Spaceport America, Feb 14 - $500

zaitcev

zaitcev

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Pete Zaitcev
The spaceport had this on-and-off relationship with the GA for a while. It is located within a Restricted area, and back when the thing only started, about 3 years ago, there was a talk about making a "keyhole" in the restricted airspace, and the spaceport was charted as a private airport. The spaceport's technical director mentioned it to me.

Then, in the exhuberance of expecting VG service, the management put a firm kibish on GA (presumably, except Branson's private jet). They wanted to build so-called "welcome centers" in T&C and Cruces, and they wanted to pipe all tourists through those centers with their gift shops. Letting pilots fly in directly would be inconvenient and deprive the spaceport authority of gift revenue (even if pilots paid full tickets). They removed the spaceport from aeronautical charts.

And now... this:
http://spaceportamerica.com/press-r...-host-private-pilot-fly-in-on-valentines-day/
http://spaceportamerica.com/visit-us/fly-ins/

Considering the wild swings of the authority's attitude, and the spaceports' precarious financial position, this may be one of a kind opportunity forever. But alas, I'll be travelling and I will not participate. If I could, I would pay that $500 fee (well, obviously easy for me to claim...).
 
The designated spaceport in Colorado (KFTG) has no landing fees, reasonably price fuel, on-field maintenance for GA, plenty of hangar and tie down space, and the new airport director will happily chat one on one with everyone. Not sure if there are any trinkets to buy, tho. But you can fly in anytime without a reservation.
 
murphey said:
The designated spaceport in Colorado (KFTG) has no landing fees, reasonably price fuel, on-field maintenance for GA, plenty of hangar and tie down space, and the new airport director will happily chat one on one with everyone. Not sure if there are any trinkets to buy, tho. But you can fly in anytime without a reservation.
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there is also no spaceport type activity at FTG...
 
Clark1961 said:
there is also no spaceport type activity at FTG...
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For fairness, there's no activity at Spaceport America either that they would let you examine. When I was there the last time, before SpaceX pad started, the vertical launch area was off-limits. I bet the "tour" is going to include the main terminal and possibly the command center, if they feel generous.

Also, the space launches from SA were using rather smallish rockets. They were essentially sounding rocket operations, launched from a rail.
 
OK-- who wants to be en route near this location and suddenly find their engine running a "teensy bit rough" and make a precautionary landing at, coincidentally, the time of the fly in?
 
F01LA said:
OK-- who wants to be en route near this location and suddenly find their engine running a "teensy bit rough" and make a precautionary landing at, coincidentally, the time of the fly in?
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You sill have to drop $500 into the donations can to get lunch. You aren't the guy who always steals free pancakes at fly-ins, are you?
 
It is rumoured your $500 will include a *FREE* lock of Richard Branson's hair that has been stroked by the Queen.
 
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zaitcev said:
You sill have to drop $500 into the donations can to get lunch. You aren't the guy who always steals free pancakes at fly-ins, are you?
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Well, if they're free, it's sort of difficult to steal them.
 
I think the fueling infrastructure belongs to the tenants.

VG deals with casings that are shipped from elsewhere. The original plan called for them being poured in Colorado at SNC's plant. Since VG dropped the rubber-based fuel for their own nylon-based formula, they must build a facility to make those. I have absolutely no information as to where they plan to locate it. Could be anywhere. In Mojave, most likely. Since they are inert, there aren't any public records filed for hazards.

Fueling infrastracture for the Nitrous oxidizer is at the spaceport somewhere. I think it's not in the terminal, because Nitrous is hazardous. A spontaneous explosion killed 3 employees of Scaled back in 2007.

VG also have a honking huge tank of Jet-A for the carrier, which is probably the most useful resource in the whole port. It's located abeam of the north tip of the runway and is delivered by a fuel truck.

SpaceX are building their own infrastructure, which delivers LOX, RP1, compressed Helium, N2, and worst of all - TEA/TEB. They probably have the most capacity and the most exotic fuels in the spaceport.

I am quite certain that neither of them will sell you any of that because of liability concerns.
 
dell30rb said:
It is rumoured your $500 will include a *FREE* lock of Richard Branson's hair that has been stroked by the Queen.
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Better than if they said he was stoking it personally. Especially since to give away that many locks, it wouldn't all be coming from his head. LOL
 
murphey said:
The designated spaceport in Colorado (KFTG) has no landing fees, reasonably price fuel, on-field maintenance for GA, plenty of hangar and tie down space, and the new airport director will happily chat one on one with everyone. Not sure if there are any trinkets to buy, tho. But you can fly in anytime without a reservation.
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FTG is not a spaceport. Not until FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation issues a Launch Site Operator License.
 
zaitcev said:
Fueling infrastracture for the Nitrous oxidizer is at the spaceport somewhere. I think it's not in the terminal, because Nitrous is hazardous. A spontaneous explosion killed 3 employees of Scaled back in 2007.
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That wasn't really the fault of the nitrous, which is hazardous enough that it's used in dentist offices. It was the fault of the materials used to plumb the test stand.
 
zaitcev said:
I think the fueling infrastructure belongs to the tenants.

VG deals with casings that are shipped from elsewhere. The original plan called for them being poured in Colorado at SNC's plant. Since VG dropped the rubber-based fuel for their own nylon-based formula, they must build a facility to make those. I have absolutely no information as to where they plan to locate it. Could be anywhere. In Mojave, most likely. Since they are inert, there aren't any public records filed for hazards.

Fueling infrastracture for the Nitrous oxidizer is at the spaceport somewhere. I think it's not in the terminal, because Nitrous is hazardous. A spontaneous explosion killed 3 employees of Scaled back in 2007.

VG also have a honking huge tank of Jet-A for the carrier, which is probably the most useful resource in the whole port. It's located abeam of the north tip of the runway and is delivered by a fuel truck.

SpaceX are building their own infrastructure, which delivers LOX, RP1, compressed Helium, N2, and worst of all - TEA/TEB. They probably have the most capacity and the most exotic fuels in the spaceport.

I am quite certain that neither of them will sell you any of that because of liability concerns.
Click to expand...

Outside of pressure vessels, what is hazardous about nitros oxide?:confused:
 
I've got a coaster on my desk here that proclaims it is "Genuine Hybrid Rocket Fuel." from SpaceDev. These are the guys who provided the engines for SpaceShipOne.
 
flyingron said:
I've got a coaster on my desk here that proclaims it is "Genuine Hybrid Rocket Fuel." from SpaceDev. These are the guys who provided the engines for SpaceShipOne.
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BaconATF as been dispatched to your location. Do you have the MSDS for that material?
 
I wonder how many takers they'll get for this?

Seeing as pilots have more discretionary income than the general public, they should offer this for free just to get more exposure.

It pretty much costs them nothing. The going rate for a fly-in these days is $0.
 
I question her closing statement in the video given their $500 fee.... ;)
 
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