Can Branson Charge For Flights In An Experimental Aircraft?

On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:22:05 -0800 (PST), Jeff Dougherty
wrote in
:

On Jan 28, 12:04 pm, Larry Dighera wrote:
Is Branson going to certify White Knight Two and SpaceShipTwo?

I believe the FAA has issued rules allowing private suborbital
spacecraft to carry paying passengers using a launch license rules
rather than aircraft certification. Essentially, launch licenses only
require the operator to certify that the uninvolved public will not be
unduly put in danger by the flight- they do *not* require the operator
to prove that the passengers will not be endangered. I believe
there's a requirement that the pax sign releases saying that they
understand the terms under which the flight is being conducted, but I
could be wrong.

There was actually a fairly big argument in the nascent suborbital
passenger community a few years ago as to whether suborbital
operations should be covered under certification or launch licenses.
Burt Rutan (designer of the WK/SS1 system) actually wanted to
implement something akin to certification, arguing that the new
industry had to be safe for passengers or it would never get off the
ground. Most other would-be suborbital operators disagreed, arguing
that there was not enough data currently available on suborbital ops
to even define what certification standards should be in that regime,
let alone determine whether or not their vehicles met those standards,
and that if they were required to certify their vehicles it would
effectively strange the industry in its cradle by delaying revenue-
producing flights for too long. The launch license guys have won out
for the moment, although I believe there's a Congressman who keeps
trying to legislatively change the rules.

-JTD


This is interesting information. Thank you for your input.

It would seem that Sir Branson has found a way to generate revenue
with suborbital flights despite Mr. Rutan's admonition. It will be
interesting to see how commercialized suborbital recreational
operations progress.

Larry Dighera wrote in
:



This is interesting information. Thank you for your input.


Dead and cold in the ground.....

Soooo cold.

Bertie

I haven't followed this argument and I'm not going to go back and read it so
if this has been mentioned before please ignore this comment.

The FAA is an American regulatory agency. They have absolutely no say in
anything the rest of us might do, thank God. If Branson is interested in
investing huge quantities of cash into making something like this happen I
doubt some piddly little American agency will stop him.

Andreus wrote:
I haven't followed this argument and I'm not going to go back and read it so
if this has been mentioned before please ignore this comment.

The FAA is an American regulatory agency. They have absolutely no say in
anything the rest of us might do, thank God. If Branson is interested in
investing huge quantities of cash into making something like this happen I
doubt some piddly little American agency will stop him.



Well, considering Mr. Branson wants to launch those aircraft from a spot
out in the USAian desert the FAA will have a say in it.

Andreus wrote:
I haven't followed this argument and I'm not going to go back and read it so
if this has been mentioned before please ignore this comment.

The FAA is an American regulatory agency. They have absolutely no say in
anything the rest of us might do, thank God. If Branson is interested in
investing huge quantities of cash into making something like this happen I
doubt some piddly little American agency will stop him.



No matter where you launch an object into space, the local government is
going to have an interest and is likely to intervene. And if you do
find someplace where this is not in fact true, then I expect the rest of
the world will take an acute interest and feel the need to police your
activities when you do start to hurl stuff into orbit.

Charles