'll take the faster approach next time, doesn't want more pitch authority as this will just make flight twitchy

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…