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February 2021

Joseph_Budz

It’s obvious the FAA knows what they are doing, just look at the great job they did assessing the flight safety of the 767.

1 reply
February 2021 ▶ Joseph_Budz

Joseph_Budz

Correction: 737 Max not 767

1 reply
February 2021

Fred_Bedard

Really? The agency issued a “last-minute” notice about “five hours before” the scheduled launch and said it was rescheduled until the following day. This is a huge program, 5-hours before a launch seems a bit tight? I know it’s due to Covid-19!

February 2021

system

Unless the FAA is taken out of rocket launches except for clearing airspace, they will bury the private launches in red tape!

February 2021

Darrin_Towers

Musk new this was coming otherwise he wouldn’t of bought 2 floating oilrigs to convert into launch platforms. Logistically the floating platforms will be a pain but in the long run it will be much safer for the public, although it could be less safe for the engineers and technicians working on the floating platform. But the FAA waiting till 5 hours before the launch was a nasty move, and with some of the highest public interest since the space race in the 60’s, it puts the FAA in a bad spot light.

February 2021

jimbo0117

The key here will be how the FAA determined that the SN8 flight violated the launch license. What exactly was done wrong? Was it outside the stated flight envelope? Or did they feel that a RUD upon landing was a violation? If these were indeed the case then why did it take until five hours prior to the next flight to make this determination? That should have been obvious immediately.

2 replies
February 2021 ▶ Joseph_Budz

system

It wasn’t the fault of the FAA. Boeing overstepped its own authority under ODA and let MCAS overstep its authority, even if the data it was fed came from a faulty “single point of failure” AoA sensor.

February 2021 ▶ jimbo0117

system

The FAA was aware, in fact Musk stated publicly, that the SN8 mission could end in tears. And flames, and shard.

February 2021

system

This is the second or third article I have read on this and no one has said what the violation was. Why? Will AvWeb do a little research and report exactly what SpaceX allegedly did wrong!

1 reply
February 2021

system

It “blew up”. “Blowing up” is always a violation.

1 reply
February 2021 ▶ jimbo0117

system

That was my question too. What is it about a bad landing that endangered the public any more than any other part of the flight? It wasn’t like it crashed and blew up in someone’s back yard. It came down exactly where it was supposed to, but landed too hard. Thanks to their telemetry, SpaceX knew within a few minutes what had caused the failure, so why did the FAA wait until hours before the next launch to say they needed more information about the fix? This sounds like the FAA jerking SpaceX around a little to show who is really the boss.

February 2021

maule

I’m conflicted.

In general I find the FAA to be obtuse and intrusive and typical Big Government in action.

On the other hand I loathe the Muskrat and anything that harms him I consider to be essentially good.

2 replies
February 2021 ▶ system

system

Because the FAA won’t say. Research won’t help here.

February 2021 ▶ maule

system

Why? What did Musk do that damaged you personally?

1 reply
February 2021 ▶ maule

system

Like the man or hate the man, there’s no reason why SpaceX and its employees should have to suffer. SpaceX has accomplished what NASA (with its current funding) nor ULA could have done (because what incentive did they have for reducing costs since they were the only game in town).

February 2021 ▶ system

system

In this case, “blowing up” as an outcome was both expected and accepted.

On the other hand, had this happened after trans-continental passenger service was started, then “blowing up” would, no doubt, be branded as a “violation”.

February 2021

system

Musk is either trying to be polite, or he doesn’t really know much about the FAA. None of its divisions are “fine”.

February 2021

system

The FAA is not used to dealing with a company whose revolutionary developments happen successfully with rapidity. They are used to glacial bureaucratic companies or organizations that dos not threaten the standard aviation/aerospace/space status quo taking decades at exorbitant development prices many times funded by taxpayers to accomplish stated goals. This action was a shot over the proverbial bow at Elon reminding him glacial bureaucracy is still in control. Most likely, no one will really know what the violation was. I believe it was intentionally vague in the FAA attempts to keep the bureaucratic leash on Musk to “jerk” him so he would know who is still “master”.

February 2021

releazer

I have had considerable experience in space launch and was part of a team that developed the FAA/USAF safety standards. I do not know exactly what occurred here, but you need to realize that launches from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg AFB involve the use of government operated ranges that mandate and express permission to launch. The SpaceX launch facility at Boca Chica is a privately operated range. It is not hard to imagine that data was uncovered related to the previous launch that concerned the FAA. For example, suppose the winds data showed that debris from a launch failure could have endangered populated areas. At the Cape or VAFB the USAF would have assessed the situation and not allowed the launch to proceed - we have done that. At Boca Chica the FAA is relying on SpaceX to do that.

Airliners are not required to operate from airports with control towers, but suppose the FAA found that an airliner had violated safe practices by not announcing its approach on the CTAF or proceeded to land even though there was already an aircraft on the runway. Don’t you think that the FAA might shut down the airline operations at that airport - if not everywhere - until they were satisfied that operations would be safe?

Back in the early 90’s there was a Pegasus launch that was being supported out of the Cape and Wallops FF. The aircraft was just about to launch the Pegasus when data was lost at WFF. The aircrew made a decision to launch anyway, since aborting the launch after battery activation would have caused an extended delay, and WFF was really not needed anyway. There was an NTSB investigation into why the launch occurred even though the organization supposedly running the operation lost their data link.

1 reply
February 2021 ▶ releazer

Paul_Johnson

"Don’t you think that the FAA might shut down the airline operations at that airport – if not everywhere – until they were satisfied that operations would be safe? "

Not in my experience.

1 reply
February 2021

system

Someone at FAA suddenly discovered the Internet thing, and read a story about Tesla’s autopilot is my guess.

February 2021 ▶ Paul_Johnson

releazer

The USAF shut down NASA Scout booster ops at VAFB following a countdown that was a pretty good simulation of chaos, if not the real thing.

February 2021

system

I have always been a little confused about what empowers the FAA to control such launches in the first place. Other than the ability to issue a TFR around the launch site, what other control do they have for space launch activities? The Air Force clearly has control of what goes into space, so they should be the ones working with SpaceX and decididing when it is appropriate to launch. Starship #8 was not the first rocket SpaceX has blown up at their launch site, so what endangered the public any more on this one than any of the others? This all sounds like a government bureaucracy looking to mark their territory and show who’s boss.

February 2021 ▶ system

maule

He is an arrogant heathen megalomaniac. His manipulation of the market and the government have contributed to the destruction of the V8 powered cars that I love, and have caused harm to manufactures I support such as Mercedes Benz.

In general I make it a point to be against eco-mentalists and those who suck on the government teat and The Muskrat exemplifies these issues.