Scaled Composites White Knight
| White Knight | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| White Knight One | |
| Role | Carrier aircraft |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Scaled Composites |
| First flight | August 1, 2002 |
| Number built | 1 |
| Developed from | Scaled Composites Proteus |
| Variants | Scaled Composites White Knight Two |
The Scaled Composites Model 318 White Knight (now also called White Knight One) is a jet-powered carrier aircraft used to launch the Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne experimental spacecraft. It was developed by Scaled Composites as part of its Tier One program. The aircraft was subsequently offered by Scaled on a contract basis as a research testbed, and was used for drop tests of the Boeing X-37 spaceplane from June 2005 until April 2006. It is also the predecessor to White Knight Two.
The Scaled Composites model number for White Knight is 318. White Knight is registered with the Federal Aviation Administration as N318SL.
The White Knight carrier airplane was designed around the twin afterburning J-85 engines, which were selected for their availability and low cost. The aircraft was a completely new independent design. White Knight and SpaceShipOne shared the same forward fuselage outer mold line (OML) to reduce development costs and with the original intent to allow for White Knight to act as a flying simulator for training SpaceShipOne pilots. White Knight first flew on August 1, 2002. The flight was aborted shortly after takeoff due to a problem with the outboard wing spoilers. These trailing edge spoilers were designed to greatly increase the glide slope so that the White Knight vehicle could act as a flying simulator for training of SpaceShipOne pilots. During the first flight, the mechanical over-center torque was insufficient to maintain the spoilers in the closed position. The spoilers deployed into the free stream and began a limit cycle forcing the pilot (Mike Melvill) to abort. The spoilers were subsequently disabled completely and the desire for a steep glide slope matching SpaceShipOne was abandoned.
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