X-51A Aircraft Test Flight Ends in Failure

Xnewsman sends in an article from the LA Times concerning the experimental hyper-sonic test bed X-51a, where the plane's most recent flight ended in failure.

According to the article:

• The unmanned X-51A was launched over the Pacific Tuesday from above the Point Mugu Naval Air Test Range to fine-tune its hypersonic scramjet engine.

In this most recent test the plane was supposed to accelerate to mach 6 and fly for a five minute window.  However the "scram" engine never fired.   Fifteen seconds after it was released from its' cradle, under the wing of a B-52, a fault was discovered in the control surfaces that would prevent straight and level flight causing the craft to lose control.  

That leaves the X-51a fleet with only one remaining plane and officials doubt that it will fly anytime soon, if ever.  

Scientists on the project said that research into hypersonic flight is crucial to the next generation of missiles, military aircraft, spacecraft -- and even passenger planes.