# Flight¶

class Flight

Used to get flight telemetry for a vessel, by calling Vessel.flight(). All of the information returned by this class is given in the reference frame passed to that method. Obtained by calling Vessel.flight().

Note

To get orbital information, such as the apoapsis or inclination, see Orbit.

g_force

The current G force acting on the vessel in $$g$$.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
mean_altitude

The altitude above sea level, in meters. Measured from the center of mass of the vessel.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set double Flight
surface_altitude

The altitude above the surface of the body or sea level, whichever is closer, in meters. Measured from the center of mass of the vessel.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set double Flight
bedrock_altitude

The altitude above the surface of the body, in meters. When over water, this is the altitude above the sea floor. Measured from the center of mass of the vessel.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set double Flight
elevation

The elevation of the terrain under the vessel, in meters. This is the height of the terrain above sea level, and is negative when the vessel is over the sea.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set double Flight
latitude

The latitude of the vessel for the body being orbited, in degrees.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set double Flight
longitude

The longitude of the vessel for the body being orbited, in degrees.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set double Flight
velocity

The velocity of the vessel, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set The velocity as a vector. The vector points in the direction of travel, and its magnitude is the speed of the vessel in meters per second. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
speed

The speed of the vessel in meters per second, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set double Flight
horizontal_speed

The horizontal speed of the vessel in meters per second, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set double Flight
vertical_speed

The vertical speed of the vessel in meters per second, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set double Flight
center_of_mass

The position of the center of mass of the vessel, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set The position as a vector. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
rotation

The rotation of the vessel, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set The rotation as a quaternion of the form $$(x, y, z, w)$$. tuple(double, double, double, double) Flight
direction

The direction that the vessel is pointing in, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set The direction as a unit vector. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
pitch

The pitch of the vessel relative to the horizon, in degrees. A value between -90° and +90°.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
heading

The heading of the vessel (its angle relative to north), in degrees. A value between 0° and 360°.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
roll

The roll of the vessel relative to the horizon, in degrees. A value between -180° and +180°.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
prograde

The prograde direction of the vessels orbit, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set The direction as a unit vector. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
retrograde

The retrograde direction of the vessels orbit, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set The direction as a unit vector. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
normal

The direction normal to the vessels orbit, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set The direction as a unit vector. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
anti_normal

The direction opposite to the normal of the vessels orbit, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set The direction as a unit vector. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
radial

The radial direction of the vessels orbit, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set The direction as a unit vector. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
anti_radial

The direction opposite to the radial direction of the vessels orbit, in the reference frame ReferenceFrame.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set The direction as a unit vector. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
atmosphere_density

The current density of the atmosphere around the vessel, in $$kg/m^3$$.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
dynamic_pressure

The dynamic pressure acting on the vessel, in Pascals. This is a measure of the strength of the aerodynamic forces. It is equal to $$\frac{1}{2} . \mbox{air density} . \mbox{velocity}^2$$. It is commonly denoted $$Q$$.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
static_pressure

The static atmospheric pressure acting on the vessel, in Pascals.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
static_pressure_at_msl

The static atmospheric pressure at mean sea level, in Pascals.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
aerodynamic_force

The total aerodynamic forces acting on the vessel, in reference frame ReferenceFrame.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set A vector pointing in the direction that the force acts, with its magnitude equal to the strength of the force in Newtons. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
simulate_aerodynamic_force_at(body, position, velocity)

Simulate and return the total aerodynamic forces acting on the vessel, if it where to be traveling with the given velocity at the given position in the atmosphere of the given celestial body.

Parameters: body (CelestialBody) – position (tuple) – velocity (tuple) – A vector pointing in the direction that the force acts, with its magnitude equal to the strength of the force in Newtons. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
lift

The aerodynamic lift currently acting on the vessel.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set A vector pointing in the direction that the force acts, with its magnitude equal to the strength of the force in Newtons. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
drag

The aerodynamic drag currently acting on the vessel.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set A vector pointing in the direction of the force, with its magnitude equal to the strength of the force in Newtons. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
speed_of_sound

The speed of sound, in the atmosphere around the vessel, in $$m/s$$.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
mach

The speed of the vessel, in multiples of the speed of sound.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
reynolds_number

The vessels Reynolds number.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight

Note

Requires Ferram Aerospace Research.

true_air_speed

The true air speed of the vessel, in meters per second.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
equivalent_air_speed

The equivalent air speed of the vessel, in meters per second.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
terminal_velocity

An estimate of the current terminal velocity of the vessel, in meters per second. This is the speed at which the drag forces cancel out the force of gravity.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
angle_of_attack

The pitch angle between the orientation of the vessel and its velocity vector, in degrees.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
sideslip_angle

The yaw angle between the orientation of the vessel and its velocity vector, in degrees.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
total_air_temperature

The total air temperature of the atmosphere around the vessel, in Kelvin. This includes the Flight.static_air_temperature and the vessel’s kinetic energy.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
static_air_temperature

The static (ambient) temperature of the atmosphere around the vessel, in Kelvin.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
stall_fraction

The current amount of stall, between 0 and 1. A value greater than 0.005 indicates a minor stall and a value greater than 0.5 indicates a large-scale stall.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight

Note

Requires Ferram Aerospace Research.

drag_coefficient

The coefficient of drag. This is the amount of drag produced by the vessel. It depends on air speed, air density and wing area.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight

Note

Requires Ferram Aerospace Research.

lift_coefficient

The coefficient of lift. This is the amount of lift produced by the vessel, and depends on air speed, air density and wing area.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight

Note

Requires Ferram Aerospace Research.

ballistic_coefficient
Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight

Note

Requires Ferram Aerospace Research.

thrust_specific_fuel_consumption

The thrust specific fuel consumption for the jet engines on the vessel. This is a measure of the efficiency of the engines, with a lower value indicating a more efficient vessel. This value is the number of Newtons of fuel that are burned, per hour, to produce one newton of thrust.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight

Note

Requires Ferram Aerospace Research.