[Mobius]

Fighters are capable of atmospheric flight as well, so they probably could land on a habitable planet

The only fighter that would be even remotely capable of atmospheric flight is the Perseus. But even then, it simply can't.

To be honest I think the Perseus could make it. Please consider that spacecraft speeds might increase radically with an atmosphere. Maybe the Perseus could be very fast and therefore able to fly without crashing in that environment.

[Arkangel]

What about the shields? We know the shield stops physical projectiles so, assuming that the shields shape is a less-than-aerodynamical blob (as it looks that way when you're hit), when you enter a planets atmosphere it would be like hitting a brick wall. Or should we assume the heat generated by the friction simply nullifies the shield altogether?

[Admiral_Stones]

Fighters are capable of atmospheric flight as well, so they probably could land on a habitable planet

The only fighter that would be even remotely capable of atmospheric flight is the Perseus. But even then, it simply can't.

To be honest I think the Perseus could make it. Please consider that spacecraft speeds might increase radically with an atmosphere. Maybe the Perseus could be very fast and therefore able to fly without crashing in that environment.

It should travel faster in space. Because in an atmosphere, the friction & resistance by gases and stuff would slow the already ridiculously slow fighters down to the point where gravitation makes short work of them.

[TrashMan]

I agree, that cutscene, while cool, was flawed in many ways. Not just the graphical ones that earned me my current title.

Wait a sec...which cutscene? the FS2 intro with the Herc crashing on the planet?


EDIT:
Methinks it's important to remind you that in-game speed and universe speeds are two different things. The ships travel at slower speeds for gameplay reasons. Try fighting in a 300m/s fighter. It'd a pain in the a** to hit anything. They could have just used a bigger scale - the hud shows kilometers instead of meters, thus giving you an "illusions" of greater speed. But such illusion would be ever worse than the current situation - at least the scales work ATM.

Last, but not least, remember that in FS universe we got ships and transports flying to and from planets. Remember the vasuda Prime bombardment? We got a freighters leaving the atmosphere with fighter escort.
We got a Ursa sitting on the floor of the Galatea in the mainhall. How do you think it lifts off?
Some form of anti-grav, surely. FS ships do have artificial gravity without rotating sections. Put 2 and 2 together.

[Mars]

Why is it so hard to believe that fighters are capable of atmospheric flight?

Every canon piece of information says they can.

[Aardwolf]

Actually, considering that these fighters are so bulky that they produce enough drag in space to keep them from going faster than 60 m/s, it isn't that hard to believe that the impact when falling out of orbit would be survivable.

 

[ShadowGorrath]

Come on. If it says it can fly in atmosphere, then it means it can.

And maybe it was a rather soft landing?

[Snail]

I'd say he had some control over his fighter, and tried to land, but didn't have any landing gear.

[Colonol Dekker]

I can't believe this topic has detracted from the worst moment in GTVA history. The fall of the sexiest destroyer i have ever served on. It made my eyes leak tear water

[ShadowGorrath]

I felt so in the last 3 battles of Capella.

[Mobius]

It should travel faster in space. Because in an atmosphere, the friction & resistance by gases and stuff would slow the already ridiculously slow fighters down to the point where gravitation makes short work of them.

Yes but what about their engines' energy? What if with an atmosphere around the energy is higher, allowing the fighter or bomber to travel fast enough to avoid any problems related to gravitation?

[Colonol Dekker]

It should travel faster in space. Because in an atmosphere, the friction & resistance by gases and stuff would slow the already ridiculously slow fighters down to the point where gravitation makes short work of them.

Yes but what about their engines' energy? What if with an atmosphere around the energy is higher, allowing the fighter or bomber to travel fast enough to avoid any problems related to gravitation?

Thrust - lift =- no flight.
Thrust + Lift - drag = flight

Aside from no control surfaces.

[Flipside]

Look at it this way, they stay up for the same reason Centauri Prime isn't littered with Shadow vessels

[General Battuta]

Actually, considering that these fighters are so bulky that they produce enough drag in space to keep them from going faster than 60 m/s, it isn't that hard to believe that the impact when falling out of orbit would be survivable.

 

Nooo they don't. There's no drag in space. But I know you know that.

It should travel faster in space. Because in an atmosphere, the friction & resistance by gases and stuff would slow the already ridiculously slow fighters down to the point where gravitation makes short work of them.

Yes but what about their engines' energy? What if with an atmosphere around the energy is higher, allowing the fighter or bomber to travel fast enough to avoid any problems related to gravitation?

Sorry, Mobius, but the engines will produce the same amount of thrust, and now there's air to slow the ship down. They'll go slower.

[Droid803]

Actually, considering that these fighters are so bulky that they produce enough drag in space to keep them from going faster than 60 m/s, it isn't that hard to believe that the impact when falling out of orbit would be survivable.

 

Nooo they don't. There's no drag in space. But I know you know that.

There are four hydrogen atoms per cubic centimeter. They have to add up to something.

[Akalabeth Angel]

      People, with the way the Hercules fell towards the planet I doubt it would survive atmospheric entry, nevermind trying to fly anywhere. Obviously he must've been able to afford some amount of control to his fighter to create some thing of a crash landing.

      There's no guarantee that the planet is Earth norm-gravity wise either, which may have contributed to a successful landing.

[Stormkeeper]

'Successful' is relative here, cause I think it'd say he failed, since his fighter survived, relatively speaking, while he did not.

[Mongoose]

He did manage to crawl out and look at that hologram of his loved ones before croaking.  That's pretty impressive considering he smashed into a freakin' planet.

[Aardwolf]

Nah, some pedestrian came along and did that as a prank.

[Akalabeth Angel]

'Successful' is relative here, cause I think it'd say he failed, since his fighter survived, relatively speaking, while he did not.

      I don't recall the condition of his flightsuit but there's no evidence that he died due to injuries in the crash. He could've simply had a damaged radio, and died awaiting some sort of rescue or recovery operation. Either way, it was a good image for the intro.