For the obvious reasons, I invariably get too busy to blog exactly when things get interesting...
Michael and Neil giving their assessment of the operation
First you’ve got to build it… Once you’ve got it standing, every passerby can (and will!) tell you how to make it better.
Since Dryden is a test center, the operations people treat component failure as part of the development process – the best comment I’ve heard is “this is why we test”. Following the pulley failure, we held a debriefing looking into what went wrong. The purpose of the debriefing was to look both into the specifics of the pulley failure and also to look if there are broader aspects in which we can improve.
The conclusions we reached are:
- The pulley design has to be beefed up.
- The reel-out velocity has to be better controlled.
- Communication, procedures, and situational awareness of the control center need to be improved.
- The test flight was long enough to validate the basic concept.
- Another test flight is necessary before the games.
In addition, many people came up with ideas about how to improve the operation, and the sum total of these proposals will make the next flight a lot smoother.
The next step is to re-fly the test-flight, as soon as possible, but no sooner than that… We’ll reconvene on Monday to chart the schedule for the next couple of weeks.