leadnews

Success in spite of failures is arguably a more significant success. And for those who can simply read the numbers and quotes, for those who were not there, we must convey that this event was truly epic. To be there, it seemed the emotion behind every eye that had strained into the sky was shared […]

Not operating on a discreet frequency spurred some tense pre-launch moments, too, as organizers asked the crowd (some listening on handhelds) just 10 minutes before the expected drop time to check for a stuck mic. After the drop from White Knight and rocket ignition, the crowd was informed at 7:53 that they “just got the […]

328,491 Feet, 2.9 Mach, and Awaiting Confirmation … Sixty-three-year-old Mike Melville’s flight Monday in Burt Rutan’s design, funded privately to the tune of roughly $20 million by Paul G. Allen, and built mainly by a group of no more than 30 individuals (though all of Scaled Composites’ 120 or so employees had a hand in […]

Meanwhile, at least two federal agencies appear to be at odds over whether the big tankers will be back in time for any part of this year’s fire season. Last Sunday, Forest Service officials told a meeting of western governors what they wanted to hear, namely that the agency will consider putting at least some […]

During its investigations of the accidents, NTSB staff found that some Dromader pilots were “flying the drop run at an airspeed that was slower than the recommended airspeed for a fire retardant drop.” The BLM’s two-day stand down was intended to allow pilots to “re-familiarize themselves with the operational specifications of the airplane.” The stand […]

Crashes Spark Safety Stand-Down … While various federal agencies ponder the relative safety of 33 currently grounded large air tankers, the NTSB has pointed out that the single-engine air tankers (SEATs) that are to replace them have some safety issues of their own. In fact, the big tankers were essentially pulled from service because of […]

Rutan hopes success in this venture would initiate a new private space race to usher affordable space travel to the common (perhaps upper-upper-middle class) man. Rutan estimates first-generation public spacecraft — and SpaceShipOne is scaleable — will offer “rides” at $30,000-50,000 and second-generation craft will do it for closer to $10,000. “We’re heading to orbit […]

To Space: For the People, By the People … If it’s before 10:30 a.m. (Eastern Time), you may want to click through to KLOA online radio to see if their bandwidth can accommodate you for a live audio feed of the “first civilian pilot to cross the border of space in a civilian-funded vehicle” … […]

As for security protocols at your local GA airport, the general feeling at the TSA is that the voluntary guidelines are working. “These guidelines were the end result of a truly collaborative effort among many industry groups, and they were all agreed to 100 percent,” said Steven Calabro, GA security inspector. “Our aim was to […]

Albracht added that his office has no control over presidential TFRs. “As long as the president travels outside the White House, and presidential candidates are moving around, there will be TFRs,” he said. But the TSA office does have discretion over many other TFR requests, and many are turned down. Many large events, such as […]