NASA TESTS TAILLESS AIRCRAFT; DESIGN COULD HERALD FUTURE.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer A tailless airplane airplane, aeroplane, or aircraft, heavier-than-air vehicle, mechanically driven and fitted with fixed wings that support it in flight through the dynamic action of the air. called ``the shape of airplanes to come'' has completed 31 test flights at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center The Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC), located inside Edwards Air Force Base, is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. On March 26, 1976 it was named in honor of the late Hugh L. . The X-36, a subscale, remote-controlled aircraft racked up 15 hours and 38 minutes of flying time during the flight-test program, which ran from May to November, reaching a top speed of 234 mph and a top altitude altitude, vertical distance of an object above some datum plane, such as mean sea level or a reference point on the earth's surface. It is usually measured by the reduction in atmospheric pressure with height, as shown on a barometer or altimeter. of 20,200 feet. ``All of our project goals were met or exceeded,'' said Mark Sumich, X-36 project manager at NASA's Ames Ames, city (1990 pop. 47,198), Story co., central Iowa, on the Skunk River; inc. 1870. Its chief manufactures are electronic, water-analysis, and water-treatment equipment; motor vehicles; construction materials; and machinery. Iowa State Univ. Research Center at Moffett Field in Mountain View. The X-36 is only 28 percent as large as a full-scale aircraft could be, but big enough to test the key flight controls without the expense of developing a full-scale aircraft. Two X-36 aircraft were built for the program by Boeing's Phantom Works division in St. Louis. A tailless aircraft A tailless or tail-less aeroplane traditionally has all its horizontal control surfaces on its main wing surface. It has no (horizontal stabilizer - either tailplane or canard foreplane (nor does it have a second wing in tandem arrangement). offers several aviation benefits, officials said. First, there is a savings in the weight of the aircraft that increases the aircraft's range. Second, a tailless aircraft is stealthier because it leaves a smaller image for radar. Information gleaned from the program can be incorporated in future fighter designs, officials said. Constructing two X-36 aircraft and conducting the flight tests cost approximately $20 million. Each X-36 is a single-engine aircraft 18 feet long with a wing span of 10 feet. Each plane weighs 1,250 pounds. The yaw yaw, in aviation: see airplane; airfoil. See pitch-yaw-roll. , the side to side movement of the aircraft's nose normally controlled by a tail rudder rudder, mechanism for steering an airplane or a ship. In ships it is a flat-surfaced structure hinged to the stern and controlled by a helm. When the ship is on a straight course, the rudder is in line with the vessel; if the rudder is turned to one side or the other , is controlled through the use of split ailerons, the flaps on the rear edges of the wings. The ailerons can be raised and lowered in a normal fashion to provide roll control. The X-36 program is a joint effort by Boeing and NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View. The flight tests were hosted by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. The aircraft are now in storage in a hangar at Dryden. Discussions are under way about other possible research flights, officials said. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO An X-36 research plane is checked during a round of tests to gather data about tailless aircraft. |
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