This is a VTOL Aircraft that is capable of reaching Mach 1 speed in the lower atmosphere and upto 4.2 Mach subsequently.
Action groups: Press 1 to toggle the VTOL engines and 2 to toggle the RAPIER engines.
All the engines run on liquid fuel which is why it can fly around for a long time. But feel free to experiment with other types of engines after changing the type of fuel in the tanks by right clicking on them.
You can also improve the lift the aircraft generates by rotating the wings slightly upwards (increase the angle of attack).
If you dont like the struts, you can replace them with landing gear…just take care that you dont offset the centre of mass relative to the centre of lift.
Instructions for a safe flight:
1) Start By toggling the VTOL engines (press 1) and increase the throttle to a little more than half as indicated in the image above.
2)After you achieve an altitude of 600-700m, toggle the RAPIER engines and decrease the throttle to about half to avoid backflipping while you gain some forward speed. Once you reach about 160m/s, toggle the VTOL ENGINES OFF (press 1) and increase the throttle to maximum and pitch the aircraft up to about 5-10 degrees.
3)The aircraft reaches Mach 1 in the lower kerbin atmosphere.
4)In the middle layers, the aircraft reaches 4.2 Mach. The engines cannot thrust any further as the they are deprived of air.
5)To land the aircraft, make sure you are atleast 4500-5000m AGL if your surface velocity is more than 200 m/s. Toggle the RAPIER ENGINES OFF (press 2), toggle the VTOL ENGINES ON (press 1) and set the throttle to around 45% while keeping the aircraft level and slightly and continually pitch the aircraft up. This will reduce your forward velocity while helping the aircraft descend gently.
6)Control the throttle between 30% and 40% to increase of decrease your rate of descent while keeping your aircraft level. Being air breathing engines, they are not quickly responsive and can get out of control when there are large changes to the throttle are applied.
7)Finally, shut off the engine once you touch the surface…I landed on water because the base was too far away. Refer to the images below for a clearer understanding.