6 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JANUARY 15-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 AviationWeek.com/awst
SCALED COMPOSITES’ SPEAKS
I would like to take exception to
the unsupported assertion by Gra-
ham Warwick in “Designer Aircraft”
(AW& S T Dec. 15/22, 2014, p. 16) that
since Scaled Composites was acquired
by Northrop Grumman in 2007, “its
priorities have shifted.”
We applaud the work by Dzyne
and many others in our industry, but
rest assured our priorities remain
the same, and include the ef cient
and safe design of aircraft for private
customers such as Burt Rutan’s gas-
electric roadable aircraft, BIPOD, and
a number of other proprietary project
aircraft. These are the same priorities
Rutan pursued during his tenure as
the inspirational leader and CEO of
Scaled Composites.
We continue to pursue projects
of all sizes and complexity, cutting
across many aviation market do-
mains. I am extremely proud of our
history of building general aviation-
size, prototype demonstrator aircraft
for a wide variety of courageous,
visionary entrepreneurs and busi-
ness leaders. I am equally proud of
the less noticed, less publicized, and
yet signifi cant work we have done
for aerospace primes, NASA and the
Defense Department.
I would contend that since 2007, the
opportunities that have been available
in the small aviation market space
have been few. The current project mix
at Scaled refl ects both the marketplace
and the strong confi dence we earned
from our customers on smaller proj-
ects. Our customers recognize that in
addition to building small prototypes,
we also have the skill and capability
to succeed at a project of the size and
complexity of Stratolaunch (1.3 million
lb. gross takeof weight).
We continue to cultivate new op-
portunities and are eager and ready
to service aviation and aerospace
customers whose requirements range
in all sizes and complexity.
Our priorities and mission remain
consistent with our legacy “Design,
Build, Test” philosophy, which is our
history and will be our future.
Kevin Mickey, President
Scaled Composites
MOJAVE, CALIFORNIA
SAME SAD STORY?
Most pilots and engineers I know
are second-guessing what took place
in those fi nal minutes of the doomed
AirAsia Flight 8501. Apparently an
experienced pilot—faced with myriad
extraneous and misleading data—had
only a few seconds to draw from his
experience and knowledge to ef ect a
recovery.
When I piloted Airbus A300s and
A310s for Delta Air Lines, I noted
that extraneous inputs would occur
to our pitot-static instruments on an
infrequent and random basis in fl ight,
causing the readouts to vary—in some
cases to extreme limits. These momen-
tary electrical or software “glitches”
would trip the autopilot as a safeguard,
which would trigger warning horns
and lights that added another layer of
distraction.
Based on experience, most of my
colleagues would hand-fl y the aircraft,
referencing the attitude indicator until
the anomaly passed, and then reset
our systems. “Chasing” an erroneous
increasing airspeed would result in
a rapid climb, an unsafe attitude and
possibly an aircraft upset as witnessed
in the crash of Air France Flight 447
into the Atlantic on June 1, 2009. This
same scenario seems to have hap-
pened again.
As a side note, Aviation Week &
Space Technology used to publish
extensive accident reporting, replete
with detailed transcripts of voice and
flight-recorder data. This was a very
popular feature with the professional
flying community and helped serve
as an aid toward understanding the
underlying causes of accidents. I
hope its restoration is among your
plans as you transition more to the
digital side.
Capt. (ret.) Thomas Carey
FREELAND, WASHINGTONSTRIKING A CHORD
It seems to me that until the indus-
try stops winding the aircraft center
of gravity back to 37% chord, this sad
litany of crashes will continue.
I would willingly pay the incremen-
tal cost of a shift to 33% on any fl ight I
take. I sense I am not alone in thinking
this way.
Lew Creedon
OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIALOCATION, LOCATION AND F-35$
No wonder F-35 infrastructure costs
are so high. According to “A Year of
Debuts” (AW& S T Dec. 29, 2014-Jan. 14,
2015, p. 69) the Air Force has moved
Hill AFB from Utah to Oklahoma!Seriously, AW& S T is still the “go to”
source of aviation news. Keep it up and
Happy 2015!
Richard Porcelli
BARNEGAT, NEW JERSEY‘B’-SPECIFIC
Every aviation-savvy person on this
planet knows that the U.S. Marine
Corps version of the F-35 is a “B” mod-
el. The open door behind the cockpit in
the photo that accompanies “A Year of
Debuts” is clearly an illustration of thepresence of a shaft-driven fan utilized
by the “B” model for short-takeof -and-
landing operations, not the C version.
Henry H. Roll
WYOMING, DELAWAREPOWER ADJUSTMENT
The Military Transports To Watch
table in the recent Aerospace &
Defense roundup (AW& S T Dec. 29,
2014-Jan. 14, 2015, p. 74) lists the Rus-
sian Progress D-27 turboprop engine
as being capable of 55,200 shp each.
I believe the correct fi gure is around
14,000 shp per engine. The number
given in the table is probably the total
shp of all four engines.
Norman Foster
DUXFORD, ENGLAND(The reader is correct.)Feedback Aviation Week & Space Technology welcomes
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