Posted on 11/02/2014 8:18:07 PM PST by BenLurkin
Early analysis suggests that a violent structural failure rather than an engine explosion may have caused the crash of Virgin Galactic LLC’s experimental rocket ship Friday, according to safety experts and one person familiar with details of the investigation.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s probe of the accident is just beginning and it could change direction, these people said. But based on video footage and preliminary data analysis, they said, investigators are focusing on aerodynamic forces that could have caused the dramatic in-flight rupture of the craft, which killed one pilot and seriously injured the other. Because some engine malfunctions can sharply increase structural loads, it is too early to rule anything out, they said.
...
SpaceShip Two’s fuel tanks and engine were recovered largely intact. The hybrid motor fueled by nitrous oxide and a plastic-based compound were found some 5 miles from where large sections of the tail first hit the ground. Sections of the fuselage, fuel tanks and cockpit were located some distance from the engine itself.
The condition and location of various pieces of the wreckage suggest there was no propulsion-system explosion before the craft starting coming apart miles above California’s Mojave Desert, according to air-safety experts who have reviewed the images.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Always worried that one of those "flutter down" wings would malfunction during a reentry. Never thought it would be during a climb.
I am not totally sold on plastic airplanes
the idea here is,
as cheap as possible
Branson’s a Socialist. Makes total sense.
I’m wondering how many spacecraft experts the NTSB has on-staff.
Seriously, I suppose they will have to learn - but wouldn’t NASA be of more help here?
“Branson’s a Socialist. Makes total sense.”
Branson probably is, but that has nothing to do with the material used in the aircraft. That’s a remainder from Burt Rutan, who has a near fetish for composites. And I’m not saying they can’t be used, but facts are facts. We’ve been building aircraft out of metal for almost 90 years, and we know all of its strengths and limitations. Composites are relatively new, and still have lots of unknowns.
I was wondering when they would give up on the original propellant that they were using for this rocket. It never was powerful enough to be anything other than for joy rides. If it was a structural issue, maybe the new propellant had too much force for the airframe. But the designers of this system are certainly among the best aircraft designers who ever lived, and it’s hard to believe that they wouldn’t have taken that into account.
5 miles in which direction? - up range or down range?
It was initially but the project was handed off from Scaled Composites to a subsidiary of Virgin in 2012. So now I don’t now.
Can you explain why that matters? I am interested in your opinion.
It sort of sounds like one or both of the tail sections broke off first and the engines and fuselage kept going for awhile. Initially they talked like the engine might have blown, but it sounds like the engine and fuel tank were pretty much intact. So maybe the tail broke off and they lost control, or the thrust of the engines was too much for the fuselage and something else happened. I suppose they’ll figure it out eventually.
My guess...and I said this on the original thread I posted Friday...is that the engine might have “hiccuped.” It ignited but there was a disrupting in supply, maybe a temporary “clog.” It restarted but the force was too much for the air frame, it failed and the flutter down wings were torn off.
There weren’t any visible burn or explosion marks on the pieces on the desert floor.
System to help Virgin spaceship descend deployed early - NTSB
so much for the feathering idea ...
Airbus 350 XWB.
I don’t know about the 350, but the 787 which is considered a composite aircraft is still 50% metal.
There should be some sort of mechanism to prevent that from happening.
The TMRO show did an interview with a couple of guys who were there on the ground during the Virgin Galactic test flight.
We are joined by Doug Messier of ParabolicArc.com and photographer Ken Brown (AP Photo’s) who were in Mojave watching SpaceShipTwo’s flight. A day before the SpaceShipTwo accident Doug wrote an amazing article about why Scaled Composites and the SpaceShipTwo engine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpno4_o65fQ&list=UU2s0KlNEQSDfXGVPIPidxpw
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