I have to say that the several seconds around and after liftoff are quite dangerous for an airplane.
Right before I soloed my instructor went over the options for engine failure while on the upwind (from takeoff until the first turn in the pattern) at Reid-Hillview. There were none that I found very acceptable - a schoolyard and a few city streets for runways 31L&R. On runways 13L&R there is a mall parking lot (or the roof - a Cessna did manage to land on the mall roof!). A rocket plane gives a few more options than an underpowered Cessna, the critical point being when the vehicle has enough energy to give the pilot options, generally the altitude at which you can turn around and make it back to the runway. Also some airports (such as Mojave) have multiple runways which may help. The not yet mentioned problem with, oh say, Xerus is that it may gain altitude a lot quicker than a Cessna, but it will also lose altitude in the glide a lot faster than a Cessna. VTVL and HTHL have their respective advantages and disadvantages, VTVL has some challenges in regards to engine out scenarios, HTHL has a much reduced problem with engine out (but still has some problem). VTVL is a much simpler structural design problem, HTHL has more complexity and carries all that extra weight. On the other hand, one can add a lot of weight trying to compensate for the failure modes of VTVL (adding chutes, crash bags, etc.) IMHO, VTVL comes out ahead mostly because I see an easier development path going from suborbital to SSTO VTVL. There is only one way to find out which is better - build and fly both. Dave -- David Masten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
