Posted on 07/18/2009 1:31:20 PM PDT by KevinDavis
OSHKOSH (WKOW) -- The new, mothership for Sr Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceship will make several low passes upon arrival at Oshkosh to open the Airventure Airshow on Monday afternoon, July 27.
It will be the aircraft's first public appearance.
The White Knight Two is the aircraft that will carry Branson's commercial spacecraft to a high altitude before releasing it for a launch into suborbital space.
(Excerpt) Read more at wkowtv.com ...
Now that’s a neat looking airplane!
It looks like the victim of a dimensional shift.
Actually, it is a result of Rutan’s thinking outside of the box!
Sometimes theres a reason for the box
Rutan has proved over and over that the box is often either too small and/or in the wrong place.
“Rutan has proved over and over that the box is often either too small and/or in the wrong place.”
Sometimes it is, sometimes its not. He’s more unorthodox that other designers but I don’t see how he’s any better.
The laws of aviation are written in blood.
Bert hasn’t been wrong yet!
“Bert hasn’t been wrong yet!”
He hasn’t? How about when they had that explosion and 2 people died?
Or his first “spaceship” that went as high as amateur rockets have and nearly killed its pilots
How about WhiteKnightOne/SpaceShipOne?
What about Boomerang's solution to the single-engine-failure-in-a-twin problem?
His Plans & Construction manual for the Vari-Eze was worth the price just to see how an instruction manual should be written.
"The laws of aviation are written in blood."
Yes, and don't forget that "There are Old pilots and Bold pilots, there are no Old, Bold pilots!"
I have had a number of friends die in aviation, some from trying to ignore the laws of physics. I would trust one of Burt Rutan's design at least as much as anything else I've ever flown. He is not only extremely competent. He has as much engineering integrity as anyone I can name, including Dick VanGrunsven.
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