Smithy wrote:O ye, of little faith
Yes. Because i recognize a dreamer when i see one. That´s not meant ad hominem.
Smithy wrote:Trantor wrote:Concorde "worked", too. And she was a formidable commercial failure.
US Congress had banned Concorde landings in the US only letting her land at Washington DC, and no other airport. She was limited by closed thinking, and an inability to fly the most profitable air routes, so in a way she was doomed from the beginning by direct action of the US government being afraid of the "sonic booms" despite the fact concord didn't fly super sonic over land.
C´mon, every Concorde-flight on approach to the US east cost was low on fuel, that´s why she always got a priority-landing. There is simply no "overland" after reaching the US and therefor no "profitable routes".
Smithy wrote:Not only this she had an impeccable safety record. The famous crash was caused by a huge lump of metal which had fallen from a Continental Airlines DC-10 which was found to of been serviced incorrectly.
No, do yourself a favour and the the BEA-report attentively. The small part of that DC-10 was only one part in the chain of errors. The F´up was bad maintenance (forgotten spacer that made the bird veer to side where the lost wear strip of the DC-10 was), bad organisation (plane was overloaded, COG was exceeded, etc) and bad airmanship (the flight engineer, who was illegally on board due to his expired medical, shut down the wrong engines).
If all, it was all Air France´s fault. Laissez Faire and technology are always on collison course.
Smithy wrote:The Air france flight 447 A330-200 plunged into the sea in 2009 due to it's pitot tubes freazing over and stalling.
Again Air France´s fault, and again bad airmanship.
Smithy wrote:Conventional rockets are also immensely expensive, complicated and inflexible.
They´re several magnitudes less complex.
Smithy wrote:A reusable launch vehicle by it's definition is more flexible than a one launch rocket.
For Joe Average maybe. Not for those who UNDERSTAND the space market.
Smithy wrote:Skylon is also human-rated
Which is unnecessary, and adds magnitudes more cost and complexity.
Smithy wrote:The first jet aircraft to enter service for the Allies in the Second World War (the Gloster Meteor)
A lame duck with the wrong tech from the start. Radial engines only serve well in turbo-props.
The Germans were right from the start with their axial-turbos.
Smithy wrote:The first commercial jet airliner to enter service (the de Havilland Comet)
..which killed over 100 people.
Smithy wrote:The first aircraft capable of supercruise (the English Electric Lightning)
Not bad for it´s time. But still outdated quickly.
Smithy wrote:The first supersonic commercial jet airliner to enter service (the Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde)
A huge commercial success...
Smithy wrote:The first fixed-wing V/STOL combat aircraft to enter service (the Hawker Siddeley Harrier)
Indeed an interesting aircraft.
Smithy wrote:The first twin-engined widebody commercial jet airliner (the Airbus A300)*
The largest commercial aircraft to enter service to date (the Airbus A380)*
C´mon. To pretend they´re british is as odd as saying they were german.
(And btw, i was part of the 380 rescue)
Smithy wrote:British Aerospace has always been on the cutting edge, and Skylon is no different to that tradition.
Yes, which means that it´ll be a commercial failure very sure. scnr.
True, british inventors were great, but where is britain now? You invented the locomotive, and today? For the 60163 Tornado you had to buy the boiler from, well, us Germans. Gosh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A1_Steam_Locomotive_Trust
Or cars. Where is the british industry today? Last time i checked, Rolls-Royce is owned by BMW. And Bentley by VW. The Mini - no successor. The new Mini? A BMW. A Golf-competition from Britain? Nope.
Computers. Colossus. A remarkable thing. Winning the war for you, saving 100000 british souls at least. Denied, forgotten, it´s inventors driven into poverty (Flowers) and suicide (Turing).
Really, you Brits have an extraordinary streak to f*** up tech. A truly sad image for an anglophile like me.
Edit: Haha, i just read the wikipediaarticle about the Loco again, and obviously some chauvinist removed the fact that the boiler is "Made in Germany". How pathetic is
that?