Left: In the SpaceShip Two simulator cockpit, simulating
captive carry by WhiteKnight Two.
Falcon business jet, there is no false floor.
There are also no luggage bays, airline seats,
or other space-robbing amenities. It is all
functionally elegant. Stepping up to the
flight deck, I was again struck by the stark
simplicity of it all. There are two simple
seats, three large multi-function displays
(MFDs), and very few switches, knobs, and
dials. Two carbon fiber control sticks round
out the flight controls. Clint reminded us
that WK2’s main mission is to fly SS2 to
release altitude directly overhead. There is
little need for complicated navigation instruments. Cross-country flights are flown with
a Garmin 530 GPS, with weather provided
by a portable Garmin 396. The access hatch
is a simple tapered plug arrangement, which
is easily pulled inside to open, and placed
into the access port like a champagne cork to
close. A simple latching mechanism keeps it
from falling out. The hatch is held tightly in
place by internal pressure while in flight, but
a smaller “cork” can be pulled to release
cabin pressure for emergency evacuation.
The pilot sits in the standard left seat, but
as Clint pointed out, flying from the left seat
of the right fuselage presents an interesting
perspective. Since the wheels are 53 feet
apart, taxiing, takeoff, and landing are done
about 25 feet right of centerline, and when
turning, you either feel like you’re accelerating or stopping, depending on the direction
of the turn. Steering is accomplished by
means of differential braking.
We then got a tour of the star of the
Scaled show, SpaceShip Two. It is 60 feet
long, with a wingspan of only about 20 feet.
It has a distinctively fast look, like a cross
between a business jet and the space shuttle.
The sharply tapered wings are truncated by
long, arrow-like vertical stabilizers that
sweep aft and up to support the horizontal
stabilizers and elevons, which provide pitch
and roll control. We were allowed to stick
our heads into the access hatch, but because
crews were working on the cockpit, we
didn’t climb aboard. Immediately apparent
is the similarity of the SS2 cockpit with its
matriarch. As Clint pointed out, Scaled has
designed as much commonality between the
ships as possible. Since SS2 is rocket pow-
ered only when ascending, it becomes a
glider after main engine cutoff. Pilots are
even required to hold a commercial glider
rating to fly it. WK2 has large spoilers that
can be deployed to simulate the steep
descent of SS2, allowing pilots to train in an
aircraft with go-around capability. Once
again, the folks at Scaled demonstrate their
knack for simple ingenuity.
THE SIM
Leaving the spacecraft hangar, Clint directed
us to a smaller hangar, which housed several
of Scaled’s other unique aircraft, including
Proteus, a spindly looking tandem-winged
research aircraft, and White Knight, mother
ship to SpaceShipOne, which Mike Melvill
and Brian Binnie piloted to more than 100
kilometers (328,000 feet) altitude to win the
$10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004.
SpaceShipOne now resides in the
Smithsonian National Air and Space
Museum, but White Knight is still serving
regular duty lifting payloads for high-altitude research.
Traversing that hangar, we entered a
small room, with a sign on the door that
reads Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate,
Dante’s famous inscription above the gates
of hell, which translates to “All hope abandon, ye who enter here.” Welcome to the
simulator room, the lair of the evil geniuses
who, through an elaborate computer-gener-ated world, weave a tantalizing web of
surrealism to ensnare unsuspecting pilots.
Before us sat the forward section of SS2
(or WK2, depending on the training mis-
sion). We were invited in by simulator
operator Terry Agold, who helped strap us in
with an uncanny, spiderlike quickness. A few
seconds later, the IMAX-like visuals came
alive and we were flying. A look out the win-
dows to either side revealed that we were in
captive-carry mode, suspended between the
twin fuselages of WK2. With a few quick
introductions to the in-house-designed
instrumentation, we were unceremoniously
dropped. “We’re a little heavy, maintain 180
knots,” came Clint’s instructions. Having not
done a good preflight brief, Mark and I were
both trying to fly, making the short-winged
ship wobble wildly side to side. After a few
seconds, Mark relinquished the stick (and
the blame), and I continued to wobble on my
own, while also witnessing airspeed excur-
sions well beyond the VNE of most of the
aircraft I’d flown before.
Right: SpaceShip Two, a six-passenger commercial
spaceship, looks like a cross between a business jet and
the space shuttle.
