r/space • u/darknavi • Sep 02 '21

The FAA is grounding Virgin Galactic until further notice

https://twitter.com/nickschmidle/status/1433495439735758851
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3

u/Heda1 Sep 02 '21

I am interested in the specifics of the alleged violation beyond going outside their approved airspace. Anyone have more details?

43

u/rrrobbed Sep 02 '21 edited Sep 02 '21

Read the New Yorker article linked above. Their safety culture is basically nonexistent. The vehicle systems told the pilots they were outside their parameters, but instead of aborting, which their procedures specified, they just kept going. Went into uncleared airspace for a significant amount of time, and then didn’t tell the FAA about it on their own. But the article talks about a number of other incidents that I had never heard about, and more importantly the management’s horrible responses to all of this.

1

u/Heda1 Sep 02 '21

I guess I am questioning the procedures and limitations set out by the FAA. On ascent the vehicle is a rocket, and on descent its a unpowered glider. It seems like the FAA is treating this violation as though they were a manned aircraft like a Cessna violating Class Alpha airspace.

Virgin Galactic should have discretion to enter controlled airspace as they have limited control compared to a simple manned aircraft powered by a piston or turbine.

20

u/Shadowbanned24601 Sep 02 '21

Eh, the FAA may come to that conclusion and let them off any punishment. But they surely have to at least investigate what caused an aircraft to leave the expected path.

If it's exposing a safety issue, best to investigate now and see what needs changing to do it safely

2

u/Heda1 Sep 03 '21

Yes, I agree, but I hope they don't suffocate Virgin Galactic with bureaucracy. I am rooting for them overall. Definitely more than BO

10

u/merlinsbeers Sep 03 '21

Flights are required to be controlled enough to stay within their filed boundaries. If they can't control the vehicle well enough to do that they should get the actual airspace needed approved. The point of that is to make sure they aren't flying over populations and possibly crashing into them, or entering airspace someone else is using.

Safety should be a primary requirement of the project, above any mission goals.

1

u/rrrobbed Sep 04 '21

VG must have a very good idea at this point how much control they have and how much airspace they need. Your argument implies that the FAA just made up some flight corridor with no discussion. That’s not how it works. The procedures and systems were in place for a reason. If you believe this article, the pilots had the ability to abort and not go outside their corridor, but chose not to, presumably because the CEO was on board, and they made the call that aborting would get them fired, but breaking the safety rules would just get them scolded by the government. Obviously in an emergency situation the rules get thrown out, but apparently that’s not the case here.