Virgin Galactic Test Flights To Restart This Year

astroengine writes: Test flights of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo are on schedule to begin again this year – this time with its own pilots, the chief executive of Richard Branson's space startup said Friday. The first in a series of planned passenger spaceships was destroyed on Oct. 31, 2014, during a fatal test flight being conducted by manufacturer Scaled Composites. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident, determined that co-pilot Michael Alsbury, who died in the crash, released the ship's moveable tail section early. The vehicle was not traveling fast enough for aerodynamic forces to keep the so-called "feather" pinned in place, as designs called for. As a result, the ship was torn apart, jettisoning pilot Pete Siebold in the process, who managed to parachute to safety.

So don't throw away your tickets yet

[rossdee]

They might still get tourists into space before the end of the century

...c'mon lemme see you shake your tail feather...

[TWX]

I hope they'll have found a better solution for the tail by the time they go to passenger flights. Pilots don't like being denied an option to do something but if that something can tear the craft apart even when it's piloted by some of the most experienced pilots in the world, I don't see how it'll be better in commercial hands.

Re:...c'mon lemme see you shake your tail feather.

[MichaelSmith]

Try dropping the landing gear in a commercial jet at mach 0.8.

Re:

[BitZtream]

Thats the point. You would have wheels, maybe no gear bay doors, but the wheels will be just fine.

Re: Pretty bad design

[Anonymous Coward]

Interlock fails closed, everyone dies. This is the type of system where simpler is better and procedural controls are best.

Re:

[khallow]

At a glance, the "procedural controls" aren't best here. The copilot merely released the tail lock a few seconds early (the difference between mach 1 and mach 1.4). I gather if they had waited a few seconds later, then they might as well not bother unlocking the tail until just before entry several minutes later, and hope it works.

Ahead of NTSB

[savuporo]

Ok, here are claims made without a final conclusion by NTSB anywhere in sight. How the heck can they assume that NTSB does not come out and burn their entire design to ground ? How do they even assume NTSB investigation will conclude before end of the year ?

What a hubris.

Your design grandfather Rutan retired years ago, your chief designer left the company .. and you are still making these grandiose claims ?

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, if they sit on their dicks and do nothing, then they will be two years behind. However, if they plan and the schedule slips, that's okay. Give you a hint, we plan to fly every day, and if an incident causes that to change,well, that's tolerable, but we keep being able to fly every day.