After the April 20 flight, I offered a SWAG that the next flight wouldn’t happen for at least 6 months, which would be October 20. While it’s possible SpaceX might be ready to try again sooner, the regulatory and lawsuit roadblocks are difficult to predict. I stand by my prediction and hope I’m wrong.
October seems like a wise prediction. Officialdom has all the speed of an Olympic Racing Snail …would Musk offering The Big Guy™ a piece of the action help?
When Boeing builds a new airliner, do they need FAA authorization for each test flight? Anyone know?
Or do they get an R&D Experimental certificate with a proposed flight test schedule which gets modified by experience and just fly as required?
When Boeing does a flight test of a new airliner, they don’t have to close airspace and warn mariners about possible falling debris. Rockets are different.
FAA has an “Experimental Permit” regulation for rocket development which was supposed to have been much easier to obtain than a Launch License. Its purpose was to allow frequent flights with minimal restrictions.
However, unless a rocket builder applies for an EP prior even starting to design a vehicle, it isn’t easier to obtain than a launch license. In fact, if one has already built a vehicle prior to applying, it is impossible in principle to comply with the EP’s biggest requirement: a “system safety study.” That requirement has been waived in the past (most notably for SpaceShip 2), but if every Experimental Permit issued had the system safety requirement waived, the waiver would be considered a rule change – an illegal rule change, since the rulemaking process would have been bypassed.
Most companies find a launch license simpler to obtain. It’s certainly easier for FAA/AST to issue a launch license, since no one there has the faintest idea of what a system safety study is, or how to tell if one has been done correctly.
The day after the launch at a brewery that shall not be named, two individuals were swabbing the railing outside and a railing on the next build next door. They were collecting samples to prove the contamination of the area. We thought it was a joke at the time. Perhaps not.
How old is that article? I know it says “22h ago” as I write this, but then I read “The SpaceX “pad site was totally destroyed and will likely force them to re-design the whole thing,” one official wrote to an attorney with the US Department of Interior, according to Bloomberg. “Probably won’t see another launch for awhile.”” and I thought that was fixed weeks ago.
Nah.
The brewery employees were attempting to ascertain whether someone had cracked open a Bud Light, contaminating their own brewery vats.
So given their estimates and excluding the launch site and being generous that’s still a one mile circle of “contanination” or in common language concrete dust and admittedly some chunks (the only pollutant they mention). That still about a mile short of Starbase. I can see why they choose acres.
Musk should explain to DoD and NASA that if the FAA and EPA doesn’t get off Space-X’s case, their launches are going to be slow-rolled…..
“Work to rule” is a time honored way for unions to show their displeasure with management.
“When Boeing does a flight test of a new airliner, they don’t have to close airspace and warn mariners about possible falling debris. Rockets are different.”
Bet they get an airspace clearance though which is what SpaceX in effect does by having the FAA close the airspace. The mariner thing is similar and there are Notices to Mariners for things like military operations etc. where you could get bombed, rocketed or strafed.
I was talking about the conditions on an Experimental R&D Certificate.
Hi Mike,
“When Boeing builds a new airliner, do they need FAA authorization for each test flight? Anyone know?”
I don’t know the precise answer for that, but maybe I could provide some little bit of insight:
If you build your own airplane you can’t fly it until an FAA inspector deems the aircraft airworthy and issues you an airworthiness certificate. When you get that certificate you are required to fly within a stated radius of the home airport for a stated number of hours. The usual number is 40. You don’t need permission to fly each of those 40 hours.
Then, after you fly the 40 hours off, you can fly the plane anywhere.
Now I don’t know if Boeing needs an airworthiness certificate for each new airplane. But if they do, I would imagine they don’t need special permission to fly each test flight mission.
People here will laugh a this, but…..the FAA is being pressured by the Biden Regime to keep Musk from flight test. Do not expect a flight this year — FAA approval will be slow walked to absurdity.
After the April 20 flight, I offered a SWAG that the next flight wouldn’t happen for at least 6 months, which would be October 20. While it’s possible SpaceX might be ready to try again sooner, the regulatory and lawsuit roadblocks are difficult to predict. I stand by my prediction and hope I’m wrong.
October seems like a wise prediction. Officialdom has all the speed of an Olympic Racing Snail …would Musk offering The Big Guy™ a piece of the action help?
When Boeing builds a new airliner, do they need FAA authorization for each test flight? Anyone know?
Or do they get an R&D Experimental certificate with a proposed flight test schedule which gets modified by experience and just fly as required?
When Boeing does a flight test of a new airliner, they don’t have to close airspace and warn mariners about possible falling debris. Rockets are different.
FAA has an “Experimental Permit” regulation for rocket development which was supposed to have been much easier to obtain than a Launch License. Its purpose was to allow frequent flights with minimal restrictions.
However, unless a rocket builder applies for an EP prior even starting to design a vehicle, it isn’t easier to obtain than a launch license. In fact, if one has already built a vehicle prior to applying, it is impossible in principle to comply with the EP’s biggest requirement: a “system safety study.” That requirement has been waived in the past (most notably for SpaceShip 2), but if every Experimental Permit issued had the system safety requirement waived, the waiver would be considered a rule change – an illegal rule change, since the rulemaking process would have been bypassed.
Most companies find a launch license simpler to obtain. It’s certainly easier for FAA/AST to issue a launch license, since no one there has the faintest idea of what a system safety study is, or how to tell if one has been done correctly.
The day after the launch at a brewery that shall not be named, two individuals were swabbing the railing outside and a railing on the next build next door. They were collecting samples to prove the contamination of the area. We thought it was a joke at the time. Perhaps not.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/us-wildlife-officials-stunned-by-environmental-damage-of-spacex-explosion-report/ar-AA1fNkeX
How old is that article? I know it says “22h ago” as I write this, but then I read “The SpaceX “pad site was totally destroyed and will likely force them to re-design the whole thing,” one official wrote to an attorney with the US Department of Interior, according to Bloomberg. “Probably won’t see another launch for awhile.”” and I thought that was fixed weeks ago.
Nah.
The brewery employees were attempting to ascertain whether someone had cracked open a Bud Light, contaminating their own brewery vats.
So given their estimates and excluding the launch site and being generous that’s still a one mile circle of “contanination” or in common language concrete dust and admittedly some chunks (the only pollutant they mention). That still about a mile short of Starbase. I can see why they choose acres.
Musk should explain to DoD and NASA that if the FAA and EPA doesn’t get off Space-X’s case, their launches are going to be slow-rolled…..
“Work to rule” is a time honored way for unions to show their displeasure with management.
“When Boeing does a flight test of a new airliner, they don’t have to close airspace and warn mariners about possible falling debris. Rockets are different.”
Bet they get an airspace clearance though which is what SpaceX in effect does by having the FAA close the airspace. The mariner thing is similar and there are Notices to Mariners for things like military operations etc. where you could get bombed, rocketed or strafed.
I was talking about the conditions on an Experimental R&D Certificate.
Hi Mike,
“When Boeing builds a new airliner, do they need FAA authorization for each test flight? Anyone know?”
I don’t know the precise answer for that, but maybe I could provide some little bit of insight:
If you build your own airplane you can’t fly it until an FAA inspector deems the aircraft airworthy and issues you an airworthiness certificate. When you get that certificate you are required to fly within a stated radius of the home airport for a stated number of hours. The usual number is 40. You don’t need permission to fly each of those 40 hours.
Then, after you fly the 40 hours off, you can fly the plane anywhere.
Now I don’t know if Boeing needs an airworthiness certificate for each new airplane. But if they do, I would imagine they don’t need special permission to fly each test flight mission.
People here will laugh a this, but…..the FAA is being pressured by the Biden Regime to keep Musk from flight test. Do not expect a flight this year — FAA approval will be slow walked to absurdity.