NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/sci/space/16284

Text File | 1992-11-23 | 7.2 KB | 153 lines

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From: [e-mail] ("Phil G. Fraering")
Subject: Golden Oldies...
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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 21:35:21 GMT
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As I stated before in a message to sci.space that I hope got
through, I've been reading the old space-digest archives.
I'm posting some of the better messages for the perusal
of everyone... and also some of the suprising ones...
Well, here's the first. I wish someone had taken this
more seriously back in '81/'82.

Article begins:

[This item is an excerpt from the November 1981 issue of Reason, a
conservative political journal. It is a sidebar to an article on
goverment vs. private means of developing industry in space. Poli-Sci
is getting a copy because the recent discussion has been on
govermental vs. private means of doing all sorts of things. This item
may be considered a fantasy. Then again...]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Imagine...

    Dawn is breaking over the plains of Kansas, a glorious spring
morning in 1982. The rising sun gilds a few clouds in an otherwise
clear sky. In a backyard behind an old, weatherbeaten Midwestern
farmhouse is an incongruous scene: a cluster of modern trailers, with
cables running in all directions, and a large crowd of doers and
onlookers, engineers, reporters, and cameramen. One of the network
reporters is conducting an interview with an older man, clearly by
dress and demeanor a Senior Official.

Reporter Intro: Good morning, Americans.  We are here in Owl's Eye,
  Kansas, to witness another chapter in the forward march of science
  and technology, the controversial and long-awaited "next step" in
  America's costly and exciting conquest of the air.  Today, finally,
  if all goes well, we will see the National Air Administration's
  controversial Sky Shuttle aircraft perform its first applications
  mission as part of NAA's "Skydust" program, in which the mammoth
  aircraft will swoop down over the fields of farmer Ed Shultz and
  spray them with pesticides.  With us today is NAA's deputy
  director, Buzz Wingnut, who will be answering some of the tough
  questions which have come up about NAA and the Sky Shuttle.

    Buzz, what are the chances of success of today's mission?

Official: Well, Jules, all the indications are good.  The weather is
  right, the aircraft, aside from a few minor problems, is in good
  condition, and the crew is in excellent spirits.  It sure looks
  like we have a "go".

Reporter: What about the rotor problems? Everybody knows that the
  rotors have been giving you trouble ever since the start of the Sky
  Shuttle program. Critics have charged that there is still a serious
  chance they'll fall off.

Official: I can assure you that the rotors will not fall off this
  time. The rotor problem has definately been solved.

Reporter: Some critics have questioned the whole idea of having a set
  of rotors on an airplane, saying that the idea of an aircraft that
  can take off vertically \and/ fly 10,000 miles at supersonic speeds
  is unnecessarily complicated. Could these missions be better
  performed by separate aircraft?

Official: Jules, this kind of talk puts our entire technology
  development system in question. I might point out that each of
  those requirements you mentioned, as well as others -- such as the
  ability to land on both land and water, the ability to perform
  aerobatic maneuvers, and the ability to fly at treetop level --
  were inputted to NAA by responsible sectors of the government.
  There is no doubt that each of these capabilities is needed by the
  nation's aviation-using sector.

  As for the idea of developing a separate aircraft for passenger,
  cargo, defense, and scientific purposes, such talk is the height of
  irresponsibility. What with the cost overruns and time delays which
  were unavoidably encountered by the Sky Shuttle program, there is
  no chance of getting Congress to appropriate funds for development
  of a new aircraft in this decade.

Reporter:  Buzz, Senator Buttermore has been highly critical of both
  the Sky Shuttle program in general and the Skydust experimental
  program in particular. He has said, and I quote, "The Skydust
  program has been an enormous boondoggle from the beginning. It is
  mearly an excuse by the NAA administrators to find new 'needs' for
  their services. Ask any farmer -- the idea of spraying chemicals on
  crops from the air as a part of day-to-day agriculture is
  inherently absurd. Both as a Senator and a taxpayer, I say, 'Not a
  penny for this nutty fantasy!'" How do you respond to that, Buzz?

Official: Well, all I can say is that I am glad Queen Isabella didn't
  take this attitude toward Christopher Columbus. "Crop-dusting", as
  our boys like to call it, is an extremely promising technique, and
  one which today's demonstration will prove technologically
  feasible. The Sky Shuttle will reduce the cost of aerial
  application from $500,000 per acre to only $100,000 per acre. I can
  confidently predict that, given Congress's continued support of
  development funding, hundreds, maybe even thousands, of American
  farmers will enjoy the benefits of "crop-dusting" by the year 2000.

Reporter: There have been some voices, so far a distinct minority,
  who have called for private operation of the aircraft program in
  this country, saying that private operators could do the job more
  efficiently. Could you say a few words on that, Buzz?

Official: Well, Jules, it's hardly worth my time to answer that one,
  don't you think? The Sky Shuttle has cost nearly $100 billion
  dollars to develop. Where could a private firm raise that kind of
  capital? We at NAA have always valued the contributions of private
  industry -- we feel that the free-enterprise qualities of our
  contractors demonstrate exactly the kind of government-industry
  partnership it takes to maintain America's leadership in high
  technology. But romantic notions of competing "airlines" operating
  passenger and freight operations across the continent as if they
  were railroads -- that belongs in the 19th century. Aviation in
  America has been in sound hands ever since Congress suppressed
  dangerous cranks like the Wright brothers and created the
  predecessors of the NAA to give American wings, and let us pray to
  God it remains that way, Jules. I'm going to have to cut this
  short. The count-down is entering the final stage.

Reporter: Well, thank you, Buzz and Godspeed. It's a great day to be
  an American.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Just as a trivia item: the current cost for crop-dusting is under
$10/acre, plus cost of chemicals. ]

Phil Fraering
"...drag them, kicking and screaming, into the Century of the Fruitbat."
<<- Terry Pratchett, _Reaper Man_




--
Phil Fraering
"...drag them, kicking and screaming, into the Century of the Fruitbat."
<<- Terry Pratchett, _Reaper Man_