Virgin crash probe could take ‘at least a year’

A PROBE to discover what caused the doomed Virgin Galactic test flight to crash could take at least a year, the lead investigator has said.
NTSB Acting Chairman Christopher Hart(2nd-L) with Virgin Galactic pilot Todd Ericson(C) and investigators surveying one section of the SpaceShipTwo accident site. Picture: GettyNTSB Acting Chairman Christopher Hart(2nd-L) with Virgin Galactic pilot Todd Ericson(C) and investigators surveying one section of the SpaceShipTwo accident site. Picture: Getty
NTSB Acting Chairman Christopher Hart(2nd-L) with Virgin Galactic pilot Todd Ericson(C) and investigators surveying one section of the SpaceShipTwo accident site. Picture: Getty

Christopher Hart, who is spearheading the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) investigation, said the recovery mission was still under way, with small parts of the SpaceShipTwo found 35 miles from the crash site.

Co-pilot Michael Alsbury, 39, died when the aircraft crashed in the Mojave Desert in California on Friday, while surviving pilot Peter Siebold, 43, was said to be alert and speaking with family members and medical staff in hospital.

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NTSB investigators are yet to talk to Mr Siebold but interviews with most other staff would be completed shortly, Mr Hart said.

NTSB Acting Chairman Christopher Hart(2nd-L) with Virgin Galactic pilot Todd Ericson(C) and investigators surveying one section of the SpaceShipTwo accident site. Picture: GettyNTSB Acting Chairman Christopher Hart(2nd-L) with Virgin Galactic pilot Todd Ericson(C) and investigators surveying one section of the SpaceShipTwo accident site. Picture: Getty
NTSB Acting Chairman Christopher Hart(2nd-L) with Virgin Galactic pilot Todd Ericson(C) and investigators surveying one section of the SpaceShipTwo accident site. Picture: Getty

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Mr Hart initially said he believed the co-pilot had activated the spaceship’s “feathering” system - which lifts and rotates the tail to create drag - prematurely but in a press conference this morning he retracted the comment.

“I was mistaken about the identity of that person because I don’t know whether that person was the co-pilot,” he told reporters.

He added: “The investigation will continue for several months. The process in the investigation is that the parties continue to work together to develop the factual portions of this investigation.

“Once the factual development process is complete then we go to the analysis and at that point we do the analysis alone in order to make sure the analysis is not biased.

“We anticipate the typical time frame for an accident like this, it may be helped by the rich data sources that we have, we may be able to move a little more rapidly but we would anticipate it taking us as much as 12 months to complete the analysis which will end up with a probable cause determination.”

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