From: Doug Jones (random@qnet.com)
Date: Wed May 26 1999 - 09:51:03 MDT
Spike Jones wrote:
>
> Wait a minute Doug. When I heard that Rotary Rocket planned to man
> the *first* roton, I nearly choked. I understand the reasoning behind
> centrifugal pressurization and even autogyro landing, but the notion
> of making the experimental vehicle manned, well the logic utterly
> escapes me.
The nutshell answer is, unmanned aerial vehicles fail about 2000
times more often than manned vehicles, basically for lack of a human
on the spot to make the right decision in an emergency. Several
things make Roton amenable to manual backup control-
* Passive aerodynamic stability
* Very limited thrust vector control (possible due to stability)
* Ghod's own control moment gyro
We intend to have a crew on every flight, including revenue flights
to orbit. This makes the FAA *much* happier... Roton will be a
manned vehicle, not a man-rated vehicle. (Also, helicopters are a
real bear to land on autopilot, and Roton will have some kinda
squirrely flying characteristics.)
Lastly, I'm the primary test and operations engineer. If I'm not
willing to fly on the vehicle, nobody should be.
-- Doug Jones, Rocket Plumber Rotary Rocket Company
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