Some Virgin Galactic Customers Demand Money Back

schwit1 (797399) writes News reports suggest that — following last week's SpaceShipTwo crash — more than thirty of the seven hundred people who placed deposits with Virgin Galactic to fly on SpaceshipTwo have pulled out, demanding their money back. "In response to the claim that more than 30 customers are considering their position in the aftermath of the crash, a spokesperson for Virgin Galactic admitted a number of people have asked for their money back. 'We can confirm that less than three per cent of people have requested refunds,' the spokesman said." This is not a surprise, nor should it be. A company can only survive a crisis like this by responding honestly, quickly, and directly. If Virgin Galactic does this, finding the cause of the crash and fixing it, they will likely hold onto most of their customers. If they don't, those remaining customers will leave. This week's cancellations are the first immediate response to the crash. The future of the company, however, will be determined by what happens in the next six months.

Comments

armchair engineers

[Anonymous Coward]

a) I'm impressed that you've reached a conclusion ahead of the NTSB. I'm sure they'll be glad for your help
b) Every interlock is a potential point of failure. If the interlock fails in a way that prevents the tail from deploying, everyone on board will die. Deciding to put the interlock there is not as obvious as a decision as the pundits seem to think.

Re:armchair engineers

[FlyHelicopters]

Most modern fly by wire aircraft take the control inputs as "suggestions" and adapt them into actual control responses.

Yes, but they still have manual reversion mode, where it becomes direct control inputs, "just in case".

At least the Boeing planes do.

Climbing Everest is around 2%

[trout007]

Everyone has different risk tolerances.

Re:Because

[Anonymous Coward]

"But I wanted space to be SAFE!!!" cried a bunch of celebritards and rich assholes with more money than goddamned sense.

Who pays for TSB investigation

[stabiesoft]

While I am all for commercial space programs, I am a bit confused why NTSB is involved at this point. This was a test flight for what will never really be commercial travel for the masses. It seems to me, VG is getting alot of free help from me the taxpayer to figure out what went wrong. I will never have a 1/4 of mil for a fun 5 minute ride, so why am I paying to help it along. Or is this another case of the middle class screw? We pay for rich people's hobbies again.

Re:Who pays for TSB investigation

[OzPeter]

While I am all for commercial space programs, I am a bit confused why NTSB is involved at this point.

From the NTSB website:

The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent Federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident the United States and significant accidents in other modes of transportation – railroad, highway, marine and pipeline.

So if you have a beef with that mandate then fortuitously today is a day in the US where you can act on your beliefs.

You did/will vote today?

Re:Who pays for TSB investigation

[Richard_at_work]

Because the NTSB is involved, there will be less scope for a company initiated cover up, findings being withheld and important information not being passed to everyone in the industry.

Look at the de Havilland Comet pressurisation issues in the early 1950s - no one knew what was going on, it took a full test with a new fuselage immersed in water and then run through hundreds of pressurisation cycles to determine that metal fatigue was to blame. The findings from that investigation was made available to everyone in the aviation industry in the 1950s, not just to the internal de Havilland design team, so Boeing, Douglas, Hawker, Lockheed et al didn't have to go through their own investigations of their own crashes to come to the same conclusions.

It also opened up a whole new area of science in metals.

Open investigations make sense, because they produce open results, which benefits you and I as the people who may one day travel on a craft which might have potentially been susceptible to the same issues.