3 ms·

I dunno, I'd say it's rational for someone to be weary of joyriding in the first flight of a space capsule only designed to fly for three orbits. It's pretty c

I dunno, I'd say it's rational for someone to be weary of joyriding in the first flight of a space capsule only designed to fly for three orbits. It's pretty common to define risk as probability multiplied by severity. The wright flyer flew about 30mph 8ft off the ground. Death would certainly have been possible, but unlikely. I could imagine someone walking away from a crash. Moderate probability of crash, moderate severity injury. Moderate risk. C1 was the first flight of an early prototype (over a year before it was ready to fly a mission longer than 3 orbits). It was launched on a rocket with maybe half a dozen flights? Rocket fails: death. Payload separation fails: death. Pressure vessel fails: death. Propulsion system fails: death. Heat shield fails: death. Parachute fails: death. Moderate probability of failure, very high severity of injury. High risk.

WalterBright 6y ago
> unlikely The pilots laid prone and head first. An auger in meant they'd go head first into the ground. I don't think there was a harness or anything to prevent that. The Wrights were actually terrified of a nosedive into the ground, which is why they put the stabilizer out front. This made it much more responsive to pitch commands. Ironically, this was also the source of the pitch instability, making an abrupt nosedive more likely.
- WalterBright 6y ago
  Curtis started out making airplanes by copying the Wright designs, including putting a stabilizer in a fixed position in front. Amateurs would buy his airplanes and race them. One racer crashed into a fence and damaged the forward stabilizer. In a hurry to rejoin the race, he simply sawed it off and took off. He found the airplane flew faster and better without it. He transmitted this to Curtis after the race, who promptly pulled the stabilizer off all his airplanes that were in production. And thus, the forward stabilizer disappeared.

WalterBright 6y ago

> unlikely The pilots laid prone and head first. An auger in meant they'd go head first into the ground. I don't think there was a harness or anything to prevent that. The Wrights were actually terrified of a nosedive into the ground, which is why they put the stabilizer out front. This made it much more responsive to pitch commands. Ironically, this was also the source of the pitch instability, making an abrupt nosedive more likely.

WalterBright 6y ago
Curtis started out making airplanes by copying the Wright designs, including putting a stabilizer in a fixed position in front. Amateurs would buy his airplanes and race them. One racer crashed into a fence and damaged the forward stabilizer. In a hurry to rejoin the race, he simply sawed it off and took off. He found the airplane flew faster and better without it. He transmitted this to Curtis after the race, who promptly pulled the stabilizer off all his airplanes that were in production. And thus, the forward stabilizer disappeared.