Re: This funny Rosswel bussines

Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Sat, 12 Jul 1997 22:09:07 -0400


Mark Grant wrote:
>
> On Fri, 11 Jul 1997, Michael Lorrey wrote:
>
> > Remember, even in Star Trek, they were able to eventually develop a
> > countermeasure detection capability to the Klingon cloaking device.
>
> Then promptly forgot it again because it was just a one-off plot device...
> Give me Babylon V any day...
>
> > Given that machines always do break down no
> > matter who builds them, it is not unreasonable that a vehicle would
> > break down after an interstellar flight and entering our atmosphere.
>
> Why? In general the more advanced our commercial vehicles get the more
> reliable they are, if properly maintained. Modern cars are far more
> reliable than they were twenty years ago, and a 747 is far more reliable
> than a Dragon Rapide... Modern commercial aircraft almost never crash if
> they're maintained correctly. Why should alien spacecraft be any different
> (I'll give you the possibility that they *are* military, early models or
> government vehicles like the shuttle)?

What was a Dragon Rapide? True commercial aircraft are extremely
reliable, but they hardly operate in a harsh flight regieme, and they
are highly overbuilt for the job. Still, a plane with 20,000 flight
hours at an average of 450 mph is still brand new compared to an
interstellar flight of 20 light years at .98 C with no maintenance
stops. Its a whole different universe of operation.

>
> > THe more cutting edge ones always had
> > higher maintenance requirements, with the exception of some of our new
> > military planes like the F-22,
>
> Interestingly, Lockheed were able to provide better SR-71 maintenance (and
> the SR-71 was far ahead of its time, let alone cutting edge) for the CIA
> with a very small group of Lockheed technicians than the USAF could manage
> with far more people (I think the figures were something like five
> Lockheeders vs fifty USAF), so military experience may not tell us much.
> And shuttle maintenance is notoriously bloated...
>
>

Well, one could say that the skunk works guys were the ones who built
it, so that may be an advantage over using high school graduates or
dropouts who were drafted. Plus Kelly Johnson never liked having people
who just did heavy looking on, like so much military work is.

Additionally, the CIA got a new plane, while the USAF got a well used
plane. Maintenance time goes up with airframe age.

-- 
TANSTAAFL!!!
			Michael Lorrey
------------------------------------------------------------
mailto:retroman@tpk.net		Inventor of the Lorrey Drive
Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com
Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com	http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/

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