Spike Jones wrote:
>
> Wait a minute Doug. When I heard that Rotary Rocket planned to man
> the *first* roton, I nearly choked. I understand the reasoning behind
> centrifugal pressurization and even autogyro landing, but the notion
> of making the experimental vehicle manned, well the logic utterly
> escapes me.
The nutshell answer is, unmanned aerial vehicles fail about 2000 times more often than manned vehicles, basically for lack of a human on the spot to make the right decision in an emergency. Several things make Roton amenable to manual backup control-
We intend to have a crew on every flight, including revenue flights to orbit. This makes the FAA *much* happier... Roton will be a manned vehicle, not a man-rated vehicle. (Also, helicopters are a real bear to land on autopilot, and Roton will have some kinda squirrely flying characteristics.)
-- Doug Jones, Rocket Plumber Rotary Rocket Company