Aircraft Design Company- Matsura's Planes Are Always Fastest!

[open_sketch]

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Stress 0​

Office Stress 0​

XP 5​

Spoiler: Character Sheet

Matsura Asuka
Head Designer for Ohara Airworks
Age 24 (Legally 25)
Year 12 AF (After Flight)

Design Stats
Aerodynamics Engineering - +2
Structural Engineering - +2
Chemical Engineering - +1
Mechanical Engineering - +1
Ballistics Engineering - +1
Electrical Engineering - 0

Personal/Political Stats
Social Skills - 0
Politics Skills - 0
Importance - 2
Income - 1
Investments - Ohara

Resources
Power - 0
Wealth - 2

Designs
Type 1 Series - Military Variation (Designated T1M1)
Type 2 Racer (World Speed Record October 1910-April 1911, 180kph)
Model 2 Scout (Designated T1M2)
Navy Scout Prototype (Drowned Rat)
Dive Bomber B1M1 "Duck"
Machine Gun Carrier R1A "Dragonfly" (World Speed Record May-July 1911, 200kph)
Naval Rescue Water-Landing Supply Plane NR1M0 "Dolphin" (World speed record 240kph)
Rhino Demon Train Hunter
The world's first airliner
The world's first pulsejet airplane

Assets
Slide Rule
Computator (1 Reroll per Routine)

Languages
Albian
Gallian

Familiar Vices
Drinking
Prostitutes
Dancing

Family Life
- Engaged to Arita Yachi, formerly the leading Ace in the Imperial Army. Designated #1 Cutest Army Boy, he's having some serious problems with PTSD right now.
- Taking a second try at dating Mikami Kiho, ex-dockerwork from the south.

Upgrades
- 3 XP to upgrade a stat.

Spoiler: Ohara Airworks

Ohara Airworks
Start Up, Imperial Capital, Akitsukuni

Owner
- Mr. Ohara, Rich. Aircraft Enthusiast. Business guy.

Engineers

Kibe Koume, 26, Office Manager
Tiny & angry, Kibe went to school in Albia, picking up the language, the religion, and a fuckload of swear words. Speaks Albian.
Mechanical +2, Ballistics +1
Office Manager: If Kibe is not assigned to a team, the Office Stress is reduced by 1.

Sakane Jun, 26, Second Team Leader
A soured patriot, Sakane is married and has a young child being raised gender-neutrally. His two brothers who fought in the war.
Structural +2, Aerodynamics +1
Team Leader: If there are any additional projects, Sakane will lead them.
Joinery: Sakane has training in the traditional Akitsukuni carpentry art of joinery, creating complex self-supporting joints with no fasteners or glue. When working with non-monocoque wooden spars or ribs, +1 Structural.

Tezuka Kenji, ???
A stoner with occasional flashes of insight. Nobody really knows what he does, but he's probably useful?
Aerodynamics +2, Chemical +1
Flashes of Brilliance: Each natural 10 rolled by any team Tezuka is assigned to gives +1 forward to the next research roll.

Hasegawa Morio, 26
A hopeless nerd with a photography habit, mostly on account of developing his own film, Hasegawa seems to do nothing but work and stack card houses, but somehow has an incredible attractive boyfriend. Speaks Gallian.
Chemical +2, Ballistic +1
Silent Workhorse: Hasegawa can work on two different projects at once for no cost to Office Stress, providing they use different stats.

Kawamura Yosai, 25.
Serially successful womanizer and incredibly attractive, Kawamura doesn't seem to have much of a personality outside of seducing women. Well, except for that time he seduced Asuka, which nobody talks about. Speaks Dyske.
Structural +2, Electrical +1, Social +1
Easily Distracted: If Kawamura is working on the same team as a female or non-binary employee, the team is at -1d10.

Koide Hatsu, 24.
One of the few female graduates of an Akitsukuni engineering school, Koide is brilliant and incredibly driven, but her first job at Akibara was both humiliating and exposed her to an abusive coworker. Her father is a rich businessman with factories in Joseon, and she's engaged to Ken from Castles of Steel. Speaks Joseon.
Mechanical +2, Structural +1
No Sleep: If you let her, Koide will work herself to death. She can work a second project for no Office Stress, but all her stats will be reduced to 1 for the routine.

Kobayashi Ayao, ???
Disowned heiress of the Kobayashi family, all Kobayashi wanted was a career and to be a modern woman. For her trouble, a cousin threw acid on her, scarring her face, neck, much of her torso, and her left arm. Despite appearing serene and above it all, she's actually an avowed communist activist and baseball player.
Aerodynamics +2, Social +2

Adachi Ren, 24
Adachi learned chemistry from her father, one of the most famous chemical engineers in the country, rather than through formal schooling. She's married, has a kid, and takes spirituality very seriously. Yes, you did the math right, she had Yuki when she was 17. It's 1912, folks.
Chemical +2, Electrical +1
Young Mother: Adachi will cause double Office Stress if she has to work multiple tasks.

Uyeno Sei, Ballistics Engineer, 31.
The oldest member of the crew, this is Uyeno's second career. Her first was as an officer in the Imperial Navy with specialized technical training: her very promising career was cut short by her transition. Her work in a naval arsenal on machine-guns landed her the job here. Briefly dated Satomi (the age range is a bit creepy but again, 1912), she's missing a piece of her ear and is deaf on that side, from an exploding cannon. Recently returned from Varnmark from experimental surgery, she's known for her skill navigating gendered bureaucracy.
Ballistic +3

Mi Kyung-Jae, 23
A recent graduate of the Imperial College of Heijo, Mi is from the recently annexed territory of Joseon. For those keeping track at home, that means he's a Korean national living in Imperial Japan in 1912. We haven't seen much of his personality because he's rightfully terrified of everything around him. He has a specialty in endurance engine design and modification. Speaks Joseon.
Mechanical +1, Chemical +1
Endurance Engines: Mi has an excellent understanding of metallurgy and tolerances. Any engine he works on gains +1 Reliability if a 16+ is rolled.
Pulsejet Wizard: Mi is now one of the world's leading experts on the pulsejet engine. He can be given his own project to custom-craft pulsejet engines, and he gives +1 to any pulsejet-related project.
Joseon National: Mi does not have security clearance to work on any top-secret projects.

Miyoshi Shigeri, 23.
A non-binary person and admirer of Asuka's work, they were in an support role in the Army before joining the company.
Structural +1, Mechanical +1, Aerodynamic +1
Mechanic: Miyoshi has some experience repairing and refurbishing aircraft. They get +1 if assigned on the clean-up phase.


Other Employees
- Ohara Satomi, 22, Mr. Ohara's niece and the company test pilot, Ohara is a general lesbian disaster. She's good at flying planes, driving cars, and kissing girls. She's bad at being patient, being respectable, and sticking to literally anyones conceptions of gender roles. Deeply in lesbians with Coralie D'Amboise.
- Fujkikawa Sotatsu, old, modelmaker. He's an old man and toymaker and we don't see much of him because he locks himself in his workshop a lot. He's friends with Kawamura?

Assets
- Engine Test Rig (Allows engine tweaking and optimization.
- Wind Tunnel (+1 Aerodynamics)
- Rapid Prototype Lab (+1 Clean Up)

Spoiler: Expanded Cast

Expanded Cast

Akitsukuni Industry
- Homura Mohoko: Head Engine Designer for Kobayashi. First female engineer in the country. A lot of sex appeal.
- Okumura: Head of Akibara aircraft design.
- Yamanaka Hajime: Kobayashi engineer. Young and eager.
- Igarashi Masazumi: Kobayashi engineer. Reserved and experienced.
- Admiral Akibara Toru: Imperial Navy Admiral. Maximum nepotism. Maximum douchebag.
- Lt.Cmnd Akibara Shinzo: The above's son. A hottie but very forward.



Character Families
- Matsura(?) Mizuko: Asuka's sister. Was paralyzed in an accident in Asuka's first flight. Lives Elsewhere and is married now. Can't forgive Asuka, even though she's tried.
- Adachi Motoki: Adachi's husband, an accountant. Legally blind.
- Adachi Yuki: Adachi's 7 year old daughter and wannabe pilot. Very adorable.
- Yachi's Brother: Exists.
- Sakane's Wife: Exists. Drives him a bit crazy, but he loves her.
- Yachi's Brother's Wife: Exists. Is statistically likely to be pregnant.
- Lt. Coralie D'Amboise: Gallian pilot in exile. Satomi's girlfriend. 25. Accomplished bisexual duelist. She flew in the war for a single day, and for her troubles got a hole blown in her cheek and had her left arm paralyzed.

Akisukuni Army & Ex-Army
- Lt. Torio Tanaka: Yachi's former observer as an enlisted man. Was jumped up to fly Ducks and lost a leg on his first mission. A trained painter, married to Torio Saya.
- Captain Amari Shiro: A Dragonfly pilot who ended up flying as Yachi's partner. Kind of delightfully twinky. They sorta slept together at one point, which wasn't great. He lost his previous boyfriend in the April Offensive and turned his plane into a shrine. He was shot in the gut and is still recovering.
- Major Izuhara: Logistics officer, Imperial Army, this bespectled officer stood up to the Caspian Crown Prince and accidentally kicked off the Akitsikuni-Caspian War. The guilt was so much that, after almost a year of running Army procurement, he shot himself in a phone both.
- Captain Nakai Sekien: Army scout pilot. First person to drop a bomb from an airplane, later head of the Duck Squadrons.
- Captain Teshima: A Desk pilot that fought with Yachi. Lost an arm in the process, took over for Major Izuhara after his death. Seems cheery despite it all.
- Captain Nashio: A real piece of shit dude and probably a rapist, he's also a war hero as the second-highest scoring ace on the Akitsukuni side. He was a young shitty kid in way over his head but it's no excuse.
- Lt. Kinjo: Kind of a dumb lump and Nashio's friend, one of the desk pilots. Dead at 19.
- Lt. Okazaki: Yachi's friend from before the war and pilot, he died in a spin in his dragonfly. His death probably hit Yachi the hardest.

Westerners
- Rose & Antoinette Sears: Pioneers of flight. Sisters. Black in 1910s not!America. Yikes.
- Timina Guasti: Famous aircraft designer from Otrusia. Likes big planes and green.
- Prince Protasov Vasilyevich: Crown Prince of Great Caspia. Real dick. You gotta hand it to him though, a decent flier.
- Count von Zeppelin: Invented rigid airships. Runs a successful airline business. Damned impressive.
- Bennhold: Aircraft Engineer. Experimenting with metal aircraft.
- Aileen Middlemiss: Albian reporter for the Artimis Times. Well meaning and oblivious.

Spoiler: Technology

Available Tech

• Materials: Wood, Duralumin, Molded Wood, Wood & Silk Composite, etc
• All engine mounts
• All wing types
• Basic reinforcement
• Wing warping and ailerons
• Basic water radiators
• Flying Wings
• Semi-Monocoque design (requires at least half the slots have frame pieces)
• Valved pulsejets
• Basic weapon mounts and turrets

Tech not Yet Developed

• Custom engines
• Monocoque construction
• Cantilever Wings and associated tech
• V and T tails
• Tailless designs
• Aluminum and titanium
• Cellulose surfacing
• Any kind of radar
• Weapon accessability mods
• Interruptor gear
• Geared propellers
• And Maybe Other Stuff

Spoiler: Akitsukuni & World

Akitsukuni
Island Nation

Government
Constitutional Monarchy
- The democratic portions of the government are dubiously legitimate.
- The head of state is the Empress of Akitsukuni. She gives her blessing to newly formed governments.
- The Navy and a small number of families have undue influence on politics.

Economy
Developing Mixed Market
- Most industry is controlled by a small number of wealthy, family-owned companies.
- The state provides most contracts to industry. Consumer good market is anemic.
- Exports are few, mostly cultural.
- Imports are raw minerals, food, oil, and expertise.
- Currently suffering an economic crash after the last war.

Politics
The Diet is currently ruled by a Constitutional Nationalist government. It has a system of nonlocal proportional representation, with representatives appointed by the party in accordance to their share of the vote.
- Constitutional Nationalists: 50%
- Purity Club: 9%
- New Independents: 26%
- Fairness Association: 11%
- United Communist League: 2%
- Monarchists: 1%
- Assorted Fringe Parties: 5%

Demographics
Akitsukuni is mostly very ethnically homogeneous. Around 5% of the population are various minorities, most from nearby countries. Roughly .1% are westerners here for business or in advisory positions.
- Population: 55 Million
- Religion: Mostly Kodo. Roughly 2% of the population follows western religions.
- Wealth: Most wealth is concentrated in the top 5% of the country. Nearly 20% of the population lives in conditions indistinguishable from peasantry.
- Urbanization: Heavily urbanized for a small economy: 35% and rapidly growing.

Military
At Peace
- Imperial Akitsukuni Navy (IAN): The 6th largest in the world, and the most experienced.
- Imperial Akitsukuni Army (IAA): 150,000 highly experienced soldiers, and a considerable reserve.

Aspects
- Poor Resources: Aluminum costs +1.
- Damn Akitsukuni Engines!: Engines have -1 Reliability.

Spoiler: Old Map

The Main Character Of This Quest Is Nonbinary And Uses They/Them Pronouns.

I Am Putting This Here Because The Next Person To Misgender Them Is Getting Yeeted Into The Trash

Also here's the Gayaverse TV Tropes page, because why not.​

 

[thepsyborg]

Yeah, I sort of expect the long-view "norms" for this world to be canard monoplanes and tandem biplanes, possibly even ending up with something like the Piaggio P.180 Avanti- which is a very, very Flying Circus sort of airplane: it's an unequal-area inline tandem biplane with a tail and undersized wings and a partial lifting body. And its performance is fairly remarkable, too- speed on par with the slower bizjets, and far more fuel-efficient than any other aircraft in its size range, jet or turboprop.

 

[brmj]

@Himmelhand

I find the idea of a lower parasol wing very weird. Are you intending like a parasolized wing assembly that sits above the fuselage?

Click to shrink...

I am imagining something like this, minus the lower wing.


Edit:

Yeah, I sort of expect the long-view "norms" for this world to be canard monoplanes and tandem biplanes, possibly even ending up with something like the Piaggio P.180 Avanti- which is a very, very Flying Circus sort of airplane: it's an unequal-area inline tandem biplane with a tail and undersized wings and a partial lifting body. And its performance is fairly remarkable, too- speed on par with the slower bizjets, and far more fuel-efficient than any other aircraft in its size range, jet or turboprop.

Click to shrink...

Looking at a picture of that, what I see is a single fairly conventional wing with both canards and a standard tail, and a fuselage with unconventional lines that I could see maybe generating a bit of lift.

 

[Himmelhand]

@Himmelhand

I find the idea of a lower parasol wing very weird. Are you intending like a parasolized wing assembly that sits above the fuselage?

Click to shrink...

Yes. The whole double-decker arrangement is mounted above the fuselage. With the engines in channel cutouts on the lower of the two. I guess the alternative would be parasol and gear, but that has poor stability effects and is less safe in a hypothetical crash.

I am imagining something like this, minus the lower wing.

Click to shrink...

Yes, except that it's a 10-seat airliner and also has a flying canard. Basically the whole fuselage is just hang gliding under the aeronautics package.

 

[Crasian01]

Yes. The whole double-decker arrangement is mounted above the fuselage. With the engines in channel cutouts on the lower of the two. I guess the alternative would be parasol and gear, but that has poor stability effects and is less safe in a hypothetical crash.

Click to shrink...

I hate you mildly.

 

[Gnarker]

Basically the whole fuselage is just hang gliding under the aeronautics package.

Click to shrink...

"Oh, so it's just like an airship then, perfectly reasonable and safe. Not like those other planes that look like they could capsize at the drop of a hat. It's like all these plane designers never bothered to look at a ship before, clearly the heavy stuff should be as low as possible." - the average Gayan with an opinion on planes, propably.

 

[open_sketch]

I actually love that line of thinking. Like, seriously thats fun and it's very in keeping with the sort of like... early thoughts on aviation thing. It's got a quaint victorian storybook quality.

 

[Himmelhand]

I hate you mildly.

Click to shrink...

It's like you don't even want to let your friendly neighborhood trolley car slip the surly bonds of Earth or something.

 

[someplaneguy]

So some quick back of the receipt math says that a plane with hybrid floats should be able to make a top speed of 190. @open_sketchbook are hybrid floats allowed? Everyone else, would becoming amphibious be worth losing 20 top speed?

 

[open_sketch]

Hybrid floats are just putting wheels on floats so sure.

 

[Gnarker]

Everyone else, would becoming amphibious be worth losing 20 top speed?

Click to shrink...

Depends. What does it do to range? The added emergency landing safety and possible destinations would definitely be a plus, but losing too much range may or may not be worth it.

 

[someplaneguy]

I took the fast drooped wing and recalculated the top speed with double landing gear drag. Presumably it reduces the range by ~10% since you're going slower for the same engine power.

 

[Himmelhand]

So some quick back of the receipt math says that a plane with hybrid floats should be able to make a top speed of 190. @open_sketchbook are hybrid floats allowed? Everyone else, would becoming amphibious be worth losing 20 top speed?

Click to shrink...

Hell yeah it would. Think about the utility throughout the archipelago!

Technically this makes the Dali the only design capable of maintaining 200 kph unoptimized with the floats and I want it even more now.

 

[thepsyborg]

I took the fast drooped wing and recalculated the top speed with double landing gear drag. Presumably it reduces the range by ~10% since you're going slower for the same engine power.

Click to shrink...

I mean...in practice, it wouldn't reduce range at all if the optimization roll hits, since you could still hit 220 at 2,000-2,999m altitude. Might be worth doing.

If we want to be really, really exploitative, we should pay to add starters to our engines, and shut one engine down after climbing to cruise altitude. Most of the ones I've checked have sea-level engine-out full-load cruise of about Speed 14? So 15 Fuel Uses at Speed 22 versus not-quite-30 at Speed 16...

But that feels really, spectacularly cheaty. Maybe if we had a four-engine plane, or even a trimotor, we could get away with shutting down the outboard pair or central one in cruise, but expecting our pilots to fly virtually the entire mission with asymmetric thrust is kind of a dick move.

I guess technically there's nothing stopping me from putting one engine in a central nacelle on each wing on any of the double-parasol designs...apart from it being a generally hideous and awful idea, anyway.

Edit: Fixed landing gear for floats (hybrid or otherwise) is really not a difficult swap to make. We could absolutely let each client decide what landing gear type they want to order their planes with- you could even order your planes with both as a small-extra-cost option, if you wanted your own mechanics to be able to swap them out depending on route assignment.

Edit edit: I think, if we're going to have alternate landing gear types available, I would favor a tricycle-gear plane? Since they, like hybrid-floatplanes, sit level on dry land and steer with the front wheels, instead of sitting leaning back and steering with the tailwheel like a taildragger. Would make it easier on the pilots who are likely to have to fly both versions routinely.

 

[DocMatoi]

I love that the goal of this quest seems to changed from "let's test Sketch's system" to "let's help asuka make the world's dumbest, fastest, most exploity planes"

 

[brmj]

I mean...in practice, it wouldn't reduce range at all if the optimization roll hits, since you could still hit 220 at 2,000-2,999m altitude. Might be worth doing.

If we want to be really, really exploitative, we should pay to add starters to our engines, and shut one engine down after climbing to cruise altitude. Most of the ones I've checked have sea-level engine-out full-load cruise of about Speed 14? So 15 Fuel Uses at Speed 22 versus not-quite-30 at Speed 16...

But that feels really, spectacularly cheaty. Maybe if we had a four-engine plane, or even a trimotor, we could get away with shutting down the outboard pair or central one in cruise, but expecting our pilots to fly virtually the entire mission with asymmetric thrust is kind of a dick move.

I guess technically there's nothing stopping me from putting one engine in a central nacelle on each wing on any of the double-parasol designs...apart from it being a generally hideous and awful idea, anyway.

Edit: Fixed landing gear for floats (hybrid or otherwise) is really not a difficult swap to make. We could absolutely let each client decide what landing gear type they want to order their planes with- you could even order your planes with both as a small-extra-cost option, if you wanted your own mechanics to be able to swap them out depending on route assignment.

Edit edit: I think, if we're going to have alternate landing gear types available, I would favor a tricycle-gear plane? Since they, like hybrid-floatplanes, sit level on dry land and steer with the front wheels, instead of sitting leaning back and steering with the tailwheel like a taildragger. Would make it easier on the pilots who are likely to have to fly both versions routinely.

Click to shrink...

That one engine flight idea is really nifty. I can pretty trivially finagle something with center-line thrust, though it will be pretty weird. I may have to see what I can do with it, either as a way to optimize for extreme range, or as a way to reduce fuel mass.

 

[thepsyborg]

That one engine flight idea is really nifty. I can pretty trivially finagle something with center-line thrust, though it will be pretty weird. I may have to see what I can do with it, either as a way to optimize for extreme range, or as a way to reduce fuel mass.

Click to shrink...

Definitely for extreme range- I got the idea from the Rutan Voyager; they did the same thing. (And yes, push-pull is probably the best way to go about it, as long as the power reduction doesn't screw with engine-out capability.)

I did wonder if it might let us reduce fuel mass enough to fit the third cargo allocation in (for 11 passengers + crew luggage allowance) without going over 99 Mass (for Flight Stress 1) or resorting to paper coverings.

It would, however, mean giving up entirely on the 200kph cruise goal, and probably the "engines and fuel located away from passenger compartment" goal.

Edit: Although, if we could get 200kph+ cruise on both engines for 8 Fuel Uses (for faster Home Islands service), and slower cruise on one engine for 15+ Fuel Uses (for getting around the colonies), that might be very interesting indeed.

I'm not sure I'd vote for it right now, I'm not confident enough in the state of engine technology to want to have inflight restarts as a standard operating procedure, but I really want to revisit the idea (presumably at higher target speeds) for the current airliner's cantilever-winged successor in a few years.

 

[Crasian01]

I love that the goal of this quest seems to changed from "let's test Sketch's system" to "let's help asuka make the world's dumbest, fastest, most exploity planes"

Click to shrink...

In fairness that's basically the same goal, just expressed as an IC versus an OOC way.

---

I actually love that line of thinking. Like, seriously thats fun and it's very in keeping with the sort of like... early thoughts on aviation thing. It's got a quaint victorian storybook quality.

Click to shrink...

You know I had a professor in flight dynamics who listed the Wright Brothers as being innovators in one big way in the field of flight dynamics by being one of the first people to decide that planes shouldn't be like boats.

There was a longstanding belief that planes basically were like boats and you needed big, stable airplanes that you gently guided with big rudders. And everyone was like "Why crash?" when these vehicles would go about and then fail to be controllable. The Wright Brothers went "wait, what if, we're too stable?" and proceeded to actually make the first Wright Flyer be just a hair unstable. So it was kind of wobbly but quite clearly did something that was more than what other people did by quite a long stretch. The Brothers then decided that it was just a hair too unstable so they made it just a hair more stable and the damn thing became the first modern airplane with the standard characteristics and behaviors we expect today. Reportedly, everyone in Europe refused to believe them until the Wright Flyer (version 3 I think?) was brought out to France to the 24 Heures du Le Mans and proceeded to spend an hour in the air doing figure eights over the race track, then landed gently in the middle.

 

[brmj]

Definitely for extreme range- I got the idea from the Rutan Voyager; they did the same thing. (And yes, push-pull is probably the best way to go about it, as long as the power reduction doesn't screw with engine-out capability.)

I did wonder if it might let us reduce fuel mass enough to fit the third cargo allocation in (for 11 passengers + crew luggage allowance) without going over 99 Mass (for Flight Stress 1) or resorting to paper coverings.

It would, however, mean giving up entirely on the 200kph cruise goal, and probably the "engines and fuel located away from passenger compartment" goal.

Click to shrink...

There is no good reason not to run both if you don't need the range, so I have no problem with the 200kph goal so long as we note both speeds and ranges. As for the engines and fuel away from the cockpit goal, I think I can pull that off if I let this get weird enough, but it will take some serious weirdness since having them directly above isn't really any better.

 

[thepsyborg]

There is no good reason not to run both if you don't need the range, so I have no problem with the 200kph goal so long as we note both speeds and ranges. As for the engines and fuel away from the cockpit goal, I think I can pull that off if I let this get weird enough, but it will take some serious weirdness since having them directly above isn't really any better.

Click to shrink...

...and having them on a gear deck or decks is actually worse, isn't it?

The obvious solution to my mind is essentially the same idea as the old tandem triplane concept- put a wing all the way behind the fuselage, and put the engines on it. Connect it to the other wing with booms. In this case we'd be looking at a push-pull nacelle to keep both engines centerline and away from the cabin, and that has a whopping 80% of rated engine power, so we'd only have...14*0.8 round down...11 power per engine. Rough.

One fuselage pusher and one on a centerline nacelle on the aft wing could work, and would have no power penalties as currently written, but then you have an engine right next to the passenger compartment again.

I...guess a push-pull pod, somewhere behind the main fuselage, perhaps above the aft wing? It would look super sketchy, but the weight and balance should at least be possible, if still a bit weird. And you'd get 12 power per engine, which is at least better than 11. Not sure you could hit 200kph with it, though.

Anyway, it's a fun idea I want to come back to, but not something I'd put passengers I like in without several more years of engine development.

 

[brmj]

...and having them on a gear deck or decks is actually worse, isn't it?

The obvious solution to my mind is essentially the same idea as the old tandem triplane concept- put a wing all the way behind the fuselage, and put the engines on it. Connect it to the other wing with booms. In this case we'd be looking at a push-pull nacelle to keep both engines centerline and away from the cabin, and that has a whopping 80% of rated engine power, so we'd only have...14*0.8 round down...11 power per engine. Rough.

One fuselage pusher and one on a centerline nacelle on the aft wing could work, and would have no power penalties as currently written, but then you have an engine right next to the passenger compartment again.

I...guess a push-pull pod, somewhere behind the main fuselage, perhaps above the aft wing? It would look super sketchy, but the weight and balance should at least be possible, if still a bit weird. And you'd get 12 power per engine, which is at least better than 11. Not sure you could hit 200kph with it, though.

Anyway, it's a fun idea I want to come back to, but not something I'd put passengers I like in without several more years of engine development.

Click to shrink...

Okay, here's some next level weird. Twin boom configuration, with the passengers and cargo in the booms and the crew and one engine in the center pod. The other engine gets to be a center mounted in wing naucell on a parasol wing. Connectivity is provided by way of a reinforced walkable section of low wing, with hand-rails and something to clip a safety line to integrated into the struts holding the wings together like the world's most terifying foot bridge. Probaby best to put a bathroom on each side so that only crew ever have to cross it in practice. Under the rules as they stand, there should be no penalty with this beyond being forced to use a low wing and take the crash safety hit.

 

[open_sketch]

oh my god

 

[DocMatoi]

It's beautiful

What's that? Planes are cramped? Here have a walking deck!

 

[brmj]

oh my god

Click to shrink...

Nothing in the rules text about connectivity requires it to be physically possible to do it in a way that isn't horrifying.

 

[Ash19256]

oh my god

Click to shrink...

Nothing in the rules text about connectivity requires it to be physically possible to do it in a way that isn't horrifying.

Click to shrink...

If we really wanted to be clever, we could perhaps make the walking section an extension of some manner of Lifting Body section on the fuselage, with limited space in it?

Actually, has anyone done a partial lifting body design for this competition? Or are those just hilariously noncompetitive still?

 

[Himmelhand]

That one engine flight idea is really nifty. I can pretty trivially finagle something with center-line thrust, though it will be pretty weird. I may have to see what I can do with it, either as a way to optimize for extreme range, or as a way to reduce fuel mass.

Click to shrink...

The answer is clearly over/under pods or centerline nacelles one each in a parasol & gear deck biplane. Come at me Crasian01!

Also, we could probably achieve most of these other side goals like floats pretty easily if we dropped the colonial range goal. Keep the speed, add floats. In fact, one last plane..

Dogfish

Spoiler: Math

Part	円	Mass	Drag	Structure	Strain	Frame	Other
CREW
Pilot, Windscreen	1	2	1			-1	+2 Bail Out
+Connection		1
Copilot, Windscreen	1	2	1			-1	+2 Bail Out
+Connection		1
+Copilot Controls	1						+3 Authority -1 Flight Stress
"Passengers x15" Passengers x10 Steward x1 Drinks x2 Crew Gear x1 Bathroom x1​		15				-6
+Connection		1
ENGINES
Ogre Z Alpha V-6 #1 Fuselage Tractor (left boom)	6	8	4			-1	14 Power 5 Fuel Use Reliability -7(+5) Overspeed 23
Radiator, Drag 11 Panel, Low		3	9				+24 Reliability (+12/+12)
Ogre Z Alpha V-6 #2 Fuselage Tractor (right boom)	6	8	4			-1	14 Power 5 Fuel Use Reliability -7(+5) Overspeed 23
COVERING & FRAME
Frame, Strut/Wire, Base				5
Moulded Plywood x7	7	7	7	14		7
Canvas x6			12			6
Booms							Allows multiple fuselage tractor mounts
WINGS
Upper, Parasol 15m Span, 16m2​ Area			1		-20		+3 PSTAB -1 Lift Bleed
Lower, Parasol 15m Span, 16m2​ Area			1		-20		+3 PSTAB +2 Lift Bleed +1 Authority -1 Visibility
Covering: Canvas
Longest Wing Effects							-7 Authority
Extreme Positive Stagger							+2 PSTAB -2 Lift Bleed
Total Wing Area Drag			16
STABILIZERS
Horizontal Stabilizer Canard			3				-3 PSTAB
Vertical Stabilizer Single Tail Fin Out of prop stream			3				-1 Authority
CONTROL SURFACES
Large Control Surfaces							ICP is top of ICR
Ailerons: Default
Rudder: Flying							-2 LSTAB +2 ICR
Elevator: Flying							-2 PSTAB +1 ICR
Flaps: None
REINFORCEMENT
Struts, Wood, x3	3	3	9	15	15		40 Tension
Wing Truss, x1	1		6				25 Tension
Wires			5		65
LOAD
Fuel Tanks, In Fuselage, x2		2				-1
Fuel, In Fuselage		10					10 Fuel Uses (5/engine)
Fuel, Microtanks		6				-1	6 Fuel Uses (3/engine)
Cargo x10 passenger luggage x10		10				-2
UPGRADES​
Radiator Loop	1						Cabin/cockpit heating
LANDING GEAR
Hybrid floats			30
TOTAL	27	79	114	34	40

Propellor Pitch: Very Fine
Stability 4, Max Strain 25, Toughness 9, Handling 79, Fuel Endurance 15, Max Speed 21, Boost 1, DropOff 6, Stall 11, Ideal Control Range 12-22, Flight Stress 1

• Price: 27円
• Payload: 10 passengers, 1 mass luggage per passenger, air steward, 2 mass drinks/snacks/boxed meals, 1 mass crew gear, lavatory
• Performance: 210kph at sea level, 8 Fuel Uses, 110kph stall, Water and Ground landing capable, Flight Stress 1
  • With one Lightening optimization: Stall speed to 100 kph
  • With one Streamlining optimization, able to reach 220 kph at sea level
• Pro: Land anywhere, lower stall speed, economical, doesn't rely on optimization
• Con: Limited range

Appearance/layout details for @4WheelSword:

Spoiler

Body divided into 3 structural elements:

• Central main fuselage, mostly wood construction, with crew stations and passenger cabin. Large central panel radiator beneath main fuselage.
• 2 thin side booms, with tractor engines at front, fuel storage, and cargo holds.
• Hybrid floats extend from beneath booms.

Wings: Wing assembly fully above fuselage. Framework connects staggered parasol wings above rear of fuselage with fuselage itself as well as forward canard and rear vertical tail.

Large vertical tail projected behind wing assembly. All-moving canard projected above and forward of pilot station.

Spreadsheet

Take the Daimyo, add floats, cut some fuel tanks, give it the absurdist hang-glider wings/controls from the Dali and you have.. the Dogfish! A great utility plane for bouncing around the Home Islands.