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'Son of Concorde' test flight ends in disaster
By Barbie Dutter in Sydney
(Filed: 15/07/2002)
A test launch of a supersonic jetliner envisaged to replace Concorde
ended in disaster yesterday when a 36ft scale model spiralled out of
control before crashing and exploding in the South Australian desert.
The rocket, having lost the model jet, explodes on impact after crashing
into the desert
The spectacular setback to the Japanese superjet project, which has
taken five years to bring to the testing stage, came seconds after
takeoff at Woomera, the site of a long-abandoned British rocket testing
range.
Scientists had spent six months preparing to launch the model of a jet
that they hope will one day fly twice the range of Concorde, carry three
times as many passengers and reduce the sonic boom to the rumble of a
standard jumbo jet.
The model was supposed to ride piggyback on a booster rocket to a height
of 12.5 miles at a speed of more than 1,500mph. The booster should then
have performed a barrel roll and released the model, which was to glide
back to earth at twice the speed of sound in a test flight taking 14
minutes.
Instead, the aircraft separated from its booster during the launch.
Kimio Sakata, director of the team that developed the model, said:
"There's a little disappointment. We have to redesign and re-manufacture
some of the components. After that we would like to have another
launch."
Witnesses said the rocket climbed to around 330ft before turning over
and spiralling erratically through the air. It then slammed to the
ground and burst into flames.
The model, equipped with 900 sensors to assess its performance, was
unmanned and nobody was injured.
The National Experimental Supersonic Transport (NEXST) project is a push
by Japan's National Aerospace Laboratory to create a new generation of
supersonic commercial airliners.
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