On 4/4/2010 6:19 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:
On 4/04/2010 11:15 AM, Pat Flannery wrote:
On 4/3/2010 6:55 AM, Neil Gerace wrote:

I don't know whether any airliners have escape systems for passengers
that can work while the plane is in the air. If this is so, I see no
reason for a passenger-carrying spacecraft to have them. Other than
politics.

The thing is, everyone seems to be thinking about it like a airliner or
a business jet.
It's nothing like those; it's a rocket-powered transatmospheric vehicle
that is air launched, flies faster than a SR-71, climbs out of and
reenters the atmosphere, and performs a glide landing.

And the SR-71 suffered many losses.

Actually considering the small number built, yes it did.
http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/srloss~1.htm
With 20 losses out of 50 Blackbirds of all types built, loss rate was 40%.

Pat