Virgin Galactic crash: spaceship breakup may have been down to pilot error
TomoNews US
2015-04-14
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The Virgin Galactic spaceship that crashed on Friday in the Mojave Desert, killing one pilot and seriously injuring the other, may have broken up mid-air, the acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Christopher Hart, told a third public briefing on the crash on Sunday.
Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo cargo aircraft took off with SpaceShipTwo from the Mojave Air and Space Port at 9:18 a.m. on Friday morning.
After SpaceShipTwo detached from the mothership, and nine seconds after its rocket engine was ignited, the spacecraft’s feathers were unlocked by the pilot. According to investigators the features were unlocked too early, Reuters reported.
Two seconds later, the spacecraft’s feathers moved to a vertical position of their own, before reaching the deployment-safe speed of mach 1.4. According to the Los Angeles Times, the pilots would normally have to first unlock the feathers and afterwards move a separate lever to manually deploy the feathers.
Investigators think that as a consequence, the feathers detached from the main body mid-air, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The spaceship’s fuel tanks and engines were found largely intact, leading investigators to exclude an explosion as the cause of the accident.
One pilot ejected from the plane and parachuted to the ground, surviving with serious injuries. The other pilot was killed. His body was found among the wreckage about 20 miles northeast of the city of Mojave.
Because it was on a test flight, the spacecraft was filmed by several recording devices, including six onboard video cameras, a radar and a chase plane.
According to the Los Angeles Times, it could take investigators up to a year to determine the cause of the accident.
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Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo cargo aircraft took off with SpaceShipTwo from the Mojave Air and Space Port at 9:18 a.m. on Friday morning.
After SpaceShipTwo detached from the mothership, and nine seconds after its rocket engine was ignited, the spacecraft’s feathers were unlocked by the pilot. According to investigators the features were unlocked too early, Reuters reported.
Two seconds later, the spacecraft’s feathers moved to a vertical position of their own, before reaching the deployment-safe speed of mach 1.4. According to the Los Angeles Times, the pilots would normally have to first unlock the feathers and afterwards move a separate lever to manually deploy the feathers.
Investigators think that as a consequence, the feathers detached from the main body mid-air, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The spaceship’s fuel tanks and engines were found largely intact, leading investigators to exclude an explosion as the cause of the accident.
One pilot ejected from the plane and parachuted to the ground, surviving with serious injuries. The other pilot was killed. His body was found among the wreckage about 20 miles northeast of the city of Mojave.
Because it was on a test flight, the spacecraft was filmed by several recording devices, including six onboard video cameras, a radar and a chase plane.
According to the Los Angeles Times, it could take investigators up to a year to determine the cause of the accident.
-------------------------------------------------------------
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