Seems like a cause of the SpaceShipTwo crash has been tentatively declared. Rather than a propulsion system foulup, the Feds are saying that the “feathering” system was prematurely activated. This, to put it over-simply, folded the vehicle sorta in half. This is *supposed* to happen after burnout, not right at the beginning of the burn. As a consequence of this, the fuselage would have been pitched to a very high angle of attack… and the tails would have been snapped off, as is seen in the photos taken from the ground. The propulsion system seems to be in the clear here.

Spaceship’s descent device deployed prematurely

This would seem to be the sort of error on par with an aircraft unintentionally deploying its flaps or landing gear.

UPDATE:

Another article with a bit more info and clarity is HERE. Due to the recovery on onboard cameras, investigators have found that two things that shouldn’t have happened happened:

1) The feathering mechanism was manually turned on right after engine ignition. This should not have been done until later… pilot error, it seems.

2) But for the feathering mechanism to actually activate, an activation level must be moved… and according to the video, it wasn’t. So… mechanical/computer error.

Seems like *two* flaws in sequence. If the crew had not turned the system on early, it wouldn’t have deployed early. But even though they turned it on, it shouldn’t have activated until the crew pushed the lever, but it did anyway.

So ya gotta wonder,in previous flights how many times the system might have been primed to screw up in the same way if the crew had hit the button early.