Posted on 07/20/2007 6:57:21 PM PDT by saganite
He's due for retirement. Maybe a book deal.
I was generalizing, of course. But I wonder if Northrop Grumman really shares the same vision as Burt Rutan (ie. low-cost access to space)? Time will tell.
Of course maybe Burt saw a chance to make some serious bucks to start yet another company. Although, why re-invent a wheel you're already running and building, if you don't have to.
I guess it all depends on how much N/G values Burt, and whether or not they will allow him the autonomy, backed with their resources, to get where they both want to go. Assuming they both have the same goals.
I can't think of any airline that builds it s own aircraft. It would be better for someone else to handle the mass production end, and let Rutan do what he does best.
That has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with Leftist labor politics.
The airframe and aircraft equipment manufacturers were prohibited from owning an air carrier in 1934.
This was done to force the breakup of the trusts such as United Aircraft and Transportation Company.
Note that UATC was a vertically integrated aircraft/engine/propeller/transportation company. They built their products and then operated them - sounds reasonable, right?
Didn't sound reasonable at all to the newly emergent Airline Pilots Association, the union now known as ALPA. They didn't have the smarts or the capital to build their own airplanes as the vertically integrated companies did.
You can read about it a bit more here: Federal anti-trust actions cause United Aircraft and Transport, a Boeing conglomerate, to dissolve on September 26, 1934 .
This law - which still exists - is probably one of the great reasons why there is only one significant commercial airframe manufacturer in the U.S. but 10 to 20 significant commerical airlines.
Why would they throw away business? Particularly such a high-profile piece of business?
Good enough place to bump this thread for later reading. I’ve been a fan of Burt Rutan for more than 25 years.
Virgin Galactic has reported their sales are on the high side of their original projections, with more sales this year than this time last year, despite expectations that sales would slide down after the original SS1 flights.
The business where Virgin Galactic buys several vehicles from them, as stipulated by the existing contract between them. Are you claiming that Virgin Galactic is going to renege on the deal? If so, on what basis?
So much for private space travel. Northrup Grumman depends on government contracts to survive.
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