Re: Is Virgin Galactic for Real?

In article <11ru39de8lc7rca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Pat Flannery <flanner@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>How many people have summited Everest? Has it lost it's cachet?
>
>Yeah? Well those are masochistic madmen, not people.

No, the masochistic madmen are the ones who climb it without oxygen.
(That is, quite literally, self-inflicted brain damage.)

The guys who tackle it sensibly are merely masochistic.

>Now, _here's_ how you do Everest.
>Hire a Russian Mi-26 "Halo" giant helicopter.
>Equip the cargo bay with an oxygen atmosphere system to deal with the
>low air pressure at the top of the mountain.

I don't have a spec *** for the Mi-26 handy, but I doubt that it can
reach the summit. Helicopters, especially big ones, tend to have low
maximum altitudes, especially in hover. (The helicopter rescue of two
injured climbers from 20,000ft on the slopes of Everest -- well short of
the summit -- a decade or so ago was the highest in history, and so
difficult that it won the pilot several awards for bravery.) The lower
air density hurts rotor performance badly.
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