They're required to file a flight plan with the FAA or they can't launch.
If the plan says they'll go all the way into orbit and they abort early, that's ok.
If the plan says they'll get 100m off the ground and go no further, and they instead manage to make it all the way into orbit, they'd be in a huge amount of trouble.
Given the above, what sort of flight plan would you recommend they file?
« go all the way into orbit » (and down to Hawaï) seems totally fair as a flight plan. Being ok with aborting early is SpaceX decision and I totally get it. Nevertheless, « all they hope was to clear the tower » is quite hard to believe for me but this was only an opinion.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the first part of the flight was important and considered mostly a success.
Hmm... this seems like maybe taking things in an overly literal way. It sounds like clearing the tower was their threshold for a successful test - if they didn't get that far, it would be deemed a failure.
A phrase like "all I hope for" doesn't necessarily mean "the only thing I hope for" but instead usually means "the thing I hope for most (or above all)". If someone were to say, "all I want is a good night's rest", it doesn't mean they no longer want oxygen, for example. :)
If the plan says they'll go all the way into orbit and they abort early, that's ok.
If the plan says they'll get 100m off the ground and go no further, and they instead manage to make it all the way into orbit, they'd be in a huge amount of trouble.
Given the above, what sort of flight plan would you recommend they file?