Is it my imagination or did Nasa recently adopt the motto "Safety First"?

Unfortunately, much of the modern health and safety culture is driven by the "sue 'em" mentality.

The book by Tom Wolfe is far better. It's been a long time, but I enjoyed insights into Neil Armstrong's character among several anecdotes, one of which also included a pretty good picture of the awesome implications of split-second decisions whether to eject from any given broken airplane. (Hint: parking a wheels-up F-104B in a muddy lake-bed, one guy punched out, the other one didn't and they both made it, but it could not have worked out, otherwise.) Also; the film didn't hit on the contrasts between flight-test and NASA communities. It was illuminating to note the Edwards AFB reaction to all the sophomoric cheering at NASA whenever a rocket actually took off. "What the hell did they expect it to do? You'd never see that sort of thing in flight test."

If you enjoyed the film, you should definitely try the book.

Well put, B.B. I suspect that if Ike had left space with the Air Force, we would be weekending on the moon and holding regattas to mars.
Spam in a can indeed.
I don't like Ike.

I agree Mark, the courts are being used as a lottery, only with better odds. At the same time, personal responsibility and good old fashioned guts go by the way side. People arent required to have common sense, and heroics go, not merely without encouragement, but with down right ridicule. Its is unwise to have guts, and not necessary to have brains. So gutless irresponsible idiots are supposed to be safer? Yeah, right.

Yeager's autobiography ("Yeager") is also a great read.

I recently picked up Scott Carpenter's book _For Spacious Skies_ at a signing. The book makes a few asides about Tom Wolfe's book, mostly to say "he already covered it perfectly, so we'll move on." That book is good because it goes into detail about the selection process (John Glenn was a last-minute addition who was just shy of one of the "requirements" but one of the selection committee knew him and his record and knew he would be perfect), the lives of the wives and families, and other things not typically covered when books focus on the space program itself.

Plus Mr. Carpenter spent lots of time talking with every eight-year-old boy who was amazed to be talking with a REAL ASTRONAUT, and people who do that are cool in my book...

You know, every time I see that scene, I think what a disaster it would've been if Yeager's arm would've led to a crash. Not a disaster for Yeager---hell with him---but a set back for the program.

Well, maybe not. Maybe they would've slapped together another plane, tapped the next guy in line, and tried again the next day.

Thanks for the tip about For Spacious Skies, B. Durbin. I've got a stack of unread astronaut books taller than I am, but I think I'll have to make a point of picking that one up.

You'd never see that sort of thing in flight test.

Not after 50 years of powered flight, no.

"You know, every time I see that scene, I think what a disaster it would've been if Yeager's arm would've led to a crash. Not a disaster for Yeager---hell with him---but a set back for the program."

The story line is that nobody else was willing to take the risk of flying the X-1. Whether or not that's strictly true, I think you'll find that the self-confidence necessary to do the flight with two good arms correlates pretty closely to the self-confidence (and motivation, and perhaps ego) necessary to do it with one bad arm. Fighter pilots -- successful ones -- are fantastically competitive.

One day we may be able to genetically engineer people who have the guts to do what Yeager did while simultaneously being willing to sit back and say, "Heck, my arm hurts and that could affect the flight, so I'll just wave off today and maybe we'll break the sound barrier some other day." But I think it's unrealistic to expect real people today to operate that way.

"Not after 50 years of powered flight, no."

I think you might not understand, Angie. The people making their living at prototypical flight test were doing things every bit as nervy as the Wright Bros. in 1903. It really is absurd to imply that the fifty years of prior powered flight could possibly protect them from the dangers they undertook. In fact, the essential thing that was different about these people was their professional dedicated to facing the unknown. Go read about Capt. Milburn Apt, who died in the Bell X-2: he was rendering data over the radio until a desperate attempt at escape, and he rode its cockpit section all the way to the desert floor.

The NASA and flight test cultures were worlds apart.

One of my favorite stories concerns Scott Crossfield getting exploded out of an X-15 on a test stand: when the thing blew up, he and his cockpit section went flying thirty feet. When it was all over, the thing that pissed him off was that the Air Force would not let him log that flight time.

When it comes to this very special set of people, it's really true: they don't make 'em like they used to.

"You know, every time I see that scene, I think what a disaster it would've been if Yeager's arm would've led to a crash. Not a disaster for Yeager---hell with him---but a set back for the program." Angie dear, you missed the point. He accomplished the mission. He "played hurt". No one knew what would happen to him and his craft when they went supersonic. Many expected disaster. He wanted to find out badly enough to go under less-than-ideal conditions. Mission first. Safety? Okay, if it fits in with the mission.

I always knew I was the world's greatest fighter pilot until I read Chuck's book. Oh well, second greatest ain't chopped liver. He is a remarkable human being and, from what I read, a truly humble one. USAF still allows him to fly operational aircraft. At least they did the last I heard. www.chuckyeager.com confirms he is an active test pilot and consultant. He's 80, for cryin out loud!

An insight into the fighter pilot's psyche: CNN interviewed a lady lawyer for the Tailhook scandal victims. She said, "These guys don't think the laws of physics apply to them. Why would we expect them to obey mere statutes?"

It was illuminating to note the Edwards AFB reaction to all the sophomoric cheering at NASA whenever a rocket actually took off. "What the hell did they expect it to do? You'd never see that sort of thing in flight test."

Given their track record from the time, what they *expected* was for the thing to go *blooey* on the pad or shortly thereafter. The Edwards bunch did a fine job of making flight test boring, and well it should be. So where's my Pan Am SSTO to the Yamaguchi Orbital Hotel?

Just a nit--this took place in southern California, not Nevada.

Rand, duh, I stand corrected. Crikey, I should have known better since I actually drove past the airbase with my good friend Russell Whitaker en route to a gun range more than a year ago.

Billy Beck - you are bang on target sir. I have read both Wolfe's book and Yeager's autobiography. Absolute magic. Yeager epitomises up everything great about the USA: unpretentious, gutsy, likes bourbon, loves planes, gadgets and pretty gals.

And he is still flying in his 80s!