Newcomer / Intro approaching planetary stations

paladin7 · Sep 18, 2016

Is there an ideal flight profile for approaching stations on a planets surface? When to descend toward the planet seems to be total guesswork to me. I have tried 3 different times and seem to have only got it right once by accident more than purpose. If I fly straight toward it I inevitably end up hit the descend phase to early and end up to far away. Frankly it would be nice to have some hud marker to guide my descent to the station.

Cmdr Paladin7

Manticore · Sep 18, 2016

Just make sure that, when in orbital cruise mode, your vector does not take you into the red scale. Keep your "angle of attack" shallow. It differs from planet to planet depending on the size of the planet and it's mass (gravity).

RayRay · Sep 18, 2016

Try to aim high of target, this will prevent glide coming in too early, when distance is 100 km then aim straight at target again, glide should then take you to about 10-20 km. Aiming high will delay glide mode longer. I use this method and it works quite well. I sometimes use orbital cruise to get to 100 km quicker. Hope this helps.

Chris Simon · Sep 19, 2016

paladin7 said:
Is there an ideal flight profile for approaching stations on a planets surface? When to descend toward the planet seems to be total guesswork to me. I have tried 3 different times and seem to have only got it right once by accident more than purpose. If I fly straight toward it I inevitably end up hit the descend phase to early and end up to far away. Frankly it would be nice to have some hud marker to guide my descent to the station.

Cmdr Paladin7

Have you watched this?
[video=youtube;O2uYM2ykS1I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2uYM2ykS1I&list=PL7glm5rbPHKx8MWl-oKkxLvEcAmumMVtw[/video]

[VR] Zakk · Sep 19, 2016

I struggled with this as well during my first landings, even after watching the video. I managed to land, but I often dropped out of the glide some 200 km away from the station, so it took me ages to get there in normal flight.

For me, the key is the right angle when dropping out of orbital cruise. I try to be less than 150 km away from the station when dropping below 30 km surface altitude. When dropping out of orbital cruise, I aim for an angle of 20-30, which will usually allow me to fly straight towards the station. When the distance is less than 20 km, I will pull up, ending the glide. This leaves me in normal flight around 10 km away from the station, which is convenient for a relaxed approach.

Hell Razor5543 · Sep 19, 2016

The way I do it is to head for the edge of the planet (while watching the distance to my destination station). Ideally I want the station to be obscured by the planet (for the way I approach it). I will then let my altitude drop to 100KM, and then maintain it while I then approach the station. At around 150-200KM out I will then start to descent towards the station. All being well, I can go from orbit to glide and then into normal flight cleanly, and end up with 10KM of the station.

aRJay · Sep 19, 2016

There is always the BASE jump approach, super cruise around the planet till above the destination then point straight down once moving rapidly towards the ground throttle back and tighten your straps. You will go from orbital cruise to normal flight in pretty much one transission with the destination a short distance below you.

Do do not try this :-
If you suffer from sanity.
Your ship is damaged.
There isn't a repair facility at the destination.
If it is a high g world.

High g in this case is defined as being over 0.2g.

CMDR Mr. Boombastic · Sep 19, 2016

Over at the Guides and Tutorials subform there is a presentation on The popular guide to planetary landings which maybe of some help.

Iskariot · Sep 19, 2016

paladin7 said:
Is there an ideal flight profile for approaching stations on a planets surface? When to descend toward the planet seems to be total guesswork to me. I have tried 3 different times and seem to have only got it right once by accident more than purpose. If I fly straight toward it I inevitably end up hit the descend phase to early and end up to far away. Frankly it would be nice to have some hud marker to guide my descent to the station.

Cmdr Paladin7

Just approach from an angle and you will be fine.
I like to be at a distance around 1 mm before the planetary HUD pops up.
Personally I always try to be at around a distance of 75 km when I drop into glide.
You can pull up a bit if you are too far away to postpone the glide phase.
But be careful with this as it is easy to overshoot when you do this for too long.
When I enter glide I throttle down to zero and I come out of glide within perfect hailing distance of the station 99% of the time. 9 out of 10 times I am right on top of the station.

Approaching at a steep angle will make glide impossible, or end it too soon.
You do not want to do that as you need glide for an effective approach.
You must keep well in the blue (of your planetary approach HUD, or whatever it is called) to get the most out of glide.

I think FD designed a great mechanic.
It is relatively simple and at the same time has a techy, realistic feel too it and it enables you to improve your skills.
You can really become very good at this and feel like an ace pilot with every successful approach.