(Frank Hitlaw) wrote in message . com...
(pacplyer) wrote in message . com...
Richard Lamb wrote
NOW (finally) we might get a better story that the
silly superficial questions asked by the news media.

How about this Richard: America has returned to manned space
launches... and it's not NASA!

We rocked around in an RV all night in 40 kt winds the night before
and were worried that the launch was going to be scrubbed. But
luckily high pressure was over the area and wind died down right
before taxi out. My friend Bubba flew Richard Branson in to Mojave in
a high dollar three blade helo and then landed him back on the top of
the theme restaurant at LAX (he just can't seem to make a low profile
entry anywhere!) William Shantner was supposedly there as well as Buzz
Aldrin. Most of the event was covered by a local FM station but they
screwed it up pretty bad so we just listened to the scanner. The wind
was still blowing stiff after t/o on top of our RV so I missed a lot
of the air to air conversation, but if anybody wants, I'll try to
narrate what I saw in detail. The test pilot community let me in on a
little secret: a major control failure occurred during launch and the
gyro Rutan used for attitude control tumbled (lost alignment.) This
caused an unplanned departure from the vertical profile. Mike M. took
over manually and saved the son of a bitch just in time! However,
this S-turn maneuver put them over 20 miles off course on the re-entry
window!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++snip++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

pacplyer

Amen Pac, did you read the press release from the May 13 flight?They
lost the platform on that flight as well. Maybe the INU just isn't up
to the sort of loads or speed they achieve.

Frank

No I didn't know that Frank, thanks. You could be right. I wonder
what Mike used for guidance reference? The sun? I'll ask my friend
who works for scaled next time I see him.

I forgot to mention that due to the wild S-turns the vehicle's apogee
topped out only 400 feet above 100K! That was according to Edwards
preliminary telemetry. That's so close I wonder if the other
contenders for the X-prize will try to challenge the data?

Another interesting fubar is the FAA issuing a new commercial license
rating to a 62 year old. He can't fly again for pay unless the fuzz
raises the mandatory retirement age above 60 for everybody! Raising
it is something the FAA has been against forever. Mike's probably
saying: "Thanks a lot FAA!" As usual, here's the government here to
help you. No wonder the guys at scaled hate big gov interference so
much. Maybe I'm wrong on this. Maybe it's under part 91 glider and
it doesn't matter. But he's rocket powered going up. WTF? Anybody
know?

pac