Virgin Blue pilots offered Virgin Galactic positions!!
Be One of Australia’s First Astronaut Pilots!
Virgin Blue and Virgin Galactic have announced an “out of this world opportunity” whereby two pilots now flying for Virgin Blue could become astronaut pilots of the future! Six Virgin Blue pilots will be short listed and sent to the United States to undergo final selection by NASA. All Virgin Blue 737 pilots with a minimum of 500 jet hours are invited to apply for the 27 month secondment to train as fully-fledged astronaut pilots and fly space tourists on the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo from 2008/9 onwards. The successful candidates will relocate to the USA and will undergo highly specialised training including nine months of aerobatic, fast jet and executive aircraft for zero gravity flights training. They will then spend the next nine months flying the Virgin Galactic mothership named “White Knight” and will also participate in Mission Control work - the last nine months will be spent flying Virgin Galactic Spaceship missions into space. Once they have completed their 27 month secondment they will return to Virgin Blue as Australia’s first qualified pilot astronauts. The two selected Virgin Blue pilots will have the opportunity to command SpaceShipTwo on its missions.
Wonder if they will undercut the NASA astronauts on pay. They certainly will on experience. Tertiary educated, military and civilian engineering test pilots, pride of their nation etc. Versus the baseball cap, aviation bums in VB who look like they fell out of a C206 from up north somewhere.
C'mon. A publicity stunt like the staff island. A year 10 educated VB pilot in NASA.
I was gonna say something similar but you worded it so well, I just had to sit back.
Virgin Atlantic pilots have been made the same offer. However their pilot body is not a bunch of "GA bums." They have a number of ex-RAF test pilots who are, alas, probably the best suited for this sort of venture.
Since VB has a definite number of positions (two according to the above) to be filled, I guess it will go to whomever the best Chieftain driver was (FO) and the least fat-gutted Capt who can drink VB without belching in public.
Can't wait to see the Virgin Niggeria shift have a go at it.....
Sh!t yeah......!!! What do you expect??? Getting a seat on the rocket ship would be the highlight of an otherwise uneventful and mundane career spent flying loads of smelly people from A to B and listening to hosties whinge.
Not sure if it'd be worth 5 or 6 years of VB life (and wages) just to be in the running for 2 positions, though. Good luck to those who want to go for it. Yes I'm jealous.
But I still think what Gnadenbooger wrote is funny!
According to the NASA web page a Captain gets paid $91,000 US that is the same as $122,951,17. So maybe worth the effort. A virgin Capt gets much more than this, so sorry Lord Snot. They are not all GA warriors,lot's of ex RAAF, airlines from all over the planet and EX Mil from all over, here because the standard of life is SO good. bloke
As usual, your predominantly snide remarks show that the "tall poppy" syndrome is alive and well in Oz.
How about congratulating the DJ drivers and wishing those who plan to have a go the best of luck?!? I watched a '60 Minutes' story last year about Burt Rutan, Mike Melville (his chief test pilot) and all the crew who worked so hard to make Spaceship One a reality. It was no "Mickey Mouse" stuff. These guys are at the forefront of a whole new frontier, and some of the stuff they were doing was damned near heroic.
I personally think the two DJ drivers who get selected are two lucky bastards.
Yep, all leaving in droves for UAE....... 2 in fact..... A helluva lot less than QF SO's knocking on Dragon's door. "GA Bums" ......are you serious?..... What do you call 500 hour cadets? (Other than stagecoach drivers )
show that the "tall poppy" syndrome is alive and well in Oz.
Actually, until the advent of Big Brother, I felt Australians smelt bullshi$$ better than most. The Virgin publicity machine, uses whatever means it can to get free advertising- whether that be continuos whining in the press, outlandish claims or the lunatic behaviour of Branson himself. Often the Virgin publicity wagon gets way ahead of itself- the Virgin Blue Staff Retreat Island for example.
A 27 month secondment seems a bit of a skinny time period to qualify as an astronaut, achieve operational status and be a useful member of a mission control team. Where is the return on investment? This is where a reality TV style publicity programme will kick in courtesy of the Virgin Group.
If you think a baseball cap, tan pants with plumbers crack makes the profession look bad, wait until you see the astronaut Laurel & Hardys, nepotism and the VB publicity machine put together.
Could be wrong though. Could be best man for the job. How many VB pilots have traditional astronaut candidate backgrounds?
Yep, all leaving in droves for UAE....... 2 in fact..... bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbzzzzzzz zzzzz
From what I hear from one airline, it takes 40 VB candidates to apply, to strike two for success.
Let's hope NASA doesn't have a technical quiz. Or has someone explained to the boys what those big winglets are for- no, they are not there just for the Virgin logo.
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