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rutan..... first feather test flight

That's pretty cool, but I don't really understand what they're trying to do. What exactly do they mean by feather?
 
xj220 said:
That's pretty cool, but I don't really understand what they're trying to do. What exactly do they mean by feather?
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I think it has to do with the booms with the horizontal stabs rotate along the pitch axis giving it the "controlled floating" ability.
 
Now that's a test pilot with some serious stones.
 
The "feather" essentially cocks the empennage "up" as it would be seen on the ground, stabilizing the spacecraft and allowing for hands-off reentry. It works kind of like a shuttlecock in badminton. Then it unfeathers and flies like a conventional aircraft. Wiki has more.
 
They used a similar configuration in the SpaceShipOne flight back in 2006. You can see the tailfeathers cocked up at about 1:12 in the clip.

 
My personal favorite...their chase plane is an Extra 300. Definitely a cheaper option than a T-38 chase.
 
Flugelman said:
They used a similar configuration in the SpaceShipOne flight back in 2006. You can see the tailfeathers cocked up at about 1:12 in the clip.

Click to expand...


I got to meet Mike Melvill shortly after this first suborbital flight. Very impressive individual and very unassuming about what he did.
 
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