Back to Squawk list
  • 57

Virgin Galactic: Spaceship Encounters Inflight ‘Anomaly’ During Test Flight

Übermittelt
 
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — An aircraft used by Virgin Galactic for space travel experimentation encountered a problem Friday during testing, the company said. SpaceShipTwo, carried by WhiteKnightTwo, launched at 9:19 a.m. from a location in the Mojave Desert, according to officials from the company, which is owned by Sir Richard Branson. (losangeles.cbslocal.com) Mehr...

Sort type: [Top] [Newest]


ArthurNetteler
An "anomaly" is when gauges give crazy readings or a system does not function as normal. A "CATASTROPHIC FAILURE" is when it blows up in mid-flight!!! We can not even report on an aircraft failure, with out putting "PC SPIN" on the results!
joelwiley
joel wiley 1
From OED:
noun (plural anomalies)
1 Something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected:

One would hope that a catastrophic failure would be out of the ordinary.
Congressional failures of the catastrophic variety are, sadly, non-anomalous.
preacher1
preacher1 0
Well, it obviously wasn't normal.
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
They call this an "anomaly"... Geez... They loose the spacecraft and one person dies.... I would hate to see what they call at Tragedy.
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 3
I don't know about the airline industry, but in the rocket / space industry, the term anomaly is used whenever anything unexpected occurs regardless of seriousness or lack thereof. Once an anomaly has been declared, of course the verbiage will change as answers unravel. Be realistic
gerasimenko1961
НИ ВСЕ ВРУБАЮТСЯ О ЧЁМ РЕЧЬ НА АНГЛИЙСКОМ. ДЕЛАЙТЕ ПЕРЕВОД...
KevinBrown
Kevin Brown 1
Listen LIVE Kern County Fire: http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/7573/web
pclifton
Philip Clifton 1
CHP reports one fatality, one major injury:

https://twitter.com/AP/status/528257820723257345
boco1980
Bobby Coles 1
Feels like 'anomaly' is the the wrong adjective to use...
TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff 1
At least one fatality, SpaceShipTwo destroyed:

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/10/one-feared-dead-as-virgin-galactic-spaceshiptwo-destroyed-in-test-flight/
preacher1
preacher1 1
Update from NTSB on CBS this morning said that Co-pilot unlocked FEATHERS while still accelerating and aerodynamic forces took them on up to fully deployed position.

[This poster has been suspended.]

Bernie20910
Bernie20910 1
Getting reports of strong earthquakes around Fiji right now. Hope you're safe.
nasdisco
Chris B 1
pictures http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2816224/Virgin-Galactic-SpaceShipTwo-exploded-45-000ft-One-pilot-dead-critical-Richard-Branson-s-500m-space-tourism-plane-blows-testing-new-fuel-California-desert.html
ltcjra
ltcjra 1
N33955 is shown on Fox News as crashed in the Mojave Desert. Searching for parachute seen leaving aircraft in the air.
neillaferty
Neil Laferty 1
I thought N33955 at first too, but it seems WeatherWise is correct. http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=339SS
anthony96
omg wow
joelwiley
joel wiley 1
Anomaly, with traditional British tendency to the understatement.

captoso
My coffee had a different color this morning. That was an anomaly, this was a g.damn disaster.
British tendencies:
4 engine BOAC on first flight with passengers California to Hawaii and enroute all 4 quit. First Officer says to Captain "Awfully quiet, isn't it"
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 1
It has nothing to do with country of origin. It has to do with its industry. Why can't people just read a news item, absorb what's happened, and stop trying to be editors. There is so much criticism over certain verbiage - which is correct in this article - that it's as though you can't wait to spot what you think is an error, or a typo or a grammatical error. Read the article with what it's about in mind, rather than what you can find wrong with it.
joelwiley
joel wiley 1
The British tendency to understatement has much to to with the country of origin.
You may be correct on the use of the term anomaly in the aviation industry, I am not intimate with the industry jargon. The thought just occurred to me. With this the 4th flight of an envelope-pushing craft, how do you determine what is 'normal'? One may hypothesize craft behavior, but does that establish the norm with such a small sample size?
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 1
Well, Joel, the engineers and aerospace scientists knew exactly what was supposed to happen at exactly what time. If they didn't the test wouldn't have been scheduled. Unfortunately, that isn't the way it went - hence - an anomaly.
preacher1
preacher1 1
Well, one thing for certain, regardless of what you call; either SOMEONE screwed up bigtime or SOMTHING BROKE, and it wasn't in the plans for it to happen.
btweston
btweston -1
Yeah. Those filthy Brits and their appropriate use of vocabulary...
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 0
Hear hear!!!! Judging by the down vote, someone is too uninformed to understand your point.
wakechaserphoto
Hate to hear of any Aviator losing their life but if N.A.S.A Lose 2 space shuttles out of 5 to "Rocket and Heat Shield Problems"what hope does the private sector have?!
bbabis
bbabis 0
The private sector can almost always accomplish a mission much more effectively than a government if the government would just get out of the way. Along the same lines, our current government is helpless against ISIS while Blackwater could probably clear up the anomaly in a few months if turned loose.
chalet
chalet 1
Did not you understand when reading about the Virgin Galatic CATASTROPHIC ACCIDENT that is was an entirely private sector venture, design and funding and look what happened. Did not you comprehend when reading about the recent Antares rocket CATASTROPHIC EXPLOSION just after liftoff that it was a private enterprise venture. Just one more accident of the Virgin Atlantic and perhaps two more explosions of the Anteres rocket and those companies will fold forever. Rocket science for all its advances since the first thing Goddard and others launched is an entremely risky business that demands billions of dollars so there is no other way, it got to be a government activity.
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 1
Even if it's a "government" activity, a bid is put out and the rockets are outsourced to the private sector, .
chalet
chalet 1
Not outsurced, they are ordered to manufacturers who indeed do a good job, but the managing of the enormous complexities of space activities is done basically by government personnel.
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 1
The government sends out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to maybe 3 companies, maybe 100 companies. Then a selection is made and the job awarded to private industry. Exactly what complexities of space activities you're talking about, I'm unaware of. We may be saying the same thing, just differently. My only point is that the government typically doesn't design or manufacture the rockets.
preacher1
preacher1 1
An you are correct, at least in the case of the private rocket. The launch complex and all was built and maintained by the government.
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 1
Right. And this rocket didn't blow up at the launch complex. It was released and flew under rocket power. To me, this one's not on the government ... it didn't happen at the launch complex. The anomaly occurred while the rocket was flying by its own power. 'Til tomorrow - see ya.
preacher1
preacher1 1
Well, you are correct in that it got airborne. LOL

[This poster has been suspended.]

ltcjra
ltcjra 0
I see N339SS is listed as having no engine. If that was the case, there would have been no explosion.
davidrbarnes
David Barnes 1
I read somewhere in the aftermath of the incident that because the vast majority of the flight is unpowered/gliding, it was classified as a glider. Unfortunately, I can't find a citation for this.

Seemingly the FAA and Scaled Composites were having to find flexibility in categories since this aircraft has/had no parallel in existing checkboxes.
WeatherWise
WeatherWise 1
The N number is clearly visible not only on the wreckage but on any image of the craft that a quick Google search on your part would provide. So despite your defiance and possible need of glasses, the tail number STILL remains N339SS.
preacher1
preacher1 0
That's what it looks like to me and it's kinda strange they would be testing a new fuel formulation with no engine.
joelwiley
joel wiley 2
New fuel mix implies old fuel mix which in turn implies an engine. Local newspaper reports this was the fourth powered flight.
Connorg
(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Crashes

One test pilot has died and another has been seriously injured in the crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo during a test flight from Mojave Air and Space Port, California. The company said that the spacecraft suffered an anomaly that resulted in loss of the vehicle. Parachutes were reportedly sighted in the area. One witness said he saw an in-flight explosion and saw debris of the spacecraft scattered across a small are...

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Virgin-Galactics-SpaceShipTwo-Crashes-Updated223025-1.html?redirected=1
preacher1
preacher1 0
Not been a good week for private space travel, at least that is where the media will pick up. They seem to forget the early days of NASA.
OnTheHorizon
Tony Smith 2
Almost every advance forward involves risk, but everybody seems to think everything should be 100% safe. Life is not safe. If we had the attitude now that we did today, the US would never have gone to the moon after the Apollo launch pad fire. Instead they learned and moved on. Today kids can't play in play grounds because they might fall and skin their knee, and the lawyers are at the ready to ca$h in.
joelwiley
joel wiley 2
pushing the envelope is an inherently dangerous endeavor and always has been.
It appears nowadays that any activity is fertile ground for generating some lawyer's billable hours... just saying.
clabo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ErkeFA-QWk

:D
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 1
Kids don't play in playgrounds today not because of the fear of a skinned knee, but rather the fear of being kidnapped and never seen alive again! Why is everyone so skeptical about most all things?!
chalet
chalet -2
One thing was putting men on the Moon and the advances made in various fronts of technology and quite another that billionaires (Branson and Allen a former Microsoft exec) fund this contraption so that millonaires paying A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS just to brag that they traveled through THE SPACE. This goes up to just 100 km altitude (Space is zillon-light years wide and in length), stay there for a few seconds and then drop down to earth. What is to be gained from this, nothing.
btweston
btweston -3
They buried the lede on this one: Bieber was not on board.
ltcjra
ltcjra -1
(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

Virgin Galactic spaceship has in-flight problem

he company tweeted Friday morning that SpaceShipTwo was flying under rocket power and then tweeted that it had "experienced an in-flight anomaly." The tweet said more information would be forthcoming.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/31/virgin-galactic-spaceship-problem/18253295/
Seadog36
Sacha Botbol -1
(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

Virgin Galactic Spaceship2 Crashes

WP video on breaking story of Virgin Galactic crash.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/national/virgin-galactic-spaceshiptwo-crashes-during-test-flight/2014/10/31/e42fd214-6140-11e4-827b-2d813561bdfd_video.html

Anmelden

Haben Sie kein Konto? Jetzt (kostenlos) registrieren für kundenspezifische Funktionen, Flugbenachrichtigungen und vieles mehr!
Wussten Sie schon, dass die Flugverfolgung auf FlightAware durch Werbung finanziert wird?
Sie können uns dabei helfen, FlightAware weiterhin kostenlos anzubieten, indem Sie Werbung auf FlightAware.com zulassen. Wir engagieren uns dafür, dass unsere Werbung auch in Zukunft zweckmäßig und unaufdringlich ist und Sie beim Surfen nicht stört. Das Erstellen einer Positivliste für Anzeigen auf FlightAware geht schnell und unkompliziert. Alternativ können Sie sich auch für eines unserer Premium-Benutzerkonten entscheiden..
Schließen