Space Ship 2

[dhanners]

As someone who spent 37 years as a newspaper reporter -- and covered his share of air crashes -- I have to say I really resent some of the things being said here. The reporters on the ground are doing their best in a tough situation. Virgin and Scaled Composites are notoriously tight-lipped even when things work as planned. When something goes awry, they are even more so, and while it may be a private venture, it is still government-regulated so some transparency is in order.

And much of the original reporting on the departure of various experts from the company was done by the aerospace specialty press. The fact that a number of technical experts left the company is newsworthy, and the safety concerns that have been raised can't be dismissed.

Yeah, some initial reports don't stand up as more information comes out. That is the nature of the business, particularly when dealing with companies/governments/sources that are less than forthcoming. It is probably true in your daily life, as well.

As someone who once spent 22 months "inside" the NTSB on a story, I can also assure you investigators work the same way. The theories they have at the beginning of an investigation fall by the wayside as new information comes to light. Like the news, you're not going to have every answer delivered neatly wrapped 24 hours after the crash.

Then again, everybody likes to complain about reporters because they think the job is easy and/or glamorous. It is neither. It is hard work. And no matter what you do, some armchair "expert" is going to complain.

Now back to modeling....

[Isaac]

If you can see the entire video from the ground view, then that will help explain at least the visuals symptoms. Start at the moment of drop and then lets see it thru the in-flight event/breakup etc...This was a flight test and as such it is very well instrumented and videoed.

I have only seen a video snippet of the drop and then you see an explosion within a couple of seconds. That leads us to believe it was an engine issue. However, I have no idea if it was edited.


I'm sure more details will come out.



To me, the real mystery is not this "space ship crash"! It is where is MH370? How could an airplane disappear today?



Isaac


Isaac

[OhioMike]

My grandfather once said......shut up and listen! Its always the smart play!
Mike

[umtutsut]

Originally Posted by dhanners

As someone who once spent 22 months "inside" the NTSB on a story, I can also assure you investigators work the same way. The theories they have at the beginning of an investigation fall by the wayside as new information comes to light. Like the news, you're not going to have every answer delivered neatly wrapped 24 hours after the crash..

And as someone whose job for almost 20 years in FAA public affairs has been covering aviation accidents, I'll second David's sentiments.

Les (The Voice of Authority -- VoiceofAuthority.net - The Voice Stylings of Les Dorr, Jr.)

[airdave]

The theories they have at the beginning of an investigation fall by the wayside as new information comes to light.

This is not a commentary on the hard and dangerous work many reporters do,
but it is not okay (with me) for reporters to give "theories" of any kind.
They are "reporters" ...not "theorists".
Sheldon Cooper is a theorist.
It is not okay (with me) to give me your speculations or suppostions
and then amend your statements and facts later on.

This is why lynch mobs don't work...take the first "evidence" and run with it.
Unfortunately the wrong guy gets strung up before the real facts are known.

The argument that the "public needs to know", "the public has questions"
doesn't work for me...because I just proved, with my original question, that what I needed to know
was just caused by possibly erroneous reporting of the facts.
The premature news story is what caused my confusion.

I don't need anything more than "the Virgin Galactic spacecraft has crashed.
We will give you more information once it is known and completely verified."

I am of course referring more to TV shows like CNN, and websites like USAtoday,
that are desperate for things to broadcast and love to turn the smallest of news story into a big media production.
Its the sensationalizing of stories that irks me.

In-depth reporters who live and breath their news stories...authors and serious journalists deserve my full respect.
No argument.

But Wolf (monotone) Blitzer and his band of Entertainment Tonight rejects need to stop talking.
[lol sorry...just my opinion]

[looker]

Probably the best and least sensational source of emerging information -
BBC News - US & Canada
current item at
BBC News - Virgin Galactic crash: Pilots' actions analysed

[murphyaa]

All this reminds me of the NBC story from the 90's that a certain pickup truck was dangerous, because the fuel tank would rupture and explode in side impacts. They then went about attempting to recreate this, and couldn't. So, they rigged it so it would happen.
NBC go BOOM!

[bdismont737]

The last time I checked this forum wasn't Flying Magazine, Jane's, Aviation Week or Popular Science. It's a forum for people who build paper models. We are aviation and aerospace enthusiasts from a variety of backgrounds all gathered together to learn more about their favorite subject.

When an accident happens in the real world, the natural tendency is for people to speculate and ask why? There is no such thing as a dumb question. You ask the question, get a more accurate response, then you read articles and see what others are saying. Educate yourself on the subject and decides which insights are ridiculous and which ones sound more rational. You learn a little more and ask another question.

When the NTSB finally gives it's report on Spaceship II, hopefully we'll all be a little smarter about high speed travel, mach numbers and aerodynamic stresses. You can then see how far off you and all the armchair quarterbacks were and learn what those differences in opinion and fact were. At least it'll make you a more educated builder, voter or investor in a field we all love so much.

No one should be discouraged from asking a question. There are countries like Russia, China, Iran etc. Where a military accident will be buried and no one, not even the press can ask for clarification. People speculating on the internet would also be censored. That's why I live here.

Someone once said:
"It's going to be very, very exciting. But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy"

Speculate all you want, and ask all the questions you want and educate yourself in the process. So the next time you're struggling with the rigging on a Sopwith Camel model or trying to make sure the vertical stabilizer on an F-16 looks straight, it should bring the model builder closer to the difficulties of the engineers who are designing aircraft that can perform at high speeds without coming apart. Trial and error leads to progress.

The last thing we want is for some senator or congressmen trying to crush space travel and especially the private sector of space travel because "it's just too dangerous."

Be an informed citizen.