

Virgin Galactic pilot defied the odds to survive crash - danso
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-virgin-survivor-20141105-story.html

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hangonhn
If you're interested in the extraordinary characteristics that are needed to
be a test pilot or an astronaut or the early history of the space program,
check out Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff" ( [http://www.amazon.com/Right-Stuff-
Tom-Wolfe-ebook/dp/B00139X...](http://www.amazon.com/Right-Stuff-Tom-Wolfe-
ebook/dp/B00139XSBA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1415484020&sr=8-2&keywords=the+right+stuff)
)

It also puts the Virgin and other private space travel experiments into
context. This stuff is really hard and dangerous. It takes a special breed of
people to sign up for it and then figure out how to survive when things go
wrong or when things are less than ideal. It's not just guts but also a lot of
intelligence and the ability to stay calm when you are less than a minute from
oblivion. Chuck Yeager had a number of close calls.

~~~
nisa
> This stuff is really hard and dangerous.

I really don't know why they don't control these prototypes remotely. It's
2014 and while I see that a human is the better choice for space travel
because machines can't yet understand every situation it's kind of strange to
endanger the test pilots for early test flights. Especially in light of recent
fuel changes and aerodynamic problems.

That being said. My uttermost respect for everyone involved in these
endeavours. In the digital age it's more and more looking like a miracle that
humans where on the moon in 1969.

~~~
teleclimber
It's really hard to control these things remotely. If you use remote control
you have to worry about latency, which can make recovering from bad situations
impossible. And if you rely on auto-pilot you are testing both a vehicle and
its autopilot at the same time. For a highly experimental vehicle this is
extremely risky. The reason you need to test the vehicle is because you don't
know 100% for sure what it's going to do. And if you don't know, how can you
design an autopilot that brings it back every time.

Consider what happened with SS1 when it started rolling uncontrollably:
[http://gfycat.com/GargantuanRecentJackrabbit](http://gfycat.com/GargantuanRecentJackrabbit)
can you imagine an autopilot that would properly handle this situation? Good
thing they had Mike Melvill in there.

~~~
kenrikm
Which is worse losing a test vehicle or losing pilots? Latency should be a non
issue at the distances they are dealing with.

~~~
teleclimber
Well you don't want to lose either obviously. You don't go in there thinking
you might lose the vehicle. We're not the 1950s anymore.

------
comrade1
Part of me can understand why test pilots in the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc did what
they did. American test pilots and early astronauts did it for country first
(in the context of the cold war), humanity second.

I have a hard time understanding why a test pilot would risk their life so
that Jerry Seinfeld can fly to the edge of the atmosphere and back.

~~~
pavlov
Acrobats risk their lives while entertaining casino guests:

[http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cirque-du-soleil-
da...](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cirque-du-soleil-dancer-
plummets-death-las-vegas-article-1.1386709)

I suspect that the test pilot who gets to fly a new kind of spaceplane finds
it more gratifying than the acrobat who does the same show every night for a
decade.

~~~
groby_b
As a stage performer, you're grateful for every performance you get to do. It
might get a bit old, but it beats _not_ being on stage. (Also: You don't last
for a decade at any given show. You keep moving on to other things.)

And for many, being on stage is every bit as exciting as flying a space ship.
The emotional energy from a good performance is amazing. (It's certainly not
the pay that keeps them)

~~~
sitkack
Someone should write a book on how to exploit people who do things for a love
that transcends money.

------
rev_bird
The beginnings of what I'm sure is a fascinating story, but there are some
real weird turns of phrase in this story:

>It was a real world case of survival in the face of disaster, _like the movie
"Gravity_."

>In October 1947, he ejected out of one of the first combat jets, the Republic
F-84, and hit the tail at 500 mph, breaking both legs and _busting his face_.

------
teleclimber
This article doesn't say how he got out.

I think it's possible the pressurized cabin stayed in one piece long enough
that he might have stayed in it for part of the descent before bailing out.

I really look forward to hearing his story.

