And yet the system allows it....with a single rocket!
The system is not there to ensure that every flight is successful. It’s there to ensure that the most severe risks to life, limb, and property are sufficiently mitigated, even in a less likely event of a failure, to placate the public and allow our hobby to continue.
It only takes one accident, but thankfully the accidents we have seen are rare, usually the results of deviation from prescribed and adopted procedure.
While we’ve done much speculation and a smaller amount of finger pointing towards the team, maybe we ought to look at the responsibility of range personnel as well.
Just to posit a scenario: If I were volunteering to, say, manage pads at a HPR launch and I saw a college team bringing up a bunch of LOC IVs, and flights 1, 2, and 3 all arced over enough for the LCO to verbally express concern or if I happened get antsy during my own observations, I might ask that we check with the owners of rockets 4 and 5 and see what’s up with those. It can’t hurt to double-check the flight cards, see what the delays were, and ask why they’re so long.
Experienced rocketeers can make the mistake of assuming that attendees know what they’re doing, that a warning of an incoming rocket over a PA system is enough to prevent injuries, etc. and allow newbies to go without sufficient scrutiny. The best way to maintain safety on the range is to ensure all flights are safe, to the best of practicality. I know I wouldn’t mind a longer line at a HPR launch’s LCO station or roving RSOs if I knew that everybody was at least being briefly questioned about things like their level of experience, if and how they’re deviating from a proven design, their rocket’s stability margin(s) and how it was determined, their logic behind their motor and delay selection, intended flight profile, etc.
Now, I’m not implying that the signs were immediately obvious or that range personnel on this flight were negligent, but all the same, I can’t help but wonder why this wasn’t caught earlier. It
was catchable. Perhaps the OP
@Lt72884 can shed some light on where the flight occurred, which checks were made, the exact sequence of events leading up the the flight, etc. Maybe he knows something we don’t.