you
when looking in aviation history books
you can see the importance of NASA's
Dryden Flight Research Facility the list
of flight accomplishments at Dryden as
long as we have searched for ways to
improve flight in the early days NASA or
the national aeronautics and space
administration was known as NACA the
National Advisory Committee on
Aeronautics engineers from the NACA
facility at Langley Virginia were lured
here in 1946 because of the vast
wide-open spaces in which the test
aircraft one of the earliest vehicles
tested here was the first to reach
supersonic speeds the excess one we take
our name from dr. huge riding one of
these early aviation pioneers Dryden is
located 90 miles north of Los Angeles
California in the Mojave Desert the
clear skies relatively sparse population
wide-open spaces and dry weather make it
the perfect place for aeronautical
flight testing from dryden pilots have
access to over 20,000 square miles of
restricted airspace over a portion of
the western United States and off the
west coast the NASA facility is on
Edwards Air Force Base on the edge of
Rogers dry lakebed this is a 44 square
mile smooth flat surface providing
supplemental landing runways to the hard
runway complex at Edwards many of the
early X series aircraft paved the way
for even more productive and successful
experimental aircraft like the x-15 it
flew at Dryden between 1959 and 1968
experimental test pilots fluid at Mach
6.7 or over 4,500 miles an hour and
reached peak altitudes of 350,000 feet
or over 66 miles high
during the decade it flew the x-15
program provided information which
benefited the aircraft and space
industries for many years to come the
program produced over 750 technical
reports on the results of the x-15
experiments another breakthrough here
was the first flight of the lifting body
spacecraft configuration the first of
these lifting bodies the m2 f 1 was
unpowered and first towed in the flight
behind a car racing up and down Rogers
dry lake bed and later behind a c-47
aircraft another was the HL 10 lifting
body it's on display just outside the
Dryden main front gate these are two of
the five lifting body designs that led
to development of our space shuttle
fleet tested Dryden helped prove certain
theories about space flight were correct
for example man could fly a vehicle into
space re-enter the Earth's atmosphere
maneuver the craft safely landed back on
earth unpowered and reused the
spacecraft through the years some rather
unusual looking vehicles were tested at
Dryden and help benefit the space and
aviation industry for example this the
Paris of it was a space-age kite
engineers thought could be used in place
of parachutes that were used to recover
America's early spacecraft in early 1960
to the Paris f was tested at Dryden
Holden the flight behind a car racing
down the dry lake bed the parasail was
never used for this purpose but the
technology developed into modern-day
paragliders and hang gliders another
alien looking project tested at Dryden
was the lunar landing research vehicle
ll RV nicknamed the flying bedstead the
ll RV was designed to create
gravitational conditions similar to what
was thought to exist on the moon this
help train our Apollo astronauts for
what to expect when they landed on the
moon in the 1960s
too highly modified f eight aircraft
tested at Dryden in the 1970s proved to
be extremely valuable one was testing
digital fly-by-wire theory this is where
computer systems replace mechanical
control systems on an aircraft
fly-by-wire systems reduce aircraft
weight take up less space than
mechanical systems and allow for
advanced aircraft configuration designs
a supercritical wing was installed on
Dryden's other f8 aircraft the
supercritical wing has an airfoil or
wing shape which delays the formation of
shockwaves as the aircraft approaches
the speed of sound the supercritical
wing allows an aircraft to cruise at
higher speeds using less fuel making it
much more efficient many of today's
military and commercial aircraft
incorporate fly-by-wire and
supercritical wing technologies also in
the 1970s NASA flew a pair of Y of 12s
frontrunners of the sr-71 in a lengthy
research program to study a wide range
of disciplines associated with
high-speed high-altitude flights today
NASA is flying the Blackbirds once again
using the former Air Force
reconnaissance aircraft to conduct
experiments to benefit future high-speed
aircraft a more recently completed test
project at Dryden is the x29 this
forward swept wing concept dates back to
Germany in the 1930s the design just
wasn't practical back then because
stronger lighter materials that were
needed to keep the forward swept wings
from ripping off in flight were just not
available the Advanced Research Project
agency US Air Force NASA and the grumman
corporation tested the forward swept
wing vehicle at Dryden through 1991 over
374 test flights many exploring
controlled high angles of attack were
conducted during 1992 NASA and the Air
Force's right labs use the aircraft for
vortex flow control experiments these
showed that by injecting nitrogen gas
into the planes nose vortices gave the
aircraft at it can
at high angles of attack now let's take
a look at some of the NASA Dryden family
and their day-to-day activities constant
close coordination is necessary before
during and after every research flight
the crew briefing is a chance for all
the major players like the pilot program
manager chief engineer operations
engineer and director of flight
operations research to get together for
a final review and coordination before
each flight the key person at the crew
brief is the research pilot the pilot
has to be aware of all the objectives
the researchers and engineers want to
meet and be able to translate the paper
requirements needed by the people on the
ground into useful actual flight test
results
Dryden's to fully equipped flight
control wounds are used for efficient
data acquisition and monitoring each
research mission these control room
occupants are a highly specialized team
coming together from various
organizations within Dryden for a
specific flight on most missions at
Dryden there's a primary or mission
controller who's usually another one of
our pilots there's also an operations
engineer responsible for monitoring the
aircraft systems and providing the
mission controller with all the vital
data needed during normal or emergency
procedures other staff members are
engineers responsible for monitoring the
flights experiments and ensuring the
data they want to acquire is obtained in
addition program management personnel
take an overview of the entire operation
and factor in variables like the weather
range situation and time a key component
in the flight test data acquisition
process is the data analysis facility
here all flight test data is recorded
stored and transmitted to other NASA and
industry sites for use in various flight
research programs here raw flight test
data is collected formatted and printed
for use by the different flight test
teams many detailed aircraft tests are
conducted under one roof that Dryden's
integrated test facility or ITF today's
modern aircraft contain many highly
interdependent systems involving flight
controls structural dynamics propulsion
aerodynamics and avionics all requiring
close coordination for accurate data
acquisition in this one-of-a-kind
national resource researchers can
simultaneously test all of the aircraft
systems by simulating actual flight
engineers as well as research pilots can
control the flight simulation and
monitor data that's also being recorded
for later
analysis also at Dryden's ITF
researchers conduct ground vibration
testing perform routine aircraft
maintenance and verify and validate
flight software all in this one location
another test area is the flow
visualization facility or water tunnel
here researchers take standard
off-the-shelf model airplanes and modify
them with tubing so they can inject
different colored eyes into the water
the dyes flowing through the water act
very similar to the air around an
aircraft in flight researchers can
quickly accurately and inexpensively
illustrate actual aircraft flight
conditions to better understand air flow
around the aircraft and to help locate
instrumentation on future aircraft
we probably receive much outside
attention as a landing site for the
Space Shuttle Orbiter flips down the
three mile long hard surface runway and
the extra flat smooth services provided
by Rogers dry lakebed make it an ideal
place for landing a space shuttle with a
heavy payload or because of bad weather
at the Kennedy Space Center Florida when
landing at Dryden the orbiters rd
serviced and mounted on top of NASA's
747 Shuttle Carrier aircraft for a
return to the floor to launch pad as you
have seen drive-ins past is full of many
valuable aeronautical achievements the
present day test projects are proving to
be very important as well the latest
experimental or x-series project is the
x31 it's an international effort with
participation from government and
industry groups in Germany and the
United States high angles of attack
performing rare turn maneuvers and
thrust vectoring have been tested here
on the 2 x 31 thrust vectoring means
changing the direction of the exhaust
from the jet engines as a way of
improving the aircraft's performance
some major accomplishments in the x31
program sustained 70 degrees controlled
angle of attack and the j-turn or the
herbs maneuver during this j-turn
maneuver the pilot is flying at 70
degrees controlled angle of attack and
will sharply turn the aircraft basically
ending up going in the opposite
direction
Dryden's f18 Harv or high alpha research
vehicle continues to provide data on
agility handling qualities control law
evaluations and surface pressure surveys
the Harv is a standard f-18 aircraft
that's been modified with three
spoon-shaped paddles per engine to
vector or move the exhaust thrust for
better control at high angles of attack
results of this research will help shape
future military aircraft the Harbaugh
explores 60 and 70 degrees controlled
angle of attack and provides researchers
with the ability to more accurately
predict the flight characteristics of
future jet fighters our highly modified
f15 was used recently to test digital
electronic engine and flight control
systems these will help future military
and commercial aircraft fly more safely
and efficiently computer software on
board our f15 throttles the engines to
the lowest possible power settings and
sustained supersonic flight another test
on the f-15 high deck or highly
integrated digital electronic controlled
aircraft is a software system which
compensates for control system failures
which would render most normal aircraft
uncontrollable this propulsion
controlled aircraft software system
gives the pilot the ability to safely
steer and land the aircraft using only
computer control of the engines this
will prove to be a valuable piece of
equipment to have on an aircraft in the
future
our b-52 launch aircraft is the oldest
active b-52 in the country this vehicle
has launched xfit teams and the
experimental lifting bodies and has a
long list of other accomplishments the
drag parachute system used on todays
space shuttle was tested behind the b-52
the chute reduces tire and brake we're
on our orbiter fleet the b-52 is also
used to launch Pegasus a commercially
developed three-stage rocket booster
that put smaller payloads into orbit for
less cost and ground launches NASA's
convair CD 990 has been modified to test
loads and stress points on space shuttle
landing gear tires and braking systems
this is part of the continuing effort to
upgrade and enhance the space shuttle
landing capabilities the CD 990 touches
down with its own landing gear then a
shuttle landing gear strut is
hydraulically lowered to the runway to
simulate shuttle touchdown conditions
this gives engineers a better way to
measure and isolate stress points and
loads making the shuttles safer in
support of future high speed civil
transport NASA researchers are using a
modified x16 XL to study laminar or
smooth air flows by smoothing the air
flow the aircraft flies more efficiently
at all speeds the forest titanium glove
installed in the cranked arrow wing of
the f16 XL induces this smooth airflow
and by monitoring the airflow during
flight researchers at NASA's Langley and
driving facilities can determine how
laminar air flow is affected at
different flight conditions frightened
also continues to fly the sr-71
blackbird as a high-speed high-altitude
research platform the sr-71 and our f-16
XL conducted acoustic studies to
determine ways to reduce noise from
future of high-speed aircraft Brydon
also is conducting
for the jet propulsion laboratory in
pasadena highly sensitive ultraviolet
instruments for astronomical studies
were carried into the atmosphere aboard
the black versions now to welcome you to
the dryden flight research facility
director Ken xalay aviation has played a
major role in this country's economic
growth and security civil aircraft carry
business people tourists families
students critical equipment mail and
cargo a strong aviation infrastructure
is vital for this nation's
competitiveness and national security
the sale of civil transports for example
is a major positive contributor to the
balance of payments military aircraft
keep the peace and when they're called
upon force the peace we're celebrating
the 90th anniversary of the Wright
brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk a
scant 12 years later in 1915 the
national advisory committee for
aeronautics was formed and the United
States began aeronautical research NASA
continues this proud tradition of
aeronautical research by pioneering new
concepts transferring technology to the
US industry and by solving problems when
they occur in air transportation NASA's
ultimate objective is to assure that US
aircraft have superior performance are
affordable to onin to operate and are
safe NASA works in partnership with the
US industry the Department of Defense
universities and aircraft operators here
at NASA Dryden we explore the realm of
flight turning ideas into reality and
making discoveries every day that are
used for the design of future aircraft
aeronautical research and development is
really an investment in the future at
NASA we intend to work hard for you the
American taxpayer to ensure a large
return on that investment