Experimental aircraft speeds to more than 3,000 mph in test flight

[Cincinnatus]

More airplane news. Kinda impressive, too.

A lightning-quick experimental aircraft made history when it sped more than 3,000 mph above the Pacific Ocean in a test flight, reigniting decades-long efforts to develop a vehicle that could travel faster than a speeding bullet.

The unmanned X-51A WaveRider, which resembles a shark-nosed missile, was launched midair Wednesday off the coast near Point Mugu. It sped westward for 240 seconds, reaching Mach 5.1, or more than five times the speed of sound, before plunging into the ocean as planned.

The X-51A, built and tested in Southern California, was powered by an air-breathing engine that has virtually no moving parts. It flew for longer than any other aircraft of its kind and traveled more than 264 miles in little more than six minutes.
      
A passenger aircraft traveling at that speed could easily fly from Los Angeles to New York in less than an hour.

"It was a full mission success," Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory Aerospace Systems Directorate, said in a statement."I believe all we have learned from the X-51A WaveRider will serve as the bedrock for future hypersonics research and ultimately the practical application of hypersonic flight...

In Wednesday's test flight, the X-51A took off from Edwards Air Force Base, slung under the wing of a B-52 bomber.At about 50,000 feet,it was released like a bomb and engaged a solid rocket booster that accelerated it to Mach 4.8 in about 26 seconds.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/03/190327/experimental-aircraft-speeds-to.html#.UYVz7pjn-cx

[truth_seeker]

Article: Los Angeles Times

"Work on the X-51A was done by Boeing Co.'s research center in Huntington Beach and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in Canoga Park."
(Orange County, and Lost Angeles County, respectively. Canoga Park is a borough of the City of Lost Angeles)

Location: Edwards Air Force Base, California

Just a bit of empirical evidence that California may NOT be dying, contrary to frequent mantra.

[Oceander]

Article: Los Angeles Times

"Work on the X-51A was done by Boeing Co.'s research center in Huntington Beach and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in Canoga Park."
(Orange County, and Lost Angeles County, respectively. Canoga Park is a borough of the City of Lost Angeles)

Location: Edwards Air Force Base, California

Just a bit of empirical evidence that California may NOT be dying, contrary to frequent mantra.

Just so long as one takes oodles of money from federal taxpayers in other states, as well as from those in California, and dumps into projects in California.  This wasn't a private enterprise venture, it was a federal government-funded project; as such, it simply cannot be used as any indicator of the relative health, or lack thereof, of the California private economy.

[truth_seeker]

Just so long as one takes oodles of money from federal taxpayers in other states, as well as from those in California, and dumps into projects in California.  This wasn't a private enterprise venture, it was a federal government-funded project; as such, it simply cannot be used as any indicator of the relative health, or lack thereof, of the California private economy.

FYI California is one of the states that is a net contributor (maker) regarding taxes paid to the fedgov versus instate fedgov expenditures. NY is, too. (most of the deep South red sates in the Bible belt are net takers)

Boeing and other development contractors are publicly traded  corporations, not government agencies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_taxation_and_spending_by_state

The main point is that CA has historically incubated advanced technology capabilities.

[Oceander]

FYI California is one of the states that is a net contributor (maker) regarding taxes paid to the fedgov versus instate fedgov expenditures. NY is, too. (most of the deep South red sates in the Bible belt are net takers)

Boeing and other development contractors are publicly traded  corporations, not government agencies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_taxation_and_spending_by_state

The main point is that CA has historically incubated advanced technology capabilities.

And if that's the main point then it is utterly irrelevant to the thrust of your original remark.

Furthermore, the fact that CA is a net contributor of taxes is also utterly irrelevant to the point - that the wellbeing of CA's private economy cannot be measured by government spending - which is why I in fact included Californians in the pool of federal taxpayers whose money was being spent.

Also, the fact that Boeing et al are publicly held companies and not government agencies is also utterly irrelevant to the point; government inefficiency can be achieved just as easily by throwing money away on projects run by private (i.e., not government-owned) businesses as on projects run directly by government agencies.