NTSB Report on Spaceship Two Mishap

[kham]

NTSB Reports Stuff

Space Ref Business


The short version is, that they had assumed in the control configuration, no one would possibly (be insane enough) enabling the feather system at transonic speeds. Eg, there was no Fail-Safe system in place. Anyone who has had the tiniest experience in aviation, or any technological profession for that matter, knows that that, is the fucking dumbest thing you could possibly deduce or ASSUME.

Some interesting vid thats new, and stuff on the poor bastard who survived. He didn't bale out. Per Se. He was essentially rocketing through the sky still strapped to his seat, a unique experience to be sure
Lucky

[DangerGirl]

Another failure of imagination that led to a cascade of failures on both the human factors and systems fronts. Funny that the FAA granted the waivers without Scaled Composites even asking for them or participating in the waiver process.

I couldn't tell from the photos what kinds of detents are in place on the feather lock/unlock switch and the feather handles themselves, but in the complex aircraft I've flown, there's almost always some kind of finger lift, extra motion, or extra pressure you're required to overcome in order to activate or shutdown a critical system. Based on the write-up, though, I'm not sure any of that would have helped, since it seemed like the copilot intentionally unlocked the feather system. Whether he was unaware it was too early or he just didn't understand the consequences of unlocking the feather prior to Mach 1.4, we may never know. Checklist discipline is essential, especially in test flying, and the entire checklist should not be boldface. Apparently, the designers had some idea the loads imposed on the airframe during transonic flight could result in a failure of the feather retraction system, hence the procedures for waiting until the craft was established in the supersonic regime before unlocking it. It doesn't look like they considered that a serious enough possibility to hammer the procedure into the crewmember's heads, though.

The history of aviation and spaceflight is written in blood, unfortunately. Hopefully, the heavy hand of government regulation won't descent upon this program, and Scaled Composites will be allowed to learn from the mistakes made and correct them.

[kham]

Written in Blood seems to have been forgotten by too many who really should know better

Was watching the other day some stuff on carrier landing mishaps, and the one little thing that can really make a bad day. The friction setting on throttle not tight enough; not holding on to the cat grip properly; deck spotting; not watching the ball or LSO. All these things the new arrivals to Naval Aviation haven't got into just yet.
Some of the stuff on the NF-104 was interesting, how Chuck got hurt, burned pretty bad. But from that, the USAF changed the mix in the pressure suit/spacesuits from pure O2 to an air mix. And NASA... well they kept using pure O2 right up until Apollo 1 . Irony really is a terrible thing

The new video was very good quality, crystal sharp. It looks like the on-board cam failed just as the feathering system started to come apart. The pilot, aside from using up his luck for the rest of his life, must have been startled as hell to be sailing through the sky in the seat sans aircraft. Jesus

[nachtjaeger]

Not to belittle what the poor guy went through, but I'm picturing the craft breaking up around him, and him sitting in his seat holding the control yoke just like Wiley Coyote.

Written in Blood seems to have been forgotten by too many who really should know better

Was watching the other day some stuff on carrier landing mishaps, and the one little thing that can really make a bad day. The friction setting on throttle not tight enough; not holding on to the cat grip properly; deck spotting; not watching the ball or LSO. All these things the new arrivals to Naval Aviation haven't got into just yet.
Some of the stuff on the NF-104 was interesting, how Chuck got hurt, burned pretty bad. But from that, the USAF changed the mix in the pressure suit/spacesuits from pure O2 to an air mix. And NASA... well they kept using pure O2 right up until Apollo 1 . Irony really is a terrible thing

The new video was very good quality, crystal sharp. It looks like the on-board cam failed just as the feathering system started to come apart. The pilot, aside from using up his luck for the rest of his life, must have been startled as hell to be sailing through the sky in the seat sans aircraft. Jesus

[kham]

Cartoon aside, that's exactly what happened to him.

[Mynock]

Most people would never try to put their transmission into reverse while the car was moving forward either.......but most modern vehicles have a lock out to prevent you from doing it. Brain farts happen. Sometimes they kill......