PILOTLESS AIRCRAFT CRASHES AT EDWARDS : MAKERS SAY DATA SUFFICIENT TO FIND CAUSE.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer A pilotless research aircraft went out of control Tuesday morning during a test flight, broke apart and crashed on a dry lake bed near Rogers Dry Lake. On its sixth flight, Virginia-based Aurora Flight Sciences Corp.'s twin-engine Theseus high-altitude research aircraft had reached that morning's target altitude of 20,000 feet and was descending - flying about 60 mph - when it went out of control at about 19,000 feet, officials said. ``The plane had begun to return to base when something happened that caused it to eventually break up,'' said John Langford John Langford may refer to:
The plane eventually hit 165 mph before its structure failed and came apart, Langford said. The wreckage fell on a small dry lake bed just northeast of Rogers Dry Lake. Two small fires started where the craft's engines hit the ground, but they were extinguished ex·tin·guish tr.v. ex·tin·guished, ex·tin·guish·ing, ex·tin·guish·es 1. To put out (a fire, for example); quench. 2. To put an end to (hopes, for example); destroy. See Synonyms at abolish. 3. by Edwards firefighters. There were no injuries, the company president said. The decision on whether to build a new airplane rests with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space exploration, artificial satellites (see satellite, artificial), , which issued the contract for the craft's construction. ``The test program to date has been extremely successful,'' Langford said. ``Enough has been learned from this to forge ahead with the program. Our enthusiasm has not diminished.'' A team from Aurora Flight Sciences has been formed to investigate the cause of the crash. There are good data and video images from the crash to assist investigators, Langford said. ``We should be able to put the puzzle together,'' he said. A prototype of an aircraft designed to study the Earth's atmosphere “Air” redirects here. For other uses, see Air (disambiguation). Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth and retained by the Earth's gravity. It contains roughly (by molar content/volume) 78% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0. , Theseus was built by Aurora and two West Virginia West Virginia, E central state of the United States. It is bordered by Pennsylvania and Maryland (N), Virginia (E and S), and Kentucky and, across the Ohio R., Ohio (W). Facts and Figures Area, 24,181 sq mi (62,629 sq km). Pop. colleges - West Virginia University West Virginia University, mainly at Morgantown; coeducational; land-grant and state supported; est. and opened 1867 as an agricultural college, renamed 1868. , Morgantown and Fairmont State College - under a $4.9 million contract for NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program. Future versions of Theseus are intended to fly at altitudes above 60,000 feet and stay in the air for more than 24 hours at a stretch. Theseus was designed to support research in such areas as ozone depletion Ozone depletion describes two distinct, but related observations: a slow, steady decline of about 4 percent per decade in the total amount of ozone in Earth's stratosphere since around 1980; and a much larger, but seasonal, decrease in stratospheric ozone over Earth's polar regions and the atmospheric effects of future high-speed civil transport aircraft engines. By flying at high altitudes Conventionally, an altitude above 10,000 meters (33,000 feet). See also altitude. for longer periods of time, the aircraft would serve as a sort of science research satellite. Powered by two 80-horsepower, turbocharged piston engines, the craft had an extremely wide 140-foot wingspan and was constructed primarily from composite materials. The airplane was first flown May 24. Tuesday, it was on its sixth test flight and its first at high altitude. It was being controlled from a station on the ground. Aurora Flight Sciences was responsible for the flight testing, vehicle flight safety and operation of the aircraft. 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. was hosting the program and was responsible for providing hangar space and range safety for flight testing. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (ran in SAC and AV editions--color in AV) The $4.1 million, remote-controlled, Theseus pilotless research aircraft crashed Tuesday in a test flight near Rogers Dry Lake. National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
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