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History The Scaled Composites model number of White Knight is 318. White Knight is registered with the Federal Aviation Administration as . White Knight first flew on August 1 2002. The flight was aborted shortly after takeoff due to a problem with the outboard spoilers. These were auxiliary spoilers designed to be pneumatically actuated to improve roll control when landing with crosswind. During the first flight, low air pressure turned out to be sufficient to suck the spoilers out of their recesses. This reduced lift increased the ambient air pressure and allowed the spoilers to spring back, restoring lift. This occurred cyclically, causing vibration of the airframe, and the pilot decided to abort. The spoilers were subsequently disabled completely, rather than fixed, as they were deemed unnecessary. White Knight next flew on August 5 2002, and this time performed well. Development proceeded over the next few months. With White Knight developed and evaluated, on April 18 2003 White Knight and SpaceShipOne were presented to the media. Subsequently, White Knight flew as part of the Tier One program that won the Ansari X Prize on 2004 October 4. Afterwards White Knight was used to carry and launch DARPA's experimental X-37 spaceplane for its approach and landing tests in 2005 and 2006. Characteristics White Knight is powered by two General Electric J85-GE-5 afterburning turbojets. The aircraft was developed out of the Proteus design. Flights carrying SpaceShipOne Flights of White Knight are numbered, starting with flight 1 on August 1 2002. Flights where SpaceShipOne is carried also get one or two appended letters. An appended C indicates that the flight was a captive carry, and L indicates that SpaceShipOne was launched. If the flight actually flown differs in category from the intended flight then two letters are appended, the first giving the intended mission and the second the mission actually performed. X-37 test program White Knight was contracted to perform both captive carry and drop test flights of the DARPA/Boeing X-37. First captive carry flight was on June 21, 2005, and first drop was on April 7, 2006 (the X-37 was subsequently damaged on landing at Edwards AFB). Initially, the flights originated from Mojave, but following the landing incident, the program was moved to Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, and at least five subsequent flights were made there. Related content Related development: Scaled Composites Model 281 – Scaled Composites Eve – Scaled Composites Model 316 Comparable aircraft: Designation sequence: White Knight — White Knight Two | ||||||||||
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