The benefit of a plane based launch is the flexibility Want to launch from say Israel, currently you can only launch retrograde (to the west), as you can't lau

The benefit of a plane based launch is the flexibility Want to launch from say Israel, currently you can only launch retrograde (to the west), as you can't launch over land (especially countries with questionable friendliness) You could in theory launch via Virgin One, fly south along the red sea and then launch over the Indian Ocean Same with launches from the West Coast US -- want to launch Polar, that's fine, you can launch south out of LA (and that's what they do). You can't launch East though, you have to move the rocket from California to Florida to launch. You don't need to worry much about bad weather at the launch site either. Got rain and lightning in Florida? Unless it's really bad you can still take off in a plane, then launch from above or away from that bad weather