Once you’re comfortable flying and landing at the main runway, try your hand at landing on the island. In addition to the airstrip that you took off from, there’s an abandoned airfield on an island a few kilometers southeast. There are two places to land your plane in the immediate vicinity of the Kerbal Space Center.
When you’re done flying around, it’s time to land (see Figure 4-3). Reduce your thrust to keep your fuel burn manageable and your craft easier to steer. You don’t need to have your thrust at maximum to fly. While steering, don’t turn the craft too far away from your direction of travel-that is, the prograde indicator on the navball-or your plane will encounter lots of drag and spin out. Your plane has a rudder, but it’s easier to steer by using the larger, more effective wings. To turn the plane, it’s possible to steer by using A and D, but it’s easier to steer by banking a little with the Q and E keys, and then using W and S to pitch up and down. Now that you’re in the air, you can use the W, A, S, D, Q, and E keys to steer (see Figure 4-2). Once you’re off the ground, press G to retract your landing gear. When you hit about 90 m/s, pull up by holding S. Keep an eye on your surface speed indicator, which is just above the navball. You’ll start moving slowly at first but will pick up speed in no time at all.