Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo mothership WhiteKnightTwo sped down a runway during a high speed taxi trial at Mojave air and spaceport on Tuesday 16 December, deploying spoilers.

In preparations for what could be a 19 December maiden flight the twin-fuselage carrier aircraft used all four of its Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308A engines to accelerate down the runway at the spacerport.

In the video obtained by Flightglobal the aircraft's right main landing gear can be seen to briefly lock up and start smoking.

The high speed taxi follows the 12 December low-speed, two-engine powered trial that Flightglobal also obtained exclusive video of.

Source: Flight International