The impact of flying qualities on helicopter operational agility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Padfield, Gareth D.; Lappos, Nick; Hodgkinson, John

1993-01-01

Flying qualities standards are formally set to ensure safe flight and therefore reflect minimum, rather than optimum, requirements. Agility is a flying quality but relates to operations at high, if not maximum, performance. While the quality metrics and test procedures for flying, as covered for example in ADS33C, may provide an adequate structure to encompass agility, they do not currently address flight at high performance. This is also true in the fixed-wing world and a current concern in both communities is the absence of substantiated agility criteria and possible conflicts between flying qualities and high performance. AGARD is sponsoring a working group (WG19) title 'Operational Agility' that deals with these and a range of related issues. This paper is condensed from contributions by the three authors to WG19, relating to flying qualities. Novel perspectives on the subject are presented including the agility factor, that quantifies performance margins in flying qualities terms; a new parameter, based on maneuver acceleration is introduced as a potential candidate for defining upper limits to flying qualities. Finally, a probabilistic analysis of pilot handling qualities ratings is presented that suggests a powerful relationship between inherent airframe flying qualities and operational agility.

Flying Drosophila stabilize their vision-based velocity controller by sensing wind with their antennae

PubMed Central

Fuller, Sawyer Buckminster; Straw, Andrew D.; Peek, Martin Y.; Murray, Richard M.; Dickinson, Michael H.

2014-01-01

Flies and other insects use vision to regulate their groundspeed in flight, enabling them to fly in varying wind conditions. Compared with mechanosensory modalities, however, vision requires a long processing delay (~100 ms) that might introduce instability if operated at high gain. Flies also sense air motion with their antennae, but how this is used in flight control is unknown. We manipulated the antennal function of fruit flies by ablating their aristae, forcing them to rely on vision alone to regulate groundspeed. Arista-ablated flies in flight exhibited significantly greater groundspeed variability than intact flies. We then subjected them to a series of controlled impulsive wind gusts delivered by an air piston and experimentally manipulated antennae and visual feedback. The results show that an antenna-mediated response alters wing motion to cause flies to accelerate in the same direction as the gust. This response opposes flying into a headwind, but flies regularly fly upwind. To resolve this discrepancy, we obtained a dynamic model of the fly’s velocity regulator by fitting parameters of candidate models to our experimental data. The model suggests that the groundspeed variability of arista-ablated flies is the result of unstable feedback oscillations caused by the delay and high gain of visual feedback. The antenna response drives active damping with a shorter delay (~20 ms) to stabilize this regulator, in exchange for increasing the effect of rapid wind disturbances. This provides insight into flies’ multimodal sensory feedback architecture and constitutes a previously unknown role for the antennae. PMID:24639532

Active and passive stabilization of body pitch in insect flight

PubMed Central

Ristroph, Leif; Ristroph, Gunnar; Morozova, Svetlana; Bergou, Attila J.; Chang, Song; Guckenheimer, John; Wang, Z. Jane; Cohen, Itai

2013-01-01

Flying insects have evolved sophisticated sensory–motor systems, and here we argue that such systems are used to keep upright against intrinsic flight instabilities. We describe a theory that predicts the instability growth rate in body pitch from flapping-wing aerodynamics and reveals two ways of achieving balanced flight: active control with sufficiently rapid reactions and passive stabilization with high body drag. By glueing magnets to fruit flies and perturbing their flight using magnetic impulses, we show that these insects employ active control that is indeed fast relative to the instability. Moreover, we find that fruit flies with their control sensors disabled can keep upright if high-drag fibres are also attached to their bodies, an observation consistent with our prediction for the passive stability condition. Finally, we extend this framework to unify the control strategies used by hovering animals and also furnish criteria for achieving pitch stability in flapping-wing robots. PMID:23697713

Simulation to Flight Test for a UAV Controls Testbed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Motter, Mark A.; Logan, Michael J.; French, Michael L.; Guerreiro, Nelson M.

2006-01-01

The NASA Flying Controls Testbed (FLiC) is a relatively small and inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicle developed specifically to test highly experimental flight control approaches. The most recent version of the FLiC is configured with 16 independent aileron segments, supports the implementation of C-coded experimental controllers, and is capable of fully autonomous flight from takeoff roll to landing, including flight test maneuvers. The test vehicle is basically a modified Army target drone, AN/FQM-117B, developed as part of a collaboration between the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) at Fort Eustis, Virginia and NASA Langley Research Center. Several vehicles have been constructed and collectively have flown over 600 successful test flights, including a fully autonomous demonstration at the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) UAV Demo 2005. Simulations based on wind tunnel data are being used to further develop advanced controllers for implementation and flight test.

A Turbine-powered UAV Controls Testbed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Motter, Mark A.; High, James W.; Guerreiro, Nelson M.; Chambers, Ryan S.; Howard, Keith D.

2007-01-01

The latest version of the NASA Flying Controls Testbed (FLiC) integrates commercial-off-the-shelf components including airframe, autopilot, and a small turbine engine to provide a low cost experimental flight controls testbed capable of sustained speeds up to 200 mph. The series of flight tests leading up to the demonstrated performance of the vehicle in sustained, autopiloted 200 mph flight at NASA Wallops Flight Facility's UAV runway in August 2006 will be described. Earlier versions of the FLiC were based on a modified Army target drone, AN/FQM-117B, developed as part of a collaboration between the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate at Fort Eustis, Virginia and NASA Langley Research Center. The newer turbine powered platform (J-FLiC) builds on the successes using the relatively smaller, slower and less expensive unmanned aerial vehicle developed specifically to test highly experimental flight control approaches with the implementation of C-coded experimental controllers. Tracking video was taken during the test flights at Wallops and will be available for presentation at the conference. Analysis of flight data from both remotely piloted and autopiloted flights will be presented. Candidate experimental controllers for implementation will be discussed. It is anticipated that flight testing will resume in Spring 2007 and those results will be included, if possible.

A Novel Method for Tracking Individuals of Fruit Fly Swarms Flying in a Laboratory Flight Arena

PubMed Central

Cheng, Xi En; Qian, Zhi-Ming; Wang, Shuo Hong; Jiang, Nan; Guo, Aike; Chen, Yan Qiu

2015-01-01

The growing interest in studying social behaviours of swarming fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, has heightened the need for developing tools that provide quantitative motion data. To achieve such a goal, multi-camera three-dimensional tracking technology is the key experimental gateway. We have developed a novel tracking system for tracking hundreds of fruit flies flying in a confined cubic flight arena. In addition to the proposed tracking algorithm, this work offers additional contributions in three aspects: body detection, orientation estimation, and data validation. To demonstrate the opportunities that the proposed system offers for generating high-throughput quantitative motion data, we conducted experiments on five experimental configurations. We also performed quantitative analysis on the kinematics and the spatial structure and the motion patterns of fruit fly swarms. We found that there exists an asymptotic distance between fruit flies in swarms as the population density increases. Further, we discovered the evidence for repulsive response when the distance between fruit flies approached the asymptotic distance. Overall, the proposed tracking system presents a powerful method for studying flight behaviours of fruit flies in a three-dimensional environment. PMID:26083385

Flight performance of western sandpipers, Calidris mauri, remains uncompromised when mounting an acute phase immune response.

PubMed

Nebel, Silke; Buehler, Deborah M; MacMillan, Alexander; Guglielmo, Christopher G

2013-07-15

Migratory birds have been implicated in the spread of some zoonotic diseases, but how well infected individuals can fly remains poorly understood. We used western sandpipers, Calidris mauri, to experimentally test whether flight is affected when long-distance migrants are mounting an immune response and whether migrants maintain immune defences during a flight in a wind tunnel. We measured five indicators of innate immunity in 'flown-healthy' birds (flying in a wind tunnel without mounting an immune response), 'flown-sick' birds (flying while mounting an acute phase response, which is part of induced innate immunity), and a non-flying control group ('not-flown'). Voluntary flight duration did not differ between flown-healthy and flown-sick birds, indicating that mounting an acute phase response to simulated infection did not hamper an individual's ability to fly for up to 3 h. However, in comparison to not-flown birds, bacterial killing ability of plasma was significantly reduced after flight in flown-sick birds. In flown-healthy birds, voluntary flight duration was positively correlated with bacterial killing ability and baseline haptoglobin concentration of the blood plasma measured 1-3 weeks before experimental flights, suggesting that high quality birds had strong immune systems and greater flight capacity. Our findings indicate that flight performance is not diminished by prior immune challenge, but that flight while mounting an acute phase response negatively affects other aspects of immune function. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the transmission of avian diseases, as they suggest that birds can still migrate while fighting an infection.

Vortex wake, downwash distribution, aerodynamic performance and wingbeat kinematics in slow-flying pied flycatchers.

PubMed

Muijres, Florian T; Bowlin, Melissa S; Johansson, L Christoffer; Hedenström, Anders

2012-02-07

Many small passerines regularly fly slowly when catching prey, flying in cluttered environments or landing on a perch or nest. While flying slowly, passerines generate most of the flight forces during the downstroke, and have a 'feathered upstroke' during which they make their wing inactive by retracting it close to the body and by spreading the primary wing feathers. How this flight mode relates aerodynamically to the cruising flight and so-called 'normal hovering' as used in hummingbirds is not yet known. Here, we present time-resolved fluid dynamics data in combination with wingbeat kinematics data for three pied flycatchers flying across a range of speeds from near hovering to their calculated minimum power speed. Flycatchers are adapted to low speed flight, which they habitually use when catching insects on the wing. From the wake dynamics data, we constructed average wingbeat wakes and determined the time-resolved flight forces, the time-resolved downwash distributions and the resulting lift-to-drag ratios, span efficiencies and flap efficiencies. During the downstroke, slow-flying flycatchers generate a single-vortex loop wake, which is much more similar to that generated by birds at cruising flight speeds than it is to the double loop vortex wake in hovering hummingbirds. This wake structure results in a relatively high downwash behind the body, which can be explained by the relatively active tail in flycatchers. As a result of this, slow-flying flycatchers have a span efficiency which is similar to that of the birds in cruising flight and which can be assumed to be higher than in hovering hummingbirds. During the upstroke, the wings of slowly flying flycatchers generated no significant forces, but the body-tail configuration added 23 per cent to weight support. This is strikingly similar to the 25 per cent weight support generated by the wing upstroke in hovering hummingbirds. Thus, for slow-flying passerines, the upstroke cannot be regarded as inactive, and the tail may be of importance for flight efficiency and possibly manoeuvrability.

Evaluation of High-Speed Civil Transport Handling Qualities Criteria with Supersonic Flight Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cox, Timothy H.; Jackson, Dante W.

1997-01-01

Most flying qualities criteria have been developed from data in the subsonic flight regime. Unique characteristics of supersonic flight raise questions about whether these criteria successfully extend into the supersonic flight regime. Approximately 25 years ago NASA Dryden Flight Research Center addressed this issue with handling qualities evaluations of the XB-70 and YF-12. Good correlations between some of the classical handling qualities parameters, such as the control anticipation parameter as a function of damping, were discovered. More criteria have been developed since these studies. Some of these more recent criteria are being used in designing the High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT). A second research study recently addressed this issue through flying qualities evaluations of the SR-71 at Mach 3. The research goal was to extend the high-speed flying qualities experience of large airplanes and to evaluate more recent MIL-STD-1797 criteria against pilot comments and ratings. Emphasis was placed on evaluating the criteria used for designing the HSCT. XB-70 and YF-12 data from the previous research supplemented the SR-71 data. The results indicate that the criteria used in the HSCT design are conservative and should provide good flying qualities for typical high-speed maneuvering. Additional results show correlation between the ratings and comments and criteria for gradual maneuvering with precision control. Correlation is shown between ratings and comments and an extension of the Neal/Smith criterion using normal acceleration instead of pitch rate.

Proceedings from the 2nd International Symposium on Formation Flying Missions and Technologies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

Topics discussed include: The Stellar Imager (SI) "Vision Mission"; First Formation Flying Demonstration Mission Including on Flight Nulling; Formation Flying X-ray Telescope in L2 Orbit; SPECS: The Kilometer-baseline Far-IR Interferometer in NASA's Space Science Roadmap Presentation; A Tight Formation for Along-track SAR Interferometry; Realization of the Solar Power Satellite using the Formation Flying Solar Reflector; SIMBOL-X : Formation Flying for High-Energy Astrophysics; High Precision Optical Metrology for DARWIN; Close Formation Flight of Micro-Satellites for SAR Interferometry; Station-Keeping Requirements for Astronomical Imaging with Constellations of Free-Flying Collectors; Closed-Loop Control of Formation Flying Satellites; Formation Control for the MAXIM Mission; Precision Formation Keeping at L2 Using the Autonomous Formation Flying Sensor; Robust Control of Multiple Spacecraft Formation Flying; Virtual Rigid Body (VRB) Satellite Formation Control: Stable Mode-Switching and Cross-Coupling; Electromagnetic Formation Flight (EMFF) System Design, Mission Capabilities, and Testbed Development; Navigation Algorithms for Formation Flying Missions; Use of Formation Flying Small Satellites Incorporating OISL's in a Tandem Cluster Mission; Semimajor Axis Estimation Strategies; Relative Attitude Determination of Earth Orbiting Formations Using GPS Receivers; Analysis of Formation Flying in Eccentric Orbits Using Linearized Equations of Relative Motion; Conservative Analytical Collision Probabilities for Orbital Formation Flying; Equations of Motion and Stability of Two Spacecraft in Formation at the Earth/Moon Triangular Libration Points; Formations Near the Libration Points: Design Strategies Using Natural and Non-Natural Ares; An Overview of the Formation and Attitude Control System for the Terrestrial Planet Finder Formation Flying Interferometer; GVE-Based Dynamics and Control for Formation Flying Spacecraft; GNC System Design for a New Concept of X-Ray Distributed Telescope; GNC System for the Deployment and Fine Control of the DARWIN Free-Flying Interferometer; Formation Algorithm and Simulation Testbed; and PLATFORM: A Formation Flying, RvD and Robotic Validation Test-bench.

Development of an advanced pitch active control system for a wide body jet aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guinn, Wiley A.; Rising, Jerry J.; Davis, Walt J.

1984-01-01

An advanced PACS control law was developed for a commercial wide-body transport (Lockheed L-1011) by using modern control theory. Validity of the control law was demonstrated by piloted flight simulation tests on the NASA Langley visual motion simulator. The PACS design objective was to develop a PACS that would provide good flying qualities to negative 10 percent static stability margins that were equivalent to those of the baseline aircraft at a 15 percent static stability margin which is normal for the L-1011. Also, the PACS was to compensate for high-Mach/high-g instabilities that degrade flying qualities during upset recoveries and maneuvers. The piloted flight simulation tests showed that the PACS met the design objectives. The simulation demonstrated good flying qualities to negative 20 percent static stability margins for hold, cruise and high-speed flight conditions. Analysis and wind tunnel tests performed on other Lockheed programs indicate that the PACS could be used on an advanced transport configuration to provide a 4 percent fuel savings which results from reduced trim drag by flying at negative static stability margins.

Neural control and precision of flight muscle activation in Drosophila.

PubMed

Lehmann, Fritz-Olaf; Bartussek, Jan

2017-01-01

Precision of motor commands is highly relevant in a large context of various locomotor behaviors, including stabilization of body posture, heading control and directed escape responses. While posture stability and heading control in walking and swimming animals benefit from high friction via ground reaction forces and elevated viscosity of water, respectively, flying animals have to cope with comparatively little aerodynamic friction on body and wings. Although low frictional damping in flight is the key to the extraordinary aerial performance and agility of flying birds, bats and insects, it challenges these animals with extraordinary demands on sensory integration and motor precision. Our review focuses on the dynamic precision with which Drosophila activates its flight muscular system during maneuvering flight, considering relevant studies on neural and muscular mechanisms of thoracic propulsion. In particular, we tackle the precision with which flies adjust power output of asynchronous power muscles and synchronous flight control muscles by monitoring muscle calcium and spike timing within the stroke cycle. A substantial proportion of the review is engaged in the significance of visual and proprioceptive feedback loops for wing motion control including sensory integration at the cellular level. We highlight that sensory feedback is the basis for precise heading control and body stability in flies.

Flared landing approach flying qualities. Volume 1: Experiment design and analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weingarten, Norman C.; Berthe, Charles J., Jr.; Rynaski, Edmund G.; Sarrafian, Shahan K.

1986-01-01

An inflight research study was conducted utilizing the USAF Total Inflight Simulator (TIFS) to investigate longitudinal flying qualities for the flared landing approach phase of flight. The purpose of the experiment was to generate a consistent set of data for: (1) determining what kind of commanded response the pilot prefers in order to flare and land an airplane with precision, and (2) refining a time history criterion that took into account all the necessary variables and their characteristics that would accurately predict flying qualities. The result of the first part provides guidelines to the flight control system designer, using MIL-F-8785-(C) as a guide, that yield the dynamic behavior pilots perfer in flared landings. The results of the second part provides the flying qualities engineer with a newly derived flying qualities predictive tool which appears to be highly accurate. This time domain predictive flying qualities criterion was applied to the flight data as well as six previous flying qualities studies, and the results indicate that the criterion predicted the flying qualities level 81% of the time and the Cooper-Harper pilot rating, within + or - 1, 60% of the time.

Drag-n-fly: a Proposal in Response to a Low Reynolds Number Station Keeping Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Foohey, Mark; Niehaus, John; Neumann, Jenny; Deviny, Pat; Zurovchak, Jerry; Brenner, Joey; Gendron, Peter

1990-01-01

The Drag-n-Fly is a remotely piloted, low Reynolds number vehicle. It was designed to maintain level controlled flight and fly a closed course at flight speeds corresponding to Reynolds numbers of less than 2 x 10(exp 5) and as close to 1 x 10(exp 5) as possible. The success of the mission will be associated with achieving the lowest mean chord Reynolds number possible and maximizing loiter time on the course. The flight plan for the Drag-n-Fly calls for the vehicle to ascent to a cruise altitude of 25 ft. The airfoil selected for the Drag-n-Fly is a Spica chosen for its high lift coefficient at low Reynolds number. The propulsion system for the Drag-n-Fly consists of a 10 inch diameter propeller mounted on the front of the vehicle. Structural support for the Drag-n-Fly comes from four box beams running the length of the fuselage. The tail and horizontal stabilizers are located far aft of the lifting surface in order to assure proper static stability. The present design for the Drag-n-Fly will meet the criteria for the present mission.

Airplane tracking documents the fastest flight speeds recorded for bats.

PubMed

McCracken, Gary F; Safi, Kamran; Kunz, Thomas H; Dechmann, Dina K N; Swartz, Sharon M; Wikelski, Martin

2016-11-01

The performance capabilities of flying animals reflect the interplay of biomechanical and physiological constraints and evolutionary innovation. Of the two extant groups of vertebrates that are capable of powered flight, birds are thought to fly more efficiently and faster than bats. However, fast-flying bat species that are adapted for flight in open airspace are similar in wing shape and appear to be similar in flight dynamics to fast-flying birds that exploit the same aerial niche. Here, we investigate flight behaviour in seven free-flying Brazilian free-tailed bats ( Tadarida brasiliensis ) and report that the maximum ground speeds achieved exceed speeds previously documented for any bat. Regional wind modelling indicates that bats adjusted flight speeds in response to winds by flying more slowly as wind support increased and flying faster when confronted with crosswinds, as demonstrated for insects, birds and other bats. Increased frequency of pauses in wing beats at faster speeds suggests that flap-gliding assists the bats' rapid flight. Our results suggest that flight performance in bats has been underappreciated and that functional differences in the flight abilities of birds and bats require re-evaluation.

An Overview of Controls and Flying Qualities Technology on the F/A-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pahle, Joseph W.; Wichman, Keith D.; Foster, John V.; Bundick, W. Thomas

1996-01-01

The NASA F/A-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV) has been the flight test bed of a focused technology effort to significantly increase maneuvering capability at high angles of attack. Development and flight test of control law design methodologies, handling qualities metrics, performance guidelines, and flight evaluation maneuvers are described. The HARV has been modified to include two research control effectors, thrust vectoring, and actuated forebody strakes in order to provide increased control power at high angles of attack. A research flight control system has been used to provide a flexible, easily modified capability for high-angle-of-attack research controls. Different control law design techniques have been implemented and flight-tested, including eigenstructure assignment, variable gain output feedback, pseudo controls, and model-following. Extensive piloted simulation has been used to develop nonlinear performance guide-lines and handling qualities criteria for high angles of attack. This paper reviews the development and evaluation of technologies useful for high-angle-of-attack control. Design, development, and flight test of the research flight control system, control laws, flying qualities specifications, and flight test maneuvers are described. Flight test results are used to illustrate some of the lessons learned during flight test and handling qualities evaluations.

Handling qualities of a wide-body transport airplane utilizing Pitch Active Control Systems (PACS) for relaxed static stability application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grantham, William D.; Person, Lee H., Jr.; Brown, Philip W.; Becker, Lawrence E.; Hunt, George E.; Rising, J. J.; Davis, W. J.; Willey, C. S.; Weaver, W. A.; Cokeley, R.

1985-01-01

Piloted simulation studies have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of two pitch active control systems (PACS) on the flying qualities of a wide-body transport airplane when operating at negative static margins. These two pitch active control systems consisted of a simple 'near-term' PACS and a more complex 'advanced' PACS. Eight different flight conditions, representing the entire flight envelope, were evaluated with emphasis on the cruise flight conditions. These studies were made utilizing the Langley Visual/Motion Simulator (VMS) which has six degrees of freedom. The simulation tests indicated that (1) the flying qualities of the baseline aircraft (PACS off) for the cruise and other high-speed flight conditions were unacceptable at center-of-gravity positions aft of the neutral static stability point; (2) within the linear static stability flight envelope, the near-term PACS provided acceptable flying qualities for static stabilty margins to -3 percent; and (3) with the advanced PACS operative, the flying qualities were demonstrated to be good (satisfactory to very acceptable) for static stabilty margins to -20 percent.

Hovering of a jellyfish-like flying machine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ristroph, Leif; Childress, Stephen

2013-11-01

Ornithopters, or flapping-wing aircraft, offer an alternative to helicopters in achieving maneuverability at small scales, although stabilizing such aerial vehicles remains a key challenge. Here, we present a hovering machine that achieves self-righting flight using flapping wings alone, without relying on additional aerodynamic surfaces and without feedback control. We design, construct, and test-fly a prototype that opens and closes four wings, resembling the motions of swimming jellyfish more so than any insect or bird. Lift measurements and high-speed video of free-flight are used to inform an aerodynamic model that explains the stabilization mechanism. These results show the promise of flapping-flight strategies beyond those that directly mimic the wing motions of flying animals.

Aircraft as Research Tools

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Aeronautical research usually begins with computers, wind tunnels, and flight simulators, but eventually the theories must fly. This is when flight research begins, and aircraft are the primary tools of the trade. Flight research involves doing precision maneuvers in either a specially built experimental aircraft or an existing production airplane that has been modified. For example, the AD-1 was a unique airplane made only for flight research, while the NASA F-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV) was a standard fighter aircraft that was transformed into a one-of-a-kind aircraft as it was fitted with new propulsion systems, flight controls, and scientific equipment. All research aircraft are able to perform scientific experiments because of the onboard instruments that record data about its systems, aerodynamics, and the outside environment. Since the 1970's, NASA flight research has become more comprehensive, with flights involving everything form Space Shuttles to ultralights. NASA now flies not only the fastest airplanes, but some of the slowest. Flying machines continue to evolve with new wing designs, propulsion systems, and flight controls. As always, a look at today's experimental research aircraft is a preview of the future.

Free-flight phonotaxis in a parasitoid fly: behavioural thresholds, relative attraction and susceptibility to noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramsauer, N.; Robert, D.

The phonotactic capacity of tachinid flies to acoustically detect and localize a sound source simulating their cricket host was investigated in a large flight room. Acoustic measurements were performed to estimate the actual stimulus delivered to the flies, revealing highly heterogeneous sound fields. When presented with a simulated cricket song in red or infrared light conditions, the flies readily flew to the sound source and landed on it. Behavioural phonotactic thresholds were established as a function of carrier frequency and were found to coincide well with the frequency of the host's natural song (4.5-5.2kHz). Experiments revealed that the same range of frequencies is preferentially attractive to the free-flying flies, and that the reliability of signal detection in the presence of noise is best at behaviourally relevant frequencies.

Design and Testing of a Low Noise Flight Guidance Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, David H.; Oseguera-Lohr, Rosa M.; Lewis, Elliot T.

2004-01-01

A flight guidance concept was developed to assist in flying continuous descent approach (CDA) procedures designed to lower the noise under the flight path of jet transport aircraft during arrival operations at an airport. The guidance consists of a trajectory prediction algorithm that was tuned to produce a high-efficiency, low noise flight profile with accompanying autopilot and flight display elements needed by the flight control system and pilot to fly the approach. A key component of the flight guidance was a real-time display of energy error relative to the predicted flight path. The guidance was integrated with the conventional Flight Management System (FMS) guidance of a modern jet transport airplane and tested in a high fidelity flight simulation. A charted arrival procedure, which allowed flying conventional arrivals, CDA arrivals with standard guidance, and CDA arrivals with the new low noise guidance, was developed to assist in the testing and evaluation of the low noise guidance concept. Results of the simulation testing showed the low noise guidance was easy to use by airline pilot test subjects and effective in achieving the desired noise reduction. Noise under the flight path was reduced by at least 2 decibels in Sound Exposure Level (SEL) at distances from about 3 nautical miles out to about 17.5 nautical miles from the runway, with a peak reduction of 8.5 decibels at about 10.5 nautical miles. Fuel consumption was also reduced by about 17% for the LNG conditions compared to baseline runs for the same flight distance. Pilot acceptance and understanding of the guidance was quite high with favorable comments and ratings received from all test subjects.

Flying at no mechanical energy cost: disclosing the secret of wandering albatrosses.

PubMed

Sachs, Gottfried; Traugott, Johannes; Nesterova, Anna P; Dell'Omo, Giacomo; Kümmeth, Franz; Heidrich, Wolfgang; Vyssotski, Alexei L; Bonadonna, Francesco

2012-01-01

Albatrosses do something that no other birds are able to do: fly thousands of kilometres at no mechanical cost. This is possible because they use dynamic soaring, a flight mode that enables them to gain the energy required for flying from wind. Until now, the physical mechanisms of the energy gain in terms of the energy transfer from the wind to the bird were mostly unknown. Here we show that the energy gain is achieved by a dynamic flight manoeuvre consisting of a continually repeated up-down curve with optimal adjustment to the wind. We determined the energy obtained from the wind by analysing the measured trajectories of free flying birds using a new GPS-signal tracking method yielding a high precision. Our results reveal an evolutionary adaptation to an extreme environment, and may support recent biologically inspired research on robotic aircraft that might utilize albatrosses' flight technique for engineless propulsion.

Flying at No Mechanical Energy Cost: Disclosing the Secret of Wandering Albatrosses

PubMed Central

Sachs, Gottfried; Traugott, Johannes; Nesterova, Anna P.; Dell'Omo, Giacomo; Kümmeth, Franz; Heidrich, Wolfgang

2012-01-01

Albatrosses do something that no other birds are able to do: fly thousands of kilometres at no mechanical cost. This is possible because they use dynamic soaring, a flight mode that enables them to gain the energy required for flying from wind. Until now, the physical mechanisms of the energy gain in terms of the energy transfer from the wind to the bird were mostly unknown. Here we show that the energy gain is achieved by a dynamic flight manoeuvre consisting of a continually repeated up-down curve with optimal adjustment to the wind. We determined the energy obtained from the wind by analysing the measured trajectories of free flying birds using a new GPS-signal tracking method yielding a high precision. Our results reveal an evolutionary adaptation to an extreme environment, and may support recent biologically inspired research on robotic aircraft that might utilize albatrosses' flight technique for engineless propulsion. PMID:22957014

J-FLiC UAS Flights for Acoustic Testing Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Motter, Mark A.; High, James W.

2016-01-01

The jet-powered flying testbed (J-FLiC) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) successfully completed twenty-six flights at Fort AP Hill, VA, from 27 August until September 3 2015, supporting tests of a microphone array system for aircraft noise measurement. The test vehicles, J-FLiC NAVY2 (N508NU), and J-FLiC 4 (N509NU), were flown under manual and autopiloted control in a variety of test conditions: clean at speeds ranging from 80 to 150 knots; and full landing configuration at speeds ranging from 50 to 95 knots. During the test campaign, autopilot capability was incrementally improved to ultimately provide a high degree of accuracy and repeatability of the critical test requirements for airspeed, altitude, runway alignment and position over the microphone array. Manual flights were performed for test conditions at the both ends of the speed envelope where autopiloted flight would have required flight beyond visual range and more extensive developmental work. The research objectives of the campaign were fully achieved. The ARMD Integrated Systems Research Program (ISRP) Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project aims to develop the enabling capabilities/technologies that will allow prediction/reduction of aircraft noise. A primary measurement tool for ascertaining and characterizing empirically the effectiveness of various noise reduction technologies is a microphone phased array system. Such array systems need to be vetted and certified for operational use via field deployments and overflights of the array with test aircraft, in this case with sUAS aircraft such as J-FLiC.

Flying qualities design criteria applicable to supersonic cruise aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chalk, C. R.

1980-01-01

A comprehensive set of flying qualities design criteria was prepared for use in the supersonic cruise research program. The framework for stating the design criteria is established and design criteria are included which address specific failures, approach to dangerous flight conditions, flight at high angle of attack, longitudinal and lateral directional stability and control, the primary flight control system, and secondary flight controls. Examples are given of lateral directional design criteria limiting lateral accelerations at the cockpit, time to roll through 30 deg of bank, and time delay in the pilot's command path. Flight test data from the Concorde certification program are used to substantiate a number of the proposed design criteria.

Quarter-scale Model of Solar-powered Centurion Ultra-high-altitude Flying Wing in Flight during Firs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Silhouetted under a bright blue sky, a quarter-scale model of the Centurion solar-powered flying wing shows off its long, narrow wing as it flies over the broad expanse of El Mirage Dry Lake in Southern California during a March 1997 test flight. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Quarter-scale Model of Solar-powered Centurion Ultra-high-altitude Flying Wing in Flight during Firs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Illuminated by early-morning sunlight, a quarter-scale model of the Solar-powered, remotely piloted Centurion ultra-high-altitude flying wing demonstrates its abilities during a March 1997 test flight. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Quarter-scale Model of Solar-powered Centurion Ultra-high-altitude Flying Wing in Flight during Firs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Illuminated by early-morning sunlight, a quarter-scale model of the solar-powered, remotely piloted Centurion ultra-high-altitude flying wing soars over California's Mojave Desert on a March 1997 test flight. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Quarter-scale Model of Solar-powered Centurion Ultra-high-altitude Flying Wing in Flight during Firs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Framed by wispy contrails left by passing jets high above, a quarter-scale model of the Centurion solar-electric flying wing shows off its graceful lines during a March 1997 test flight at El Mirage Dry Lake in California's Mojave Desert. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Unconventional mechanisms control cyclic respiratory gas release in flying Drosophila.

PubMed

Lehmann, Fritz-Olaf; Heymann, Nicole

2005-10-01

The high power output of flight muscles places special demands on the respiratory gas exchange system in insects. In small insects, respiration relies on diffusion, and for elevated locomotor performance such as flight, instantaneous gas exchange rates typically co-vary with the animal's metabolic activity. By contrast, under certain conditions, instantaneous release rate of carbon dioxide from the fruit fly Drosophila flying in a virtual-reality flight arena may oscillate distinctly at low frequency (0.37+/-0.055 Hz), even though flight muscle mechanical power output requires constant metabolic activity. Cross-correlation analysis suggests that this uncoupling between respiratory and metabolic rate is not driven by conventional types of convective flow reinforcement such as abdominal pumping, but might result from two unusual mechanisms for tracheal breathing. Simplified analytical modeling of diffusive tracheal gas exchange suggests that cyclic release patterns in the insect occur as a consequence of the stochastically synchronized control of spiracle opening area by the four large thoracic spiracles. Alternatively, in-flight motion analysis of the abdomen and proboscis using infra-red video imaging suggests utilization of the proboscis extension reflex (PER) for tracheal convection. Although the respiratory benefit of synchronized spiracle opening activity in the fruit fly is unclear, proboscis-induced tracheal convection might potentially help to balance the local oxygen supply between different body compartments of the flying animal.

FLASH fly-by-light flight control demonstration results overview

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halski, Don J.

1996-10-01

The Fly-By-Light Advanced Systems Hardware (FLASH) program developed Fly-By-Light (FBL) and Power-By-Wire (PBW) technologies for military and commercial aircraft. FLASH consists of three tasks. Task 1 developed the fiber optic cable, connectors, testers and installation and maintenance procedures. Task 3 developed advanced smart, rotary thin wing and electro-hydrostatic (EHA) actuators. Task 2, which is the subject of this paper,l focused on integration of fiber optic sensors and data buses with cable plant components from Task 1 and actuators from Task 3 into centralized and distributed flight control systems. Both open loop and piloted hardware-in-the-loop demonstrations were conducted with centralized and distributed flight control architectures incorporating the AS-1773A optical bus, active hand controllers, optical sensors, optimal flight control laws in high speed 32-bit processors, and neural networks for EHA monitoring and fault diagnosis. This paper overviews the systems level testing conducted under the FLASH Flight Control task. Preliminary results are summarized. Companion papers provide additional information.

Functional divisions for visual processing in the central brain of flying Drosophila

PubMed Central

Weir, Peter T.; Dickinson, Michael H.

2015-01-01

Although anatomy is often the first step in assigning functions to neural structures, it is not always clear whether architecturally distinct regions of the brain correspond to operational units. Whereas neuroarchitecture remains relatively static, functional connectivity may change almost instantaneously according to behavioral context. We imaged panneuronal responses to visual stimuli in a highly conserved central brain region in the fruit fly, Drosophila, during flight. In one substructure, the fan-shaped body, automated analysis revealed three layers that were unresponsive in quiescent flies but became responsive to visual stimuli when the animal was flying. The responses of these regions to a broad suite of visual stimuli suggest that they are involved in the regulation of flight heading. To identify the cell types that underlie these responses, we imaged activity in sets of genetically defined neurons with arborizations in the targeted layers. The responses of this collection during flight also segregated into three sets, confirming the existence of three layers, and they collectively accounted for the panneuronal activity. Our results provide an atlas of flight-gated visual responses in a central brain circuit. PMID:26324910

Functional divisions for visual processing in the central brain of flying Drosophila.

PubMed

Weir, Peter T; Dickinson, Michael H

2015-10-06

Although anatomy is often the first step in assigning functions to neural structures, it is not always clear whether architecturally distinct regions of the brain correspond to operational units. Whereas neuroarchitecture remains relatively static, functional connectivity may change almost instantaneously according to behavioral context. We imaged panneuronal responses to visual stimuli in a highly conserved central brain region in the fruit fly, Drosophila, during flight. In one substructure, the fan-shaped body, automated analysis revealed three layers that were unresponsive in quiescent flies but became responsive to visual stimuli when the animal was flying. The responses of these regions to a broad suite of visual stimuli suggest that they are involved in the regulation of flight heading. To identify the cell types that underlie these responses, we imaged activity in sets of genetically defined neurons with arborizations in the targeted layers. The responses of this collection during flight also segregated into three sets, confirming the existence of three layers, and they collectively accounted for the panneuronal activity. Our results provide an atlas of flight-gated visual responses in a central brain circuit.

[Structural-functional reserves of the vegetative nervous system in pilots flying high maneuver aircrafts].

PubMed

Sukhoterin, A F; Pashchenko, P S

2014-01-01

Purpose of the work was to analyze morbidity among pilots of different categories of aircraft, and to investigate reactivity of the vegetative nervous system (VNS) in pilots flying high maneuver aircrafts varying in age and flying time. Morbidity was deduced from the data of aviation medical exams. The VNS investigation involved 56 pilots of fighter and assault aircrafts both in the inter-flight periods and during duty shifts. Cytochemistry was used to measure glycogen in peripheral blood neutrophils in 77 pilots. It was shown that the pre-stress condition in pilots with the flying time more than 1000 hours may transform to chronic stress, provided that the flight duties remain heavy. According to the cytochemical data, concentration of neutrophilic glycogen indicating the energy potential of peripheral blood leukocytes is controlled by hormones secreted by the VNS sympathetic and parasympathetic components.

Helicopter mathematical models and control law development for handling qualities research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, Robert T. N.; Lebacqz, J. Victor; Aiken, Edwin W.; Tischler, Mark B.

1988-01-01

Progress made in joint NASA/Army research concerning rotorcraft flight-dynamics modeling, design methodologies for rotorcraft flight-control laws, and rotorcraft parameter identification is reviewed. Research into these interactive disciplines is needed to develop the analytical tools necessary to conduct flying qualities investigations using both the ground-based and in-flight simulators, and to permit an efficient means of performing flight test evaluation of rotorcraft flying qualities for specification compliance. The need for the research is particularly acute for rotorcraft because of their mathematical complexity, high order dynamic characteristics, and demanding mission requirements. The research in rotorcraft flight-dynamics modeling is pursued along two general directions: generic nonlinear models and nonlinear models for specific rotorcraft. In addition, linear models are generated that extend their utilization from 1-g flight to high-g maneuvers and expand their frequency range of validity for the design analysis of high-gain flight control systems. A variety of methods ranging from classical frequency-domain approaches to modern time-domain control methodology that are used in the design of rotorcraft flight control laws is reviewed. Also reviewed is a study conducted to investigate the design details associated with high-gain, digital flight control systems for combat rotorcraft. Parameter identification techniques developed for rotorcraft applications are reviewed.

14 CFR 91.161 - Special awareness training required for pilots flying under visual flight rules within a 60...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... pilots flying under visual flight rules within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME... Rules Visual Flight Rules § 91.161 Special awareness training required for pilots flying under visual...-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME under visual flight rules (VFR). Except as provided...

Quarter-scale Model of Solar-powered Centurion Ultra-high-altitude Flying Wing on Lakebed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

A quarter-scale model of the Centurion solar-powered flying wing rests on the clay of El Mirage Dry Lake in Southern California's high desert after completion of of a March 1997 flight test. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Quarter-scale Model of Solar-powered Centurion Ultra-high-altitude Flying Wing on Lakebed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

A quarter-scale model of the Centurion solar-powered flying wing rests on the clay of El Mirage Dry Lake in Southern California's high desert after completion of a March 1997 test flight. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Bumblebee flight performance in environments of different proximity.

PubMed

Linander, Nellie; Baird, Emily; Dacke, Marie

2016-02-01

Flying animals are capable of navigating through environments of different complexity with high precision. To control their flight when negotiating narrow tunnels, bees and birds use the magnitude of apparent image motion (known as optic flow) generated by the walls. In their natural habitat, however, these animals would encounter both cluttered and open environments. Here, we investigate how large changes in the proximity of nearby surfaces affect optic flow-based flight control strategies. We trained bumblebees to fly along a flight and recorded how the distance between the walls--from 60 cm to 240 cm--affected their flight control. Our results reveal that, as tunnel width increases, both lateral position and ground speed become increasingly variable. We also find that optic flow information from the ground has an increasing influence on flight control, suggesting that bumblebees measure optic flow flexibly over a large lateral and ventral field of view, depending on where the highest magnitude of optic flow occurs. A consequence of this strategy is that, when flying in narrow spaces, bumblebees use optic flow information from the nearby obstacles to control flight, while in more open spaces they rely primarily on optic flow cues from the ground.

14 CFR 121.517 - Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes. 121.517 Section 121.517 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION... Limitations: Supplemental Operations § 121.517 Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes. No...

14 CFR 121.517 - Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes. 121.517 Section 121.517 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION... Limitations: Supplemental Operations § 121.517 Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes. No...

14 CFR 121.517 - Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes. 121.517 Section 121.517 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION... Limitations: Supplemental Operations § 121.517 Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes. No...

14 CFR 121.517 - Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes. 121.517 Section 121.517 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION... Limitations: Supplemental Operations § 121.517 Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes. No...

14 CFR 121.517 - Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes. 121.517 Section 121.517 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION... Limitations: Supplemental Operations § 121.517 Flight time limitations: Other commercial flying: airplanes. No...

Apollo display and keyboard unit (DSKY) used on F-8 DFBW

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

The display and keyboard (DSKY) unit used on the F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire (DFBW) aircraft during Phase I of the fly-by-wire program. Warning lights are in the upper left section, displays in the upper right, and the keyboard is in the lower section. The Apollo flight-control system used in Phase I of the DFBW program had been used previously on the Lunar Module and was incredibly reliable. The DSKY was one element of the system. Also part of the fly-by-wire control system was the inertial platform. Both the computer and the inertial platform required a cooling system that used liquid nitrogen to keep the system within temperature limits. Should the primary flight control system fail, a backup system using three analog computers would automatically take over. The F-8 DFBW had no manual backup. The F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire (DFBW) flight research project validated the principal concepts of all-electric flight control systems now used on nearly all modern high-performance aircraft and on military and civilian transports. The first flight of the 13-year project was on May 25, 1972, with research pilot Gary E. Krier at the controls of a modified F-8C Crusader that served as the testbed for the fly-by-wire technologies. The project was a joint effort between the NASA Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, (now the Dryden Flight Research Center) and Langley Research Center. It included a total of 211 flights. The last flight was December 16, 1985, with Dryden research pilot Ed Schneider at the controls. The F-8 DFBW system was the forerunner of current fly-by-wire systems used in the space shuttles and on today's military and civil aircraft to make them safer, more maneuverable, and more efficient. Electronic fly-by-wire systems replaced older hydraulic control systems, freeing designers to design aircraft with reduced in-flight stability. Fly-by-wire systems are safer because of their redundancies. They are more maneuverable because computers can command more frequent adjustments than a human pilot can. For airliners, computerized control ensures a smoother ride than a human pilot alone can provide. Digital-fly-by-wire is more efficient because it is lighter and takes up less space than the hydraulic systems it replaced. This either reduces the fuel required to fly or increases the number of passengers or pounds of cargo the aircraft can carry. Digital fly-by-wire is currently used in a variety of aircraft ranging from F/A-18 fighters to the Boeing 777. The DFBW research program is considered one of the most significant and most successful NASA aeronautical programs since the inception of the agency. F-8 aircraft were built originally for the U.S. Navy by LTV Aerospace of Dallas, Texas. The aircraft had a wingspan of 35 feet, 2 inches; was 54 feet, 6 inches long; and was powered by a Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engine.

Effect of altitude on seasonal flight activity of Rhagoletis cerasi flies (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Kovanci, O B; Kovanci, B

2006-08-01

The effect of altitudinal variation on the seasonal flight activity of Rhagoletis cerasi (Linnaeus) flies was evaluated along an altitudinal gradient from 150 to 1170 m in Mount Uludag, northwestern Turkey. The predicted dates of fly emergence, flight duration and dates of 5%, 50% and 95% cumulative fly catches at various altitudes were estimated from a degree-day model. Degree-day predictions were compared with those obtained from observations made with yellow sticky traps. The observed and predicted dates of appearance of adults were delayed by 1.4 and 2.0 days for every 100 m increase in altitude, respectively. The delay in phenology events was less at high altitudes than postulated by Hopkins' bioclimatic law, whether observed or predicted. The average absolute difference in predicted and observed dates of cumulative percentage catch of adults was 4.9 and 3.0 days in 1997 and 1998, respectively, but these differences were not significant. Prolonged flight activity was predicted and observed at higher altitudes, but the flight period lasted significantly longer than predicted. The observed flight period varied from 29 to 43 days in 1997 and from 36 to 52 days in 1998 between the lowest and highest altitude on the transect. Altitudinal variation between geographically close locations should be taken into account to properly time monitoring activities and hence to manage R. cerasi populations more effectively.

Hormonal responses of pilots flying high-performance aircraft during seven repetitive flight missions.

PubMed

Tarui, H; Nakamura, A

1991-12-01

Hormonal responses during seven repetitive flight missions (7RFM) were evaluated on F-4EJ fighter pilots. The following biochemical constituents were measured: 1) cortisol in saliva; 2) 17-OHCS; 3) unbound cortisol; 4) catecholamines in urine; and 5) electrolytes in urine. Samples were collected at about 30 min before the mission, 20 min after each flight, and in a nonflight day for control. The levels of saliva and urine corticosteroids slightly increased during 7RFM when compared with controls. The concentrations of urine catecholamines during 7RFM were significantly higher than those of preflight and control. These data suggest that flight stresses were moderate for the pilots flying 7RFM.

Wind-tunnel free-flight investigation of a supersonic persistence fighter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hahne, David E.; Wendel, Thomas R.; Boland, Joseph R.

1993-01-01

Wind-tunnel free-flight tests have been conducted in the Langley 30- by 60-Foot Wind Tunnel to examine the high-angle-of-attack stability and control characteristics and control law design of a supersonic persistence fighter (SSPF) at 1 g flight conditions. In addition to conventional control surfaces, the SSPF incorporated deflectable wingtips (tiperons) and pitch and yaw thrust vectoring. A direct eigenstructure assignment technique was used to design control laws to provide good flying characteristics well into the poststall angle-of-attack region. Free-flight tests indicated that it was possible to blend effectively conventional and unconventional control surfaces to achieve good flying characteristics well into the poststall angle-of-attack region.

The solar-powered Helios Prototype flying wing frames two modified F-15 research aircraft in a hanga

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

The solar-powered Helios Prototype flying wing frames two modified F-15 research aircraft in a hangar at NASA's Dryden flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The elongated 247-foot span lightweight aircraft, resting on its ground maneuvering dolly, stretched almost the full length of the 300-foot long hangar while on display during a visit of NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and other NASA officials on Jan. 31, 2002. The unique solar-electric flying wing reached an altitude of 96,863 feet during an almost 17-hour flight near Hawaii on Aug. 13, 2001, a world record for sustained horizontal flight by a non-rocket powered aircraft. Developed by AeroVironment, Inc., under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project, the Helios Prototype is the forerunner of a planned fleet of slow-flying, long duration, high-altitude uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAV) which can serve as 'atmospheric satellites,' performing Earth science missions or functioning as telecommunications relay platforms in the stratosphere.

Efficient Low-Speed Flight in a Wind Field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feldman, Michael A.

1996-01-01

A new software tool was needed for flight planning of a high altitude, low speed unmanned aerial vehicle which would be flying in winds close to the actual airspeed of the vehicle. An energy modeled NLP (non-linear programming) formulation was used to obtain results for a variety of missions and wind profiles. The energy constraint derived included terms due to the wind field and the performance index was a weighted combination of the amount of fuel used and the final time. With no emphasis on time and with no winds the vehicle was found to fly at maximum lift to drag velocity, V(sub md). When flying in tail winds the velocity was less than V(sub md), while flying in head winds the velocity was higher than V(sub md). A family of solutions was found with varying times of flight and varying fuel amounts consumed which will aid the operator in choosing a flight plan depending on a desired landing time. At certain parts of the flight, the turning terms in the energy constraint equation were found to be significant. An analysis of a simpler vertical plane cruise optimal control problem was used to explain some of the characteristics of the vertical plane NLP results.

Flying an Autonomous Formation Flight mission, two F/A-18s from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Cent

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2001-01-01

Flying an Autonomous Formation Flight mission, two F/A-18's from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, gain altitude near Rogers Dry Lake. The Systems Research Aircraft (tail number 845) and F/A-18 tail number 847 are flying the second phase of a project that is demonstrating a 15-percent fuel savings of the trailing aircraft during cruise flight. Project goal was a 10-percent savings. The drag-reduction study mimics the formation of migrating birds. Scientists have known for years that the trailing birds require less energy than flying solo.

Quarter-scale Model of Solar-powered Centurion Ultra-high-altitude Flying Wing in Flight during Firs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

With the snow-covered San Gabriel Mountains as a backdrop and a motorcycle-mounted chase crew alongside, a quarter-scale model of the Centurion solar-powered flying wing soars over El Mirage Dry Lake on an early test flight in March 1997. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Quarter-scale Model of Solar-powered Centurion Ultra-high-altitude Flying Wing in Flight during Firs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Trailed by a van carrying the remote pilot and observers, a radio-controlled quarter-scale model of the Centurion solar-electric flying wing makes a low pass over El Mirage Dry Lake in Southern California during a March 1997 test flight. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Quarter-scale Model of Solar-powered Centurion Ultra-high-altitude Flying Wing in Flight during Firs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Silhouetted under a bright blue sky, a quarter-scale model of the Centurion solar-powered flying wing shows off its internal rib structure as it floats over the El Mirage Dry Lake in Southern California during a March 1997 test flight. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

DLR HABLEG- High Altitude Balloon Launched Experimental Glider

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wlach, S.; Schwarzbauch, M.; Laiacker, M.

2015-09-01

The group Flying Robots at the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics in Oberpfaffenhofen conducts research on solar powered high altitude aircrafts. Due to the high altitude and the almost infinite mission duration, these platforms are also denoted as High Altitude Pseudo-Satellites (HAPS). This paper highlights some aspects of the design, building, integration and testing of a flying experimental platform for high altitudes. This unmanned aircraft, with a wingspan of 3 m and a mass of less than 10 kg, is meant to be launched as a glider from a high altitude balloon in 20 km altitude and shall investigate technologies for future large HAPS platforms. The aerodynamic requirements for high altitude flight included the development of a launch method allowing for a safe transition to horizontal flight from free-fall with low control authority. Due to the harsh environmental conditions in the stratosphere, the integration of electronic components in the airframe is a major effort. For regulatory reasons a reliable and situation dependent flight termination system had to be implemented. In May 2015 a flight campaign was conducted. The mission was a full success demonstrating that stratospheric research flights are feasible with rather small aircrafts.

Refueling while flying: foraging bats combust food rapidly and directly to power flight.

PubMed

Voigt, Christian C; Sörgel, Karin; Dechmann, Dina K N

2010-10-01

Flying vertebrates, such as bats, face exceptionally high energy costs during active flapping flight. Once airborne, energy turnover may exceed basal metabolic rate by a factor of up to 15. Here, we asked whether fuel that powers flight originates from exogenous (dietary nutrients), endogenous sources (mostly body lipids or glycogen), or a combination of both. Since most insectivorous bats fly continuously over relatively long time periods during foraging, we assumed that slowly mobilized glycogen, although suitable for supporting brief sallying flights, is inadequate to power aerial insect-hunting of bats. We hypothesized that the insect-feeding Noctilio albiventris rapidly mobilizes and combusts nutrients from insects it has just eaten instead of utilizing endogenous lipids. We used the stable carbon isotope ratio in the bats' exhaled breath (delta13C(brth)) to assess the origin of metabolized substrates of resting and flying N. albiventris in two nutritional conditions: fasted and recently fed. The breath of fasted resting bats was depleted in 13C in relation to their insect diet (delta13C(diet)), indicating the combustion of 13C depleted body lipids. In contrast to this, delta13C(brth) of bats that had recently fed closely matched delta13C(diet) in both resting and flying bats, suggesting a quick mobilization of ingested nutrients for metabolism. In contrast to most non-volant mammals, bats have evolved the ability to fuel their high energy expenditure rates through the rapid combustion of exogenous nutrients, enabling them to conquer the nocturnal niche of aerial insectivory.

These College Teams Go Sky-High Competing for a Championship.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monaghan, Peter

1986-01-01

The National Collegiate Flying Association's annual national competition in flight skills and safety involves competition among flight-trained college students and teams in precision landing with and without engines, cross-country navigation, flight-computer accuracy, message drops, preflight inspection proficiency, and aircraft recognition. (MSE)

Flight motor modulation with speed in the hawkmoth Manduca sexta.

PubMed

Hedrick, Tyson L; Martínez-Blat, Jorge; Goodman, Mariah J

2017-01-01

The theoretical underpinnings for flight, including animal flight with flapping wings, predict a curvilinear U-shaped or J-shaped relationship between flight speed and the power required to maintain that speed. Experimental data have confirmed this relationship for a variety of bird and bat species but not insects, possibly due to differences in aerodynamics and physiology or experimental difficulties. Here we quantify modulation of the main flight motor muscles (the dorsolongitudinal and dorsoventral) via electromyography in hawkmoths (Manduca sexta) flying freely over a range of speeds in a wind tunnel and show that these insects exhibit a U-shaped speed-power relationship, with a minimum power speed of 2ms -1 , indicating that at least large flying insects achieve sufficiently high flight speeds that drag and power become limiting factors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of flying qualities criteria for single pilot instrument flight operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bar-Gill, A.; Nixon, W. B.; Miller, G. E.

1982-01-01

Flying qualities criteria for Single Pilot Instrument Flight Rule (SPIFR) operations were investigated. The ARA aircraft was modified and adapted for SPIFR operations. Aircraft configurations to be flight-tested were chosen and matched on the ARA in-flight simulator, implementing modern control theory algorithms. Mission planning and experimental matrix design were completed. Microprocessor software for the onboard data acquisition system was debugged and flight-tested. Flight-path reconstruction procedure and the associated FORTRAN program were developed. Algorithms associated with the statistical analysis of flight test results and the SPIFR flying qualities criteria deduction are discussed.

Benchmark Problems for Space Mission Formation Flying

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carpenter, J. Russell; Leitner, Jesse A.; Folta, David C.; Burns, Richard

2003-01-01

To provide a high-level focus to distributed space system flight dynamics and control research, several benchmark problems are suggested for space mission formation flying. The problems cover formation flying in low altitude, near-circular Earth orbit, high altitude, highly elliptical Earth orbits, and large amplitude lissajous trajectories about co-linear libration points of the Sun-Earth/Moon system. These problems are not specific to any current or proposed mission, but instead are intended to capture high-level features that would be generic to many similar missions that are of interest to various agencies.

THE FORGETTING OF INSTRUMENT FLYING SKILLS AS A FUNCTION OF THE LEVEL OF INITIAL PROFICIENCY.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MENGELKOCK, ROBERT F.; AND OTHERS

THIS STUDY WAS DESIGNED TO DETERMINE WHETHER INSTRUMENT FLYING SKILLS ARE AFFECTED BY A FOUR-MONTH INTERVAL OF NONFLYING, AND WHETHER THIS EFFECT DIFFERS AS A FUNCTION OF INITIAL FLYING PROFICIENCY. AFTER EQUAL CLASSROOM TRAINING, TWO MATCHED GROUPS OF ROTC STUDENTS, WITHOUT PREVIOUS FLIGHT INSTRUCTION, WERE GIVEN A HIGH AND AN INTERMEDIATE AMOUNT…

Free flight odor tracking in Drosophila: Effect of wing chemosensors, sex and pheromonal gene regulation

PubMed Central

Houot, Benjamin; Gigot, Vincent; Robichon, Alain; Ferveur, Jean-François

2017-01-01

The evolution of powered flight in insects had major consequences for global biodiversity and involved the acquisition of adaptive processes allowing individuals to disperse to new ecological niches. Flies use both vision and olfactory input from their antennae to guide their flight; chemosensors on fly wings have been described, but their function remains mysterious. We studied Drosophila flight in a wind tunnel. By genetically manipulating wing chemosensors, we show that these structures play an essential role in flight performance with a sex-specific effect. Pheromonal systems are also involved in Drosophila flight guidance: transgenic expression of the pheromone production and detection gene, desat1, produced low, rapid flight that was absent in control flies. Our study suggests that the sex-specific modulation of free-flight odor tracking depends on gene expression in various fly tissues including wings and pheromonal-related tissues. PMID:28067325

Predicting fruit fly's sensing rate with insect flight simulations.

PubMed

Chang, Song; Wang, Z Jane

2014-08-05

Without sensory feedback, flies cannot fly. Exactly how various feedback controls work in insects is a complex puzzle to solve. What do insects measure to stabilize their flight? How often and how fast must insects adjust their wings to remain stable? To gain insights into algorithms used by insects to control their dynamic instability, we develop a simulation tool to study free flight. To stabilize flight, we construct a control algorithm that modulates wing motion based on discrete measurements of the body-pitch orientation. Our simulations give theoretical bounds on both the sensing rate and the delay time between sensing and actuation. Interpreting our findings together with experimental results on fruit flies' reaction time and sensory motor reflexes, we conjecture that fruit flies sense their kinematic states every wing beat to stabilize their flight. We further propose a candidate for such a control involving the fly's haltere and first basalar motor neuron. Although we focus on fruit flies as a case study, the framework for our simulation and discrete control algorithms is applicable to studies of both natural and man-made fliers.

A Sensory-Motor Control Model of Animal Flight Explains Why Bats Fly Differently in Light Versus Dark

PubMed Central

Bar, Nadav S.; Skogestad, Sigurd; Marçal, Jose M.; Ulanovsky, Nachum; Yovel, Yossi

2015-01-01

Animal flight requires fine motor control. However, it is unknown how flying animals rapidly transform noisy sensory information into adequate motor commands. Here we developed a sensorimotor control model that explains vertebrate flight guidance with high fidelity. This simple model accurately reconstructed complex trajectories of bats flying in the dark. The model implies that in order to apply appropriate motor commands, bats have to estimate not only the angle-to-target, as was previously assumed, but also the angular velocity (“proportional-derivative” controller). Next, we conducted experiments in which bats flew in light conditions. When using vision, bats altered their movements, reducing the flight curvature. This change was explained by the model via reduction in sensory noise under vision versus pure echolocation. These results imply a surprising link between sensory noise and movement dynamics. We propose that this sensory-motor link is fundamental to motion control in rapidly moving animals under different sensory conditions, on land, sea, or air. PMID:25629809

Analysis of Navy Flight Scheduling Methods Using FlyAwake

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-01

28 Figure 4. FlyAwake Schedule Builder Screenshot..........................................................28...Figure 5. FlyAwake Work Schedule Builder Screenshot................................................29 Figure 6. FlyAwake Graphical Output Screenshot... disqualifies crewmembers from participating in the following day’s flight operations. These rules are subject to operational requirements and deviation

FlyAR: augmented reality supported micro aerial vehicle navigation.

PubMed

Zollmann, Stefanie; Hoppe, Christof; Langlotz, Tobias; Reitmayr, Gerhard

2014-04-01

Micro aerial vehicles equipped with high-resolution cameras can be used to create aerial reconstructions of an area of interest. In that context automatic flight path planning and autonomous flying is often applied but so far cannot fully replace the human in the loop, supervising the flight on-site to assure that there are no collisions with obstacles. Unfortunately, this workflow yields several issues, such as the need to mentally transfer the aerial vehicle’s position between 2D map positions and the physical environment, and the complicated depth perception of objects flying in the distance. Augmented Reality can address these issues by bringing the flight planning process on-site and visualizing the spatial relationship between the planned or current positions of the vehicle and the physical environment. In this paper, we present Augmented Reality supported navigation and flight planning of micro aerial vehicles by augmenting the user’s view with relevant information for flight planning and live feedback for flight supervision. Furthermore, we introduce additional depth hints supporting the user in understanding the spatial relationship of virtual waypoints in the physical world and investigate the effect of these visualization techniques on the spatial understanding.

Genotype by temperature interactions in the metabolic rate of the Glanville fritillary butterfly.

PubMed

Niitepõld, Kristjan

2010-04-01

Metabolic rate is a highly plastic trait. Here I examine factors that influence the metabolic rate of the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) in pupae and resting and flying adults. Body mass and temperature had consistent positive effects on metabolic rate in pupae and resting adults but not in flying adults. There was also a consistent nonlinear effect of the time of the day, which was strongest in pupae and weakest in flying adults. Flight metabolic rate was strongly affected by an interaction between the phosphoglucose isomerase (Pgi) genotype and temperature. Over a broad range of measurement temperatures, heterozygous individuals at a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in Pgi had higher peak metabolic rate in flight, but at high temperatures homozygous individuals performed better. The two genotypes did not differ in resting metabolic rate, suggesting that the heterozygotes do not pay an additional energetic cost for their higher flight capacity. Mass-independent resting and flight metabolic rates were at best weakly correlated at the individual level, and therefore, unlike in many vertebrates, resting metabolic rate does not serve as a useful surrogate of the metabolic capacity of this butterfly.

F-8 DFBW simulating STS contro l system - Pilot-induced oscillation (PIO) on landing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1978-01-01

From 1972 to 1985 the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center conducted flight research with an F-8C employing the first digital fly-by-wire flight control system without a mechanical back up. The decision to replace all mechanical control linkages to rudder, ailerons, and other flight control surfaces was made for two reasons. First, it forced the research engineers to focus on the technology and issues that were truly critical for a production fly-by-wire aircraft. Secondly, it would give industry the confidence it needed to apply the technology--confidence it would not have had if the experimental system relied on a mechanical back up. In the first few decades of flight, pilots had controlled aircraft through direct force--moving control sticks and rudder pedals linked to cables and pushrods that pivoted control surfaces on the wings and tails. As engine power and speeds increased, more force was needed and hydraulically boosted controls emerged. Soon, all high-performance and large aircraft had hydraulic-mechanical flight-control systems. These conventional flight control systems restricted designers in the configuration and design of aircraft because of the need for flight stability. As the electronic era grew in the 1960s, so did the idea of aircraft with electronic flight-control systems. Wires replacing mechanical devices would give designers greater flexibility in configuration and in the size and placement of components such as tail surfaces and wings. A fly-by-wire system also would be smaller, more reliable, and in military aircraft, much less vulnerable to battle damage. A fly-by-wire aircraft would also be much more responsive to pilot control inputs. The result would be more efficient, safer aircraft with improved performance and design. The Aircraft By the late 1960s, engineers at Dryden began discussing how to modify an aircraft and create a fly-by-wire testbed. Support for the concept at NASA Headquarters came from Neil Armstrong, former research pilot at Dryden. He served in the Office of Advanced Research and Technology following his historic Apollo 11 lunar landing and knew electronic control systems from his days training in and operating the lunar module. Armstrong supported the proposed Dryden project and backed the transfer of an F-8C Crusader from the U.S. Navy to NASA to become the Digital Fly-By-Wire (DFBW) research aircraft. It was given the tail number 'NASA 802.' Wires from the control stick in the cockpit to the control surfaces on the wings and tail surfaces replaced the entire mechanical flight-control system in the F-8. The heart of the system was an off-the-shelf backup Apollo digital flight-control computer and inertial sensing unit, which transmitted pilot inputs to the actuators on the control surfaces. On May 25, 1972, the highly modified F-8 became the first aircraft to fly completely dependent upon an electronic flight-control system without any mechanical backup. The pilot was Gary Krier. The first phase of the DFBW program validated the fly-by-wire concept and quickly showed that a refined system, especially in large aircraft, would greatly enhance flying qualities by sensing motion changes and applying pilot inputs instantaneously. The Phase 1 system had a backup analog fly-by-wire system in the event of a failure in the Apollo computer unit, but it was never necessary to use the system in flight. In a joint program carried out with the Langley Research Center in the second phase of research, the original Apollo system was replaced with a triply redundant digital system. It would provide backup computer capabilities if a failure occurred. The DFBW program lasted 13 years. The final research flight, the 210th of the program, was made April 2, 1985, with Dryden Research Pilot Ed Schneider at the controls. Research Benefits The F-8 DFBW validated the principal concepts of the all-electric flight control systems now used in a variety of airplanes ranging from the F/A-18 to the Boeing 777 and the space shuttles. A DFBW flight control system also is used on the space shuttles. NASA 802 was the testbed for the sidestick-controller used in the F-16 fighter, the second U.S. high performance aircraft with a DFBW system. In addition to pioneering the space shuttle's fly-by-wire flight-control system, NASA 802 was the testbed that explored Pilot Induced Oscillations (PIO) and validated methods to suppress them. PIOs occur when a pilot over-controls an aircraft and a sustained oscillation results. On the last of five free flights of the prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise during approach and landing tests in l977, a PIO developed as the vehicle settled onto the runway. The problem was duplicated with the F-8 DFBW and a series of PIO suppression filters was developed and tested on the aircraft for the shuttle program office. DFBW research carried out with NASA 802 at Dryden is now considered one of the most significant and successful aeronautical programs in NASA history. In this clip we see NASA research pilot John Manke at the controls of Dryden's F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire aircraft as it enters a severe pilot induced oscillation or PIO just after completion of a touch-and-go landing while testing for a signal-delay-related problem that occurred during an approach to landing on the shuttle prototype Enterprise.

F-8 DFBW on-board electronics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1971-01-01

The Apollo hardware jammed into the F-8C. The computer is partially visible in the avionics bay at the top of the fuselage behind the cockpit. Note the display and keyboard unit in the gun bay. To carry the computers and other equipment, the F-8 DFBW team removed the aircraft's guns and ammunition boxes. The F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire (DFBW) flight research project validated the principal concepts of all-electric flight control systems now used on nearly all modern high-performance aircraft and on military and civilian transports. The first flight of the 13-year project was on May 25, 1972, with research pilot Gary E. Krier at the controls of a modified F-8C Crusader that served as the testbed for the fly-by-wire technologies. The project was a joint effort between the NASA Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, (now the Dryden Flight Research Center) and Langley Research Center. It included a total of 211 flights. The last flight was December 16, 1985, with Dryden research pilot Ed Schneider at the controls. The F-8 DFBW system was the forerunner of current fly-by-wire systems used in the space shuttles and on today's military and civil aircraft to make them safer, more maneuverable, and more efficient. Electronic fly-by-wire systems replaced older hydraulic control systems, freeing designers to design aircraft with reduced in-flight stability. Fly-by-wire systems are safer because of their redundancies. They are more maneuverable because computers can command more frequent adjustments than a human pilot can. For airliners, computerized control ensures a smoother ride than a human pilot alone can provide. Digital-fly-by-wire is more efficient because it is lighter and takes up less space than the hydraulic systems it replaced. This either reduces the fuel required to fly or increases the number of passengers or pounds of cargo the aircraft can carry. Digital fly-by-wire is currently used in a variety of aircraft ranging from F/A-18 fighters to the Boeing 777. The DFBW research program is considered one of the most significant and most successful NASA aeronautical programs since the inception of the agency. F-8 aircraft were built originally for the U.S. Navy by LTV Aerospace of Dallas, Texas. The aircraft had a wingspan of 35 feet, 2 inches; was 54 feet, 6 inches long; and was powered by a Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engine.

Hazard Detection Analysis for a Forward-Looking Interferometer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

West, Leanne; Gimmestad, Gary; Herkert, Ralph; Smith, William L.; Kireev, Stanislav; Schaffner, Philip R.; Daniels, Taumi S.; Cornman, Larry B.; Sharman, Robert; Weekley, Andrew;

Certification and safety aspects relating to the transport of passengers on high altitude balloons in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schoenmaker, Annelie

2014-07-01

High-altitude balloons typically fly between 25 and 50 km in altitude, which, while below the Karman line of 100 km, is yet far above the altitudes typically flown by aircraft. For example, the highest-flying commercial aircraft - the Concorde - had a maximum cruising altitude of only 18 km. zero2infinity, a Spanish company, is currently developing a pressurized pod named “bloon” which will be capable of lifting six people, including two pilot crew members and four paying passengers, to an altitude of 36 km through the use of high-altitude balloons. The boundary between Airspace and Outer Space has never been legally defined, mostly because of the lack of activities taking place between the altitude where airplanes fly and the lowest orbiting spacecraft. High-altitude balloons do fly at these in-between altitudes and the prospect of commercializing access to these parts of the stratosphere poses some questions in a new light. Given the relatively low altitude at which they fly, it may well be that these types of balloons would be considered to operate exclusively within air space. However, given the technology involved in crewed high altitude balloon flights, which is more similar to spacecraft engineering than to traditional hot-air or gas ballooning, it is necessary to evaluate the various legal regimes, codes, and regulations that would apply to such flights, especially regarding licenses and liabilities. For high altitude balloon flights commencing in Europe, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) would very likely be the competent certification or licensing agency for these flights, although there would likely be input from various national aviation authorities as well. However, because the European Commission (EC) has not yet issued regulations regarding commercial spaceflight, particularly the use of high altitude balloons, new rules and regulations governing such flights may still need to be drafted and promulgated. With the development of suborbital passenger vehicles such as bloon, Spaceplane as well as SpaceShipTwo (which is British-owned) this is clearly the appropriate time for the EC or other competent institutions to issue regulations regarding suborbital passenger flight. Rules and regulations regarding suborbital passenger transport such as liability and waivers to protect third parties, governments, and operators, need to be addressed by the European Union (EU) as a whole or at least by national or regional governments wishing to attract suborbital passenger flights to their territory. After all, it would be in Europe's financial and other interests to create and foster a favorable legal and commercial environment for the aerospace business within the borders of the EU.

Effect of video-game experience and position of flight stick controller on simulated-flight performance.

PubMed

Cho, Bo-Keun; Aghazadeh, Fereydoun; Al-Qaisi, Saif

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of video-game experience and flight-stick position on flying performance. The study divided participants into 2 groups; center- and side-stick groups, which were further divided into high and low level of video-game experience subgroups. The experiment consisted of 7 sessions of simulated flying, and in the last session, the flight stick controller was switched to the other position. Flight performance was measured in terms of the deviation of heading, altitude, and airspeed from their respective requirements. Participants with high experience in video games performed significantly better (p < .001) than the low-experienced group. Also, participants performed significantly better (p < .001) with the center-stick than the side-stick. When the side-stick controller was switched to the center-stick position, performance scores continued to increase (0.78 %). However, after switching from a center- to a side-stick controller, performance scores decreased (4.8%).

Aeronautical Research Engineer Milt Thompson computing data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1956-01-01

Milton O. Thompson was hired as an engineer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' High-Speed Flight Station (later renamed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Dryden Flight Research Center) on March 19, 1956. In 1958 he became a research pilot, but in this photo Milt is working on data from another pilot's research flight. Thompson began flying with the U.S. Navy as a pilot trainee at the age of 19. He subsequently served during World War II, with duty in China and Japan. Following six years of active naval service, he entered the University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington. Milt graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering. He remained in the Naval Reserves during college, and continued flying--not only naval aircraft but crop dusters and forest-spraying aircraft. After college graduation, Milt became a flight test engineer for the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle, where he was employed for two years before coming to the High-Speed Flight Station.

Kinematic strategies for mitigating gust perturbations in insects.

PubMed

Vance, J T; Faruque, I; Humbert, J S

2013-03-01

Insects are attractive models for the development of micro-aerial vehicles (MAVs) due to their relatively simple sensing, actuation and control architectures as compared to vertebrates, and because of their robust flight ability in dynamic and heterogeneous environments, characterized by turbulence and gusts of wind. How do insects respond to gust perturbations? We investigated this question by perturbing freely-flying honey bees and stalk-eye flies with low-pressure bursts of compressed air to simulate a wind gust. Body and wing kinematics were analyzed from flight sequences, recorded using three high-speed digital video cameras. Bees quickly responded to body rotations caused by gusts through bilateral asymmetry in stroke amplitude, whereas stalk-eye flies used a combination of asymmetric stroke amplitude and wing rotation angle. Both insects coordinated asymmetric and symmetric kinematics in response to gusts, which provides model strategies for simple yet robust flight characteristics for MAVs.

EC02-0031-6

NASA Image and Video Library

2002-02-01

The Helios Prototype flying wing stretches almost the full length of the 300-foot-long hangar at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The 247-foot span solar-powered aircraft, resting on its ground maneuvering dolly, was on display for a visit of NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and other NASA officials on January 31, 2002. The unique solar-electric flying wing reached an altitude of 96,863 feet during an almost 17-hour flight near Hawaii on August 13, 2001, a world record for sustained horizontal flight by a non-rocket powered aircraft. Developed by AeroVironment, Inc., under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project, the Helios Prototype is the forerunner of a planned fleet of slow-flying, long duration, high-altitude uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAV) which can serve as "atmospheric satellites," performing Earth science missions or functioning as telecommunications relay platforms in the stratosphere.

EC02-0031-7

NASA Image and Video Library

2002-02-01

The solar-powered Helios Prototype flying wing frames two modified F-15 research aircraft in a hangar at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The elongated 247-foot span lightweight aircraft, resting on its ground maneuvering dolly, stretched almost the full length of the 300-foot long hangar while on display during a visit of NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and other NASA officials on Jan. 31, 2002. The unique solar-electric flying wing reached an altitude of 96,863 feet during an almost 17-hour flight near Hawaii on Aug. 13, 2001, a world record for sustained horizontal flight by a non-rocket powered aircraft. Developed by AeroVironment, Inc., under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project, the Helios Prototype is the forerunner of a planned fleet of slow-flying, long duration, high-altitude uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAV) which can serve as "atmospheric satellites," performing Earth science missions or functioning as telecommunications relay platforms in the stratosphere.

Phonotactic flight of the parasitoid fly Emblemasoma auditrix (Diptera: Sarcophagidae).

PubMed

Tron, Nanina; Lakes-Harlan, Reinhard

2017-01-01

The parasitoid fly Emblemasoma auditrix locates its hosts using acoustic cues from sound producing males of the cicada Okanagana rimosa. Here, we experimentally analysed the flight path of the phonotaxis from a landmark to the target, a hidden loudspeaker in the field. During flight, the fly showed only small lateral deviations. The vertical flight direction angles were initially negative (directed downwards relative to starting position), grew positive (directed upwards) in the second half of the flight, and finally flattened (directed horizontally or slightly upwards), typically resulting in a landing above the loudspeaker. This phonotactic flight pattern was largely independent from sound pressure level or target distance, but depended on the elevation of the sound source. The flight velocity was partially influenced by sound pressure level and distance, but also by elevation. The more elevated the target, the lower was the speed. The accuracy of flight increased with elevation of the target as well as the landing precision. The minimal vertical angle difference eliciting differences in behaviour was 10°. By changing the elevation of the acoustic target after take-off, we showed that the fly is able to orientate acoustically while flying.

Fly-by-light flight control system technology development plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chakravarty, A.; Berwick, J. W.; Griffith, D. M.; Marston, S. E.; Norton, R. L.

1990-01-01

The results of a four-month, phased effort to develop a Fly-by-Light Technology Development Plan are documented. The technical shortfalls for each phase were identified and a development plan to bridge the technical gap was developed. The production configuration was defined for a 757-type airplane, but it is suggested that the demonstration flight be conducted on the NASA Transport Systems Research Vehicle. The modifications required and verification and validation issues are delineated in this report. A detailed schedule for the phased introduction of fly-by-light system components has been generated. It is concluded that a fiber-optics program would contribute significantly toward developing the required state of readiness that will make a fly-by-light control system not only cost effective but reliable without mitigating the weight and high-energy radio frequency related benefits.

Flies dynamically anti-track, rather than ballistically escape, aversive odor during flight.

PubMed

Wasserman, Sara; Lu, Patrick; Aptekar, Jacob W; Frye, Mark A

2012-08-15

Tracking distant odor sources is crucial to foraging, courtship and reproductive success for many animals including fish, flies and birds. Upon encountering a chemical plume in flight, Drosophila melanogaster integrates the spatial intensity gradient and temporal fluctuations over the two antennae, while simultaneously reducing the amplitude and frequency of rapid steering maneuvers, stabilizing the flight vector. There are infinite escape vectors away from a noxious source, in contrast to a single best tracking vector towards an attractive source. Attractive and aversive odors are segregated into parallel neuronal pathways in flies; therefore, the behavioral algorithms for avoidance may be categorically different from tracking. Do flies plot random ballistic or otherwise variable escape vectors? Or do they instead make use of temporally dynamic mechanisms for continuously and directly avoiding noxious odors in a manner similar to tracking appetitive ones? We examine this question using a magnetic tether flight simulator that permits free yaw movements, such that flies can actively orient within spatially defined odor plumes. We show that in-flight aversive flight behavior shares all of the key features of attraction such that flies continuously 'anti-track' the noxious source.

Flies dynamically anti-track, rather than ballistically escape, aversive odor during flight

PubMed Central

Wasserman, Sara; Lu, Patrick; Aptekar, Jacob W.; Frye, Mark A.

2012-01-01

SUMMARY Tracking distant odor sources is crucial to foraging, courtship and reproductive success for many animals including fish, flies and birds. Upon encountering a chemical plume in flight, Drosophila melanogaster integrates the spatial intensity gradient and temporal fluctuations over the two antennae, while simultaneously reducing the amplitude and frequency of rapid steering maneuvers, stabilizing the flight vector. There are infinite escape vectors away from a noxious source, in contrast to a single best tracking vector towards an attractive source. Attractive and aversive odors are segregated into parallel neuronal pathways in flies; therefore, the behavioral algorithms for avoidance may be categorically different from tracking. Do flies plot random ballistic or otherwise variable escape vectors? Or do they instead make use of temporally dynamic mechanisms for continuously and directly avoiding noxious odors in a manner similar to tracking appetitive ones? We examine this question using a magnetic tether flight simulator that permits free yaw movements, such that flies can actively orient within spatially defined odor plumes. We show that in-flight aversive flight behavior shares all of the key features of attraction such that flies continuously ‘anti-track’ the noxious source. PMID:22837456

The Need for High Speed in Next Generation Rotorcraft

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

ROTORCRAFT From the earliest thought of manned flight the helicopter was considered as a viable option to satisfy the requirement for flight. Leonardo Da... Vinci first dreamed of the helicopter flight concept in the year 1480. His adaption of the flying machine, named the "Helical Air Screw,” used the

Quarter-scale Model of Solar-powered Centurion Ultra-high-altitude Flying Wing Landing during First

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

A quarter-scale model of the future Centurion solar-powered high-altitude research aircraft settles in for landing after a March 1997 test flight at El Mirage Dry Lake, California. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Flying the Needles: Flight Deck Automation Erodes Fine-Motor Flying Skills Among Airline Pilots.

PubMed

Haslbeck, Andreas; Hoermann, Hans-Juergen

2016-06-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of practice and training on fine-motor flying skills during a manual instrument landing system (ILS) approach. There is an ongoing debate that manual flying skills of long-haul crews suffer from a lack of flight practice due to conducting only a few flights per month and the intensive use of automation. However, objective evidence is rare. One hundred twenty-six randomly selected airline pilots had to perform a manual flight scenario with a raw data precision approach. Pilots were assigned to four equal groups according to their level of practice and training by fleet (short-haul, long-haul) and rank (first officer, captain). Average ILS deviation scores differed significantly in relation to the group assignments. The strongest predictor variable was fleet, indicating degraded performance among long-haul pilots. Manual flying skills are subject to erosion due to a lack of practice on long-haul fleets: All results support the conclusion that recent flight practice is a significantly stronger predictor for fine-motor flying performance than the time period since flight school or even the total or type-specific flight experience. Long-haul crews have to be supported in a timely manner by adequate training tailored to address manual skills or by operational provisions like mixed-fleet flying or more frequent transitions between short-haul and long-haul operation. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Expertise and responsibility effects on pilots' reactions to flight deck alerts in a simulator.

PubMed

Zheng, Yiyuan; Lu, Yanyu; Yang, Zheng; Fu, Shan

2014-11-01

Flight deck alerts provide system malfunction information designed to lead corresponding pilot reactions aimed at guaranteeing flight safety. This study examined the roles of expertise and flight responsibility and their relationship to pilots' reactions to flight deck alerts. There were 17 pilots composing 12 flight crews that were assigned into pairs according to flight hours and responsibilities. The experiment included 9 flight scenarios and was carried out in a CRJ-200 flight simulator. Pilot performance was recorded by a wide angle video camera, and four kinds of reactions to alerts were defined for analysis. Pilots tended to have immediate reactions to uninterrupted cautions, with a turning off rate as high as 75%. However, this rate decreased sharply when pilots encountered interrupted cautions and warnings; they also exhibited many wrong reactions to warnings. Pilots with more expertise had more reactions to uninterrupted cautions than those with less expertise, both as pilot flying and pilot monitoring. Meanwhile, the pilot monitoring, regardless of level of expertise, exhibited more reactions than the pilot flying. In addition, more experienced pilots were more likely to have wrong reactions to warnings while acting as the monitoring pilot. These results suggest that both expertise and flight responsibility influence pilots' reactions to alerts. Considering crew pairing strategy, when a pilot flying is a less experienced pilot, a more experience pilot is suggested to be the monitoring pilot. The results of this study have implications for understanding pilots' behaviors to flight deck alerts, calling for specialized training and design of approach alarms on the flight deck.

These two NASA F/A-18 aircraft are flying a test point for the Autonomous Formation Flight project o

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2001-01-01

Two NASA F/A-18 aircraft are flying a test point for the Autonomous Formation Flight project over California's Mojave Desert. This second flight phase is mapping the wingtip vortex of the lead aircraft, the Systems Research Aircraft (tail number 847), on the trailing F/A-18 tail number 847. Wingtip vortex is a spiraling wind flowing from the wing during flight. The project is studying the drag and fuel reduction of precision formation flying.

Modeling, simulation, and flight characteristics of an aircraft designed to fly at 100,000 feet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sim, Alex G.

1991-01-01

A manned real time simulation of a conceptual vehicle, the stratoplane, was developed to study the problems associated with the flight characteristics of a large, lightweight vehicle. Mathematical models of the aerodynamics, mass properties, and propulsion system were developed in support of the simulation and are presented. The simulation was at first conducted without control augmentation to determine the needs for a control system. The unaugmented flying qualities were dominated by lightly damped dutch roll oscillations. Constant pilot workloads were needed at high altitudes. Control augmentation was studied using basic feedbacks. For the longitudinal axis, flight path angle, and pitch rate feedback were sufficient to damp the phugoid mode and to provide good flying qualities. In the lateral directional axis, bank angle, roll rate, and yaw rate feedbacks were sufficient to provide a safe vehicle with acceptable handling qualities. Intentionally stalling the stratoplane to very high angles of attack (deep stall) was studied as a means of enable safe and rapid descent. It was concluded that the deep stall maneuver is viable for this class of vehicle.

Centurion in Flight over Lakebed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

The Centurion remotely piloted flying wing during an early morning test flight over the Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The flight was one of an initial series of low-altitude, battery-powered test flights conducted in late 1998. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Pre-flight testing of preterm infants with neonatal lung disease: a retrospective review.

PubMed

Udomittipong, K; Stick, S M; Verheggen, M; Oostryck, J; Sly, P D; Hall, G L

2006-04-01

The low oxygen environment during air travel may result in hypoxia in patients with respiratory disease. However, little information exists on the oxygen requirements of infants with respiratory disease planning to fly. A study was undertaken to identify the clinical factors predictive of an in-flight oxygen requirement from a retrospective review of hypoxia challenge tests (inhalation of 14-15% oxygen for 20 minutes) in infants referred for fitness to fly assessment. Data from 47 infants (median corrected age 1.4 months) with a history of neonatal lung disease but not receiving supplemental oxygen at the time of hypoxia testing are reported. The neonatal and current clinical information of the infants were analysed in terms of their ability to predict the hypoxia test results. Thirty eight infants (81%) desaturated below 85% and warranted prescription of supplemental in-flight oxygen. Baseline oxygen saturation was >95% in all infants. Age at the time of the hypoxia test, either postmenstrual or corrected, significantly predicted the outcome of the hypoxia test (odds ratio 0.82; 95% confidence intervals 0.62 to 0.95; p = 0.005). Children passing the hypoxia test were significantly older than those requiring in-flight oxygen (median corrected age (10-90th centiles) 12.7 (3.0-43.4) v 0 (-0.9-10.9) months; p < 0.0001). A high proportion of ex-preterm infants not currently requiring supplemental oxygen referred for fitness-to-fly assessment and less than 12 months corrected age are at a high risk of requiring in-flight oxygen. Referral of this patient group for fitness to fly assessment including a hypoxia test may be indicated.

Description and Flight Test Results of the NASA F-8 Digital Fly-by-Wire Control System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

A NASA program to develop digital fly-by-wire (DFBW) technology for aircraft applications is discussed. Phase I of the program demonstrated the feasibility of using a digital fly-by-wire system for aircraft control through developing and flight testing a single channel system, which used Apollo hardware, in an F-8C airplane. The objective of Phase II of the program is to establish a technology base for designing practical DFBW systems. It will involve developing and flight testing a triplex digital fly-by-wire system using state-of-the-art airborne computers, system hardware, software, and redundancy concepts. The papers included in this report describe the Phase I system and its development and present results from the flight program. Man-rated flight software and the effects of lightning on digital flight control systems are also discussed.

ED01-0230-1

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-08-13

NASA's Helios Prototype aircraft taking off from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, for the record flight. As a follow-on to the Centurion (and earlier Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus) aircraft, the solar-powered Helios Prototype is the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions in the stratosphere. Developed by AeroVironment, Inc., of Monrovia, California, under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project, the unique craft is intended to demonstrate two key missions: the ability to reach and sustain horizontal flight at 100,000 feet altitude on a single-day flight in 2001, and to maintain flight above 50,000 feet altitude for at least four days in 2003, with the aid of a regenerative fuel cell-based energy storage system now in development. Both of these missions will be powered by electricity derived from non-polluting solar energy. The Helios Prototype is an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing, which flew a series of test flights at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in late 1998. The craft has a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of its solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. The remotely piloted, electrically powered Helios Prototype went aloft on its maiden low-altitude checkout flight Sept. 8, 1999, over Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in the Southern California desert. The initial flight series was flown on battery power as a risk-reduction measure. In all, six flights were flown in the Helios Protoype's initial development series. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingsp

Flight-Test Validation and Flying Qualities Evaluation of a Rotorcraft UAV Flight Control System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mettler, Bernard; Tuschler, Mark B.; Kanade, Takeo

2000-01-01

This paper presents a process of design and flight-test validation and flying qualities evaluation of a flight control system for a rotorcraft-based unmanned aerial vehicle (RUAV). The keystone of this process is an accurate flight-dynamic model of the aircraft, derived by using system identification modeling. The model captures the most relevant dynamic features of our unmanned rotorcraft, and explicitly accounts for the presence of a stabilizer bar. Using the identified model we were able to determine the performance margins of our original control system and identify limiting factors. The performance limitations were addressed and the attitude control system was 0ptimize.d for different three performance levels: slow, medium, fast. The optimized control laws will be implemented in our RUAV. We will first determine the validity of our control design approach by flight test validating our optimized controllers. Subsequently, we will fly a series of maneuvers with the three optimized controllers to determine the level of flying qualities that can be attained. The outcome enable us to draw important conclusions on the flying qualities requirements for small-scale RUAVs.

Dryden F-8 Research Aircraft Fleet 1973 in flight, DFBW and SCW

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire (left) and F-8 Supercritical Wing in flight. These two aircraft fundamentally changed the nature of aircraft design. The F-8 DFBW pioneered digital flight controls and led to such computer-controlled airacrft as the F-117A, X-29, and X-31. Airliners such as the Boeing 777 and Airbus A320 also use digital fly-by-wire systems. The other aircraft is a highly modified F-8A fitted with a supercritical wing. Dr. Richard T. Whitcomb of Langley Research Center originated the supercritical wing concept in the late 1960s. (Dr. Whitcomb also developed the concept of the 'area rule' in the early 1950s. It singificantly reduced transonic drag.) The F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire (DFBW) flight research project validated the principal concepts of all-electric flight control systems now used on nearly all modern high-performance aircraft and on military and civilian transports. The first flight of the 13-year project was on May 25, 1972, with research pilot Gary E. Krier at the controls of a modified F-8C Crusader that served as the testbed for the fly-by-wire technologies. The project was a joint effort between the NASA Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, (now the Dryden Flight Research Center) and Langley Research Center. It included a total of 211 flights. The last flight was December 16, 1985, with Dryden research pilot Ed Schneider at the controls. The F-8 DFBW system was the forerunner of current fly-by-wire systems used in the space shuttles and on today's military and civil aircraft to make them safer, more maneuverable, and more efficient. Electronic fly-by-wire systems replaced older hydraulic control systems, freeing designers to design aircraft with reduced in-flight stability. Fly-by-wire systems are safer because of their redundancies. They are more maneuverable because computers can command more frequent adjustments than a human pilot can. For airliners, computerized control ensures a smoother ride than a human pilot alone can provide. Digital-fly-by-wire is more efficient because it is lighter and takes up less space than the hydraulic systems it replaced. This either reduces the fuel required to fly or increases the number of passengers or pounds of cargo the aircraft can carry. Digital fly-by-wire is currently used in a variety of aircraft ranging from F/A-18 fighters to the Boeing 777. The DFBW research program is considered one of the most significant and most successful NASA aeronautical programs since the inception of the agency. F-8 aircraft were built originally for the U.S. Navy by LTV Aerospace of Dallas, Texas. The aircraft had a wingspan of 35 feet, 2 inches; was 54 feet, 6 inches long; and was powered by a Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engine. The F-8 Supercritical Wing was a flight research project designed to test a new wing concept designed by Dr. Richard Whitcomb, chief of the Transonic Aerodynamics Branch, Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Compared to a conventional wing, the supercritical wing (SCW) is flatter on the top and rounder on the bottom with a downward curve at the trailing edge. The Supercritical Wing was designed to delay the formation of and reduce the shock wave over the wing just below and above the speed of sound (transonic region of flight). Delaying the shock wave at these speeds results in less drag. Results of the NASA flight research at the Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, (later renamed the Dryden Flight Research Center) demonstrated that aircraft using the supercritical wing concept would have increased cruising speed, improved fuel efficiency, and greater flight range than those using conventional wings. As a result, supercritical wings are now commonplace on virtually every modern subsonic commercial transport. Results of the NASA project showed the SCW had increased the transonic efficiency of the F-8 as much as 15 percent and proved that passenger transports with supercritical wings, versus conventional wings, could save $78 million (in 1974 dollars) per year for a fleet of 280 200-passenger airliners. The F-8 Supercritical Wing (SCW) project flew from 1970 to 1973. Dryden engineer John McTigue was the first SCW program manager and Tom McMurtry was the lead project pilot. The first SCW flight took place on March 9, 1971. The last flight of the Supercritical wing was on May 23, 1973, with Ron Gerdes at the controls. Original wingspan of the F-8 is 35 feet, 2 inches while the wingspan with the supercritical wing was 43 feet, 1 inch. F-8 aircraft were powered by Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engines. The TF-8A Crusader was made available to the NASA Flight Research Center by the U.S. Navy. F-8 jet aircraft were built, originally, by LTV Aerospace, Dallas, Texas. Rockwell International's North American Aircraft Division received a $1.8 million contract to fabricate the supercritical wing, which was delivered to NASA in December 1969.

Modes of thrust generation in flying animals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Haoxiang; Song, Jialei; Tobalske, Bret; Luo Team; Tobalske Team

2016-11-01

For flying animals in forward flight, thrust is usually much smaller as compared with weight support and has not been given the same amount of attention. Several modes of thrust generation are discussed in this presentation. For insects performing slow flight that is characterized by low advance ratios (i.e., the ratio between flight speed and wing speed), thrust is usually generated by a "backward flick" mode, in which the wings moves upward and backward at a faster speed than the flight speed. Paddling mode is another mode used by some insects like fruit flies who row their wings backward during upstroke like paddles (Ristroph et al., PRL, 2011). Birds wings have high advance ratios and produce thrust during downstroke by directing aerodynamic lift forward. At intermediate advance ratios around one (e.g., hummingbirds and bats), the animal wings generate thrust during both downstroke and upstroke, and thrust generation during upstroke may come at cost of negative weight support. These conclusions are supported by previous experiment studies of insects, birds, and bats, as well as our recent computational modeling of hummingbirds. Supported by the NSF.

Multiple leading edge vortices of unexpected strength in freely flying hawkmoth

PubMed Central

Johansson, L. Christoffer; Engel, Sophia; Kelber, Almut; Heerenbrink, Marco Klein; Hedenström, Anders

2013-01-01

The Leading Edge Vortex (LEV) is a universal mechanism enhancing lift in flying organisms. LEVs, generally illustrated as a single vortex attached to the wing throughout the downstroke, have not been studied quantitatively in freely flying insects. Previous findings are either qualitative or from flappers and tethered insects. We measure the flow above the wing of freely flying hawkmoths and find multiple simultaneous LEVs of varying strength and structure along the wingspan. At the inner wing there is a single, attached LEV, while at mid wing there are multiple LEVs, and towards the wingtip flow separates. At mid wing the LEV circulation is ~40% higher than in the wake, implying that the circulation unrelated to the LEV may reduce lift. The strong and complex LEV suggests relatively high flight power in hawmoths. The variable LEV structure may result in variable force production, influencing flight control in the animals. PMID:24253180

Control and regulatory mechanisms associated with thermogenesis in flying insects and birds.

PubMed

Loli, Denise; Bicudo, José Eduardo P W

2005-01-01

Most insects and birds are able to fly. The chitin made exoskeleton of insects poses them several constraints, and this is one the reasons they are in general small sized animals. On the other hand, because birds possess an endoskeleton made of bones they may grow much larger when compared to insects. The two taxa are quite different with regards to their general "design" platform, in particular with respect to their respiratory and circulatory systems. However, because they fly, they may share in common several traits, namely those associated with the control and regulatory mechanisms governing thermogenesis. High core temperatures are essential for animal flight irrespective of the taxa they belong to. Birds and insects have thus evolved mechanisms which allowed them to control and regulate high rates of heat fluxes. This article discusses possible convergent thermogenic control and regulatory mechanisms associated with flight in insects and birds.

Space shuttle flying qualities and criteria assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Myers, T. T.; Johnston, D. E.; Mcruer, Duane T.

1987-01-01

Work accomplished under a series of study tasks for the Flying Qualities and Flight Control Systems Design Criteria Experiment (OFQ) of the Shuttle Orbiter Experiments Program (OEX) is summarized. The tasks involved review of applicability of existing flying quality and flight control system specification and criteria for the Shuttle; identification of potentially crucial flying quality deficiencies; dynamic modeling of the Shuttle Orbiter pilot/vehicle system in the terminal flight phases; devising a nonintrusive experimental program for extraction and identification of vehicle dynamics, pilot control strategy, and approach and landing performance metrics, and preparation of an OEX approach to produce a data archive and optimize use of the data to develop flying qualities for future space shuttle craft in general. Analytic modeling of the Orbiter's unconventional closed-loop dynamics in landing, modeling pilot control strategies, verification of vehicle dynamics and pilot control strategy from flight data, review of various existent or proposed aircraft flying quality parameters and criteria in comparison with the unique dynamic characteristics and control aspects of the Shuttle in landing; and finally a summary of conclusions and recommendations for developing flying quality criteria and design guides for future Shuttle craft.

Solar Flight on Mars and Venus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Landis, Geoffrey A.; LaMarre, Christopher; Colozza, Anthony

2002-01-01

Solar powered aircraft are of interest for exploring both Mars and Venus. The thin atmosphere of Mars presents a difficult environment for flying. It is clear that a new approach is needed. By making a totally solar airplane, we can eliminate many of the heavy components, and make an airplane that can fly without fuel. Using high efficiency solar cells, we can succeed with an airplane design that can fly for up to 6 hours in near-equatorial regions of Mars (4 hours of level flight, plus two hours of slow descent), and potentially fly for many days in the polar regions. By designing an airplane for a single day flight. In particular, this change means that we no longer have to cope with the weight of the energy storage system that made previous solar powered airplanes for Mars impractical). The new airplane concept is designed to fly only under the optimal conditions: near equatorial flight, at the subsolar point, near noon. We baseline an 8 kg airplane, with 2 kg margin. Science instruments will be selected with the primary criterion of low mass. Solar-powered aircraft are also quite interesting for the exploration of Venus. Venus provides several advantages for flying a solar-powered aircraft. At the top of the cloud level, the solar intensity is comparable to or greater than terrestrial solar intensities. The atmospheric pressure makes flight much easier than on planets such as Mars. The atmospheric pressure on Venus is presented. From an altitude of approximately 45 km (pressure = 2 bar), to approximately 60 km (pressure = 0.2 bar), terrestrial airplane experience can be easily applied to a Venus airplane design. At these flight altitudes, the temperature varies from 80 C at 45 km, decreasing to -35 C at 60 km. Also, the slow rotation of Venus allows an airplane to be designed for flight within continuous sunlight, eliminating the need for energy storage for nighttime flight. These factors make Venus a prime choice for a long-duration solar-powered aircraft. Fleets of solar-powered aircraft could provide an architecture for efficient and low-cost comprehensive coverage for a variety of scientific missions. Exploratory planetary mapping and atmospheric sampling can lead to a greater understanding of the greenhouse effect not only on Venus but on Earth as well.

Flying Schedule-Matching Descents to Explore Flight Crews' Perceptions of Their Load and Task Feasibility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, Lynne Hazel; Sharma, Shivanjli; Lozito, Sharon; Kaneshige, John; Hayashi, Miwa; Dulchinos, Victoria

2012-01-01

Multiple studies have investigated the development and use of ground-based (controller) tools to manage and schedule traffic in future terminal airspace. No studies have investigated the impacts that such tools (and concepts) could have on the flight-deck. To begin to redress the balance, an exploratory study investigated the procedures and actions of ten Boeing-747-400 crews as they flew eight continuous descent approaches in the Los Angeles terminal airspace, with the descents being controlled using speed alone. Although the study was exploratory in nature, four variables were manipulated: speed changes, route constraints, clearance phraseology, and winds. Despite flying the same scenarios with the same events and timing, there was at least a 50 second difference in the time it took crews to fly the approaches. This variation is the product of a number of factors but highlights potential difficulties for scheduling tools that would have to accommodate this amount of natural variation in descent times. The primary focus of this paper is the potential impact of ground scheduling tools on the flight crews performance and procedures. Crews reported "moderate to low" workload, on average; however, short periods of intense and high workload were observed. The non-flying pilot often reported a higher level of workload than the flying-pilot, which may be due to their increased interaction with the Flight Management Computer, when using the aircraft automation to assist with managing the descent clearances. It is concluded that ground-side tools and automation may have a larger impact on the current-day flight-deck than was assumed and that studies investigating this impact should continue in parallel with controller support tool development.

Kinematic diversity suggests expanded roles for fly halteres

PubMed Central

Hall, Joshua M.; McLoughlin, Dane P.; Kathman, Nicholas D.; Yarger, Alexandra M.; Mureli, Shwetha; Fox, Jessica L.

2015-01-01

The halteres of flies are mechanosensory organs that provide information about body rotations during flight. We measured haltere movements in a range of fly taxa during free walking and tethered flight. We find a diversity of wing–haltere phase relationships in flight, with higher variability in more ancient families and less in more derived families. Diverse haltere movements were observed during free walking and were correlated with phylogeny. We predicted that haltere removal might decrease behavioural performance in those flies that move them during walking and provide evidence that this is the case. Our comparative approach reveals previously unknown diversity in haltere movements and opens the possibility of multiple functional roles for halteres in different fly behaviours. PMID:26601682

Astrobee: Space Station Robotic Free Flyer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Provencher, Chris; Bualat, Maria G.; Barlow, Jonathan; Fong, Terrence W.; Smith, Marion F.; Smith, Ernest E.; Sanchez, Hugo S.

2016-01-01

Astrobee is a free flying robot that will fly inside the International Space Station and primarily serve as a research platform for robotics in zero gravity. Astrobee will also provide mobile camera views to ISS flight and payload controllers, and collect various sensor data within the ISS environment for the ISS Program. Astrobee consists of two free flying robots, a dock, and ground data system. This presentation provides an overview, high level design description, and project status.

Kinematic compensation for wing loss in flying damselflies.

PubMed

Kassner, Ziv; Dafni, Eyal; Ribak, Gal

2016-02-01

Flying insects can tolerate substantial wing wear before their ability to fly is entirely compromised. In order to keep flying with damaged wings, the entire flight apparatus needs to adjust its action to compensate for the reduced aerodynamic force and to balance the asymmetries in area and shape of the damaged wings. While several studies have shown that damaged wings change their flapping kinematics in response to partial loss of wing area, it is unclear how, in insects with four separate wings, the remaining three wings compensate for the loss of a fourth wing. We used high-speed video of flying blue-tailed damselflies (Ischnura elegans) to identify the wingbeat kinematics of the two wing pairs and compared it to the flapping kinematics after one of the hindwings was artificially removed. The insects remained capable of flying and precise maneuvering using only three wings. To compensate for the reduction in lift, they increased flapping frequency by 18±15.4% on average. To achieve steady straight flight, the remaining intact hindwing reduced its flapping amplitude while the forewings changed their stroke plane angle so that the forewing of the manipulated side flapped at a shallower stroke plane angle. In addition, the angular position of the stroke reversal points became asymmetrical. When the wingbeat amplitude and frequency of the three wings were used as input in a simple aerodynamic model, the estimation of total aerodynamic force was not significantly different (paired t-test, p=0.73) from the force produced by the four wings during normal flight. Thus, the removal of one wing resulted in adjustments of the motions of the remaining three wings, exemplifying the precision and plasticity of coordination between the operational wings. Such coordination is vital for precise maneuvering during normal flight but it also provides the means to maintain flight when some of the wings are severely damaged. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Cognitive and Virtual Reality Treatment Program for the Fear of Flying.

PubMed

Ferrand, Margot; Ruffault, Alexis; Tytelman, Xavier; Flahault, Cécile; Négovanska, Vélina

2015-08-01

Passenger air transport has considerably increased in the past 50 yr. It is estimated that between 7 and 40% of the population of industrialized countries is currently afraid of flying. Programs treating the fear of flying have been developed to meet this problem. This study measures the effectiveness of one of these programs by focusing on flight-related anxiety before the program and after the first flight following the intervention. There were 157 individuals recruited to participate in a 1-d intervention aiming at treating the fear of flying, and using both cognitive behavioral techniques and virtual reality. Anxiety was measured with the Flight Anxiety Situations (FAS) and the Flight Anxiety Modality (FAM) questionnaires. Statistical analyses were conducted on 145 subjects (69.7% female; ages from 14 to 64) after the exclusion of individuals with missing data. The results showed a decrease in flight-related anxiety for each subscale of the two questionnaires: the somatic (d=2.44) and cognitive anxiety (d=1.47) subscales of the FAM, and the general flight anxiety (d=3.20), the anticipatory flight anxiety (d=1.74), and the in-flight anxiety (d=1.04) subscales of the FAS. The effectiveness of the treatment program using both cognitive behavioral techniques and virtual reality strategies for fear of flying reduced flight-related anxiety in the subjects in our study. Our results show that subjects demonstrated lower anxiety levels after the first flight following the program than before the intervention.

Adaptation of aeronautical engines to high altitude flying

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kutzbach, K

1923-01-01

Issues and techniques relative to the adaptation of aircraft engines to high altitude flight are discussed. Covered here are the limits of engine output, modifications and characteristics of high altitude engines, the influence of air density on the proportions of fuel mixtures, methods of varying the proportions of fuel mixtures, the automatic prevention of fuel waste, and the design and application of air pressure regulators to high altitude flying. Summary: 1. Limits of engine output. 2. High altitude engines. 3. Influence of air density on proportions of mixture. 4. Methods of varying proportions of mixture. 5. Automatic prevention of fuel waste. 6. Design and application of air pressure regulators to high altitude flying.

Design, fabrication & performance analysis of an unmanned aerial vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khan, M. I.; Salam, M. A.; Afsar, M. R.; Huda, M. N.; Mahmud, T.

2016-07-01

An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle was designed, analyzed and fabricated to meet design requirements and perform the entire mission for an international aircraft design competition. The goal was to have a balanced design possessing, good demonstrated flight handling qualities, practical and affordable manufacturing requirements while providing a high vehicle performance. The UAV had to complete total three missions named ferry flight (1st mission), maximum load mission (2nd mission) and emergency medical mission (3rd mission). The requirement of ferry flight mission was to fly as many as laps as possible within 4 minutes. The maximum load mission consists of flying 3 laps while carrying two wooden blocks which simulate cargo. The requirement of emergency medical mission was complete 3 laps as soon as possible while carrying two attendances and two patients. A careful analysis revealed lowest rated aircraft cost (RAC) as the primary design objective. So, the challenge was to build an aircraft with minimum RAC that can fly fast, fly with maximum payload, and fly fast with all the possible configurations. The aircraft design was reached by first generating numerous design concepts capable of completing the mission requirements. In conceptual design phase, Figure of Merit (FOM) analysis was carried out to select initial aircraft configuration, propulsion, empennage and landing gear. After completion of the conceptual design, preliminary design was carried out. The preliminary design iterations had a low wing loading, high lift coefficient, and a high thrust to weight ratio. To make the aircraft capable of Rough Field Taxi; springs were added in the landing gears for absorbing shock. An airfoil shaped fuselage was designed to allowed sufficient space for payload and generate less drag to make the aircraft fly fast. The final design was a high wing monoplane with conventional tail, single tractor propulsion system and a tail dragger landing gear. Payload was stored in undercarriage box for maximum load mission and emergency medical mission. The aircraft structure, weights 5.6 lb., constructed by balsa wood, depron and covering film was the only feasible match for the given requirements set by the competition organizers. The defined final aircraft was capable of: Completing 3 laps within 4 minutes at the first mission; flying 3 laps with 4 internal payloads at the second mission; flying 3 laps with all possible payload configurations at the third mission.

Falcon versus grouse: flight adaptations of a predator and its prey

USGS Publications Warehouse

Pennycuick, C.J.; Fuller, M.R.; Oar, J.J.; Kirkpatrick, S.J.

1994-01-01

Several falcons were trained to fly along a 500 m course to a lure. The air speeds of the more consistent performers averaged about 1.5 times their calculated minimum power speeds, and occasionally reached 2.1 times the minimum power speed. Wing beat frequencies of all the falcons were above those estimated from earlier field observations, and the same was true of wild Sage Grouse Centrocercus urophasianus, a regular falconer's quarry in the study area. Measurements of grouse killed by falcons showed that their wings were short, with broad slotted tips, whereas the falcons' wings were longer in relation to their body mass, and tapered. The short wings of grouse result in fast flight, high power requirements, and reduced capacity for aerobic flight. Calculations indicated that the grouse should fly faster than the falcons, and had the large amount of flight muscle needed to do so, but that the falcons would be capable of prolonged aerobic flight, whereas the grouse probably would not. We surmise that Sage Grouse cannot fly continuously without incurring an oxygen debt, and are therefore not long-distance migrants, although this limitation is partly due to their large size, and would not apply to smaller galliform birds such as ptarmigan Lagopus spp. The wing action seen in video recordings of the falcons was not consistent with the maintenance of constant circulation. We call it 'chase mode' because it appears to be associated with a high level of muscular exertion, without special regard to fuel economy. It shows features in common with the 'bounding' flight of passerines.

The Flight Anxiety Situations Questionnaire and the Flight Anxiety Modality Questionnaire: norms for people with fear of flying.

PubMed

Nousi, Aikaterini; van Gerwen, Lucas; Spinhoven, Philip

2008-09-01

The Flight Anxiety Situations Questionnaire (FAS) and the Flight Anxiety Modality Questionnaire (FAM) are widely used in clinical practice and research studies. The aim of this study was to derive norms for people suffering from fear of flying completing the FAS and FAM. The sample is composed of 2072 individuals suffering from fear of flying and 1012 non-patients. Means, standard deviations and percentile ranks for raw FAS and FAM subscale scores will be presented. Normative data are provided enabling the comparison of individual scores. The results showed a conspicuous difference between the patient and non-patient samples. As a whole the patient group scored higher on the scale assessing the level of anxiety experienced in different flight or flight-related situations and on the scale measuring the symptoms of anxiety or anticipatory anxiety in flight situations than the normal controls. The findings of this study suggest that the FAS and FAM questionnaires can be applied in the investigation of fearful flyers and the normal population. A considerable number of flying phobics obtained scores in the clinically significant range on the subscales assessing anticipatory anxiety, in-flight anxiety, generalized flight anxiety, somatic complaints and cognitive complaints.

Independently Controlled Wing Stroke Patterns in the Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster

PubMed Central

Chakraborty, Soma; Bartussek, Jan; Fry, Steven N.; Zapotocky, Martin

2015-01-01

Flies achieve supreme flight maneuverability through a small set of miniscule steering muscles attached to the wing base. The fast flight maneuvers arise from precisely timed activation of the steering muscles and the resulting subtle modulation of the wing stroke. In addition, slower modulation of wing kinematics arises from changes in the activity of indirect flight muscles in the thorax. We investigated if these modulations can be described as a superposition of a limited number of elementary deformations of the wing stroke that are under independent physiological control. Using a high-speed computer vision system, we recorded the wing motion of tethered flying fruit flies for up to 12 000 consecutive wing strokes at a sampling rate of 6250 Hz. We then decomposed the joint motion pattern of both wings into components that had the minimal mutual information (a measure of statistical dependence). In 100 flight segments measured from 10 individual flies, we identified 7 distinct types of frequently occurring least-dependent components, each defining a kinematic pattern (a specific deformation of the wing stroke and the sequence of its activation from cycle to cycle). Two of these stroke deformations can be associated with the control of yaw torque and total flight force, respectively. A third deformation involves a change in the downstroke-to-upstroke duration ratio, which is expected to alter the pitch torque. A fourth kinematic pattern consists in the alteration of stroke amplitude with a period of 2 wingbeat cycles, extending for dozens of cycles. Our analysis indicates that these four elementary kinematic patterns can be activated mutually independently, and occur both in isolation and in linear superposition. The results strengthen the available evidence for independent control of yaw torque, pitch torque, and total flight force. Our computational method facilitates systematic identification of novel patterns in large kinematic datasets. PMID:25710715

Independently controlled wing stroke patterns in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Chakraborty, Soma; Bartussek, Jan; Fry, Steven N; Zapotocky, Martin

2015-01-01

Flies achieve supreme flight maneuverability through a small set of miniscule steering muscles attached to the wing base. The fast flight maneuvers arise from precisely timed activation of the steering muscles and the resulting subtle modulation of the wing stroke. In addition, slower modulation of wing kinematics arises from changes in the activity of indirect flight muscles in the thorax. We investigated if these modulations can be described as a superposition of a limited number of elementary deformations of the wing stroke that are under independent physiological control. Using a high-speed computer vision system, we recorded the wing motion of tethered flying fruit flies for up to 12,000 consecutive wing strokes at a sampling rate of 6250 Hz. We then decomposed the joint motion pattern of both wings into components that had the minimal mutual information (a measure of statistical dependence). In 100 flight segments measured from 10 individual flies, we identified 7 distinct types of frequently occurring least-dependent components, each defining a kinematic pattern (a specific deformation of the wing stroke and the sequence of its activation from cycle to cycle). Two of these stroke deformations can be associated with the control of yaw torque and total flight force, respectively. A third deformation involves a change in the downstroke-to-upstroke duration ratio, which is expected to alter the pitch torque. A fourth kinematic pattern consists in the alteration of stroke amplitude with a period of 2 wingbeat cycles, extending for dozens of cycles. Our analysis indicates that these four elementary kinematic patterns can be activated mutually independently, and occur both in isolation and in linear superposition. The results strengthen the available evidence for independent control of yaw torque, pitch torque, and total flight force. Our computational method facilitates systematic identification of novel patterns in large kinematic datasets.

A flight test method for pilot/aircraft analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koehler, R.; Buchacker, E.

1986-01-01

In high precision flight maneuvres a pilot is a part of a closed loop pilot/aircraft system. The assessment of the flying qualities is highly dependent on the closed loop characteristics related to precision maneuvres like approach, landing, air-to-air tracking, air-to-ground tracking, close formation flying and air-to air refueling of the receiver. The object of a research program at DFVLR is the final flight phase of an air to ground mission. In this flight phase the pilot has to align the aircraft with the target, correct small deviations from the target direction and keep the target in his sights for a specific time period. To investigate the dynamic behavior of the pilot-aircraft system a special ground attack flight test technique with a prolonged tracking maneuvres was developed. By changing the targets during the attack the pilot is forced to react continously on aiming errors in his sights. Thus the closed loop pilot/aircraft system is excited over a wide frequency range of interest, the pilot gets more information about mission oriented aircraft dynamics and suitable flight test data for a pilot/aircraft analysis can be generated.

Centurion in Flight with Internal Wing Structure Visible

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

The lightweight wing structure and covering of the Centurion remotely piloted flying wing can be clearly seen in this photo of the plane during one of its initial low-altitude, battery-powered test flights in late 1998 at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Stable hovering of a jellyfish-like flying machine

PubMed Central

Ristroph, Leif; Childress, Stephen

2014-01-01

Ornithopters, or flapping-wing aircraft, offer an alternative to helicopters in achieving manoeuvrability at small scales, although stabilizing such aerial vehicles remains a key challenge. Here, we present a hovering machine that achieves self-righting flight using flapping wings alone, without relying on additional aerodynamic surfaces and without feedback control. We design, construct and test-fly a prototype that opens and closes four wings, resembling the motions of swimming jellyfish more so than any insect or bird. Measurements of lift show the benefits of wing flexing and the importance of selecting a wing size appropriate to the motor. Furthermore, we use high-speed video and motion tracking to show that the body orientation is stable during ascending, forward and hovering flight modes. Our experimental measurements are used to inform an aerodynamic model of stability that reveals the importance of centre-of-mass location and the coupling of body translation and rotation. These results show the promise of flapping-flight strategies beyond those that directly mimic the wing motions of flying animals. PMID:24430122

Kinematic diversity suggests expanded roles for fly halteres.

PubMed

Hall, Joshua M; McLoughlin, Dane P; Kathman, Nicholas D; Yarger, Alexandra M; Mureli, Shwetha; Fox, Jessica L

2015-11-01

The halteres of flies are mechanosensory organs that provide information about body rotations during flight. We measured haltere movements in a range of fly taxa during free walking and tethered flight. We find a diversity of wing-haltere phase relationships in flight, with higher variability in more ancient families and less in more derived families. Diverse haltere movements were observed during free walking and were correlated with phylogeny. We predicted that haltere removal might decrease behavioural performance in those flies that move them during walking and provide evidence that this is the case. Our comparative approach reveals previously unknown diversity in haltere movements and opens the possibility of multiple functional roles for halteres in different fly behaviours. © 2015 The Author(s).

Results of NASA's First Autonomous Formation Flying Experiment: Earth Observing-1 (EO-1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Folta, David C.; Hawkins, Albin; Bauer, Frank H. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

NASA's first autonomous formation flying mission completed its primary goal of demonstrating an advanced technology called enhanced formation flying. To enable this technology, the Guidance, Navigation, and Control center at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) implemented a universal 3-axis formation flying algorithm in an autonomous executive flight code onboard the New Millennium Program's (NMP) Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) spacecraft. This paper describes the mathematical background of the autonomous formation flying algorithm and the onboard flight design and presents the validation results of this unique system. Results from functionality assessment through fully autonomous maneuver control are presented as comparisons between the onboard EO-1 operational autonomous control system called AutoCon(tm), its ground-based predecessor, and a standalone algorithm.

The multilevel antibiotic-induced perturbations to biological systems: Early-life exposure induces long-lasting damages to muscle structure and mitochondrial metabolism in flies.

PubMed

Renault, David; Yousef, Hesham; Mohamed, Amr A

2018-06-07

Antibiotics have been increasingly used over the past decades for human medicine, food-animal agriculture, aquaculture, and plant production. A significant part of the active molecules of antibiotics can be released into the environment, in turn affecting ecosystem functioning and biogeochemical processes. At lower organizational scales, these substances affect bacterial symbionts of insects, with negative consequences on growth and development of juveniles, and population dynamics. Yet, the multiple alterations of cellular physiology and metabolic processes have remained insufficiently explored in insects. We evaluated the effects of five antibiotics with different mode of action, i.e. ampicillin, cefradine, chloramphenicol, cycloheximide, and tetracycline, on the survival and ultrastructural organization of the flight muscles of newly emerged blow flies Chrysomya albiceps. Then, we examined the effects of different concentrations of antibiotics on mitochondrial protein content, efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation, and activity of transaminases (Glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase and glutamate pyruvate transaminase) and described the cellular metabolic perturbations of flies treated with antibiotics. All antibiotics affected the survival of the insects and decreased the total mitochondrial protein content in a dose-dependent manner. Ultrastructural organization of flight muscles in treated flies differs dramatically compared to the control groups and severe pathological damages/structures disorganization of mitochondria appeared. The activities of mitochondrial transaminases significantly increased with increased antibiotic concentrations. The oxidation rate of pyruvate + proline from isolated mitochondria of the flight muscles of 1-day-old flies was significantly reduced at high doses of antibiotics. In parallel, the level of several metabolites, including TCA cycle intermediates, was reduced in antibiotics-treated flies. Overall, antibiotics provoked a system-wide alteration of the structure and physiology of flight muscles of the blow fly Ch. albiceps, and may have fitness consequences at the organism level. Environmental antibiotic pollution is likely to have unwanted cascading ecological effects of insect population dynamics and community structure. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Diet-Induced Over-Expression of Flightless-I Protein and Its Relation to Flightlessness in Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata

PubMed Central

Cho, Il Kyu; Chang, Chiou Ling; Li, Qing X.

2013-01-01

The Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata is among the most economically important pests worldwide. Understanding nutritional requirement helps rearing healthy medfly for biocontrol of its population in fields. Flight ability is a high priority criterion. Two groups of medfly larvae were reared with two identical component diets except one with fatty acids (diet A) and another without it (diet B). Adults from larvae reared on diet B demonstrated 20±8% of normal flight ability, whereas those from larvae reared on diet A displayed full flight ability of 97±1%. Proteomes were profiled to compare two groups of medfly pupae using shotgun proteomics to study dietary effects on flight ability. When proteins detected in pupae A were compared with those in pupae B, 233 and 239 proteins were, respectively, under- and over-expressed in pupae B, while 167 proteins were overlapped in both pupae A and B. Differential protein profiles indicate that nutritional deficiency induced over-expression of flightless-I protein (fli-I) in medfly. All proteins were subjected to Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) to create 13 biological networks and 17 pathways of interacting protein clusters in human ortholog. Fli-I, leucine-rich repeat (LRR)-containing G protein-coupled receptor 2, LRR protein soc-2 and protein wings apart-like were over-expressed in pupae B. Inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor, protocadherin-like wing polarity protein stan and several Wnt pathway proteins were under-expressed in pupae B. These results suggest down-regulation of the Wnt/wingless signaling pathway, which consequently may result in flightlessness in pupae B. The fli-I gene is known to be located within the Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS) region on chromosome 17, and thus, we speculate that nutritional deficiency might induce over-expression of fli-I (or fli-I gene) and be associated with human SMS. However, more evidence would be needed to confirm our speculation. PMID:24312525

A new low-turbulence wind tunnel for animal and small vehicle flight experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quinn, Daniel B.; Watts, Anthony; Nagle, Tony; Lentink, David

2017-03-01

Our understanding of animal flight benefits greatly from specialized wind tunnels designed for flying animals. Existing facilities can simulate laminar flow during straight, ascending and descending flight, as well as at different altitudes. However, the atmosphere in which animals fly is even more complex. Flow can be laminar and quiet at high altitudes but highly turbulent near the ground, and gusts can rapidly change wind speed. To study flight in both laminar and turbulent environments, a multi-purpose wind tunnel for studying animal and small vehicle flight was built at Stanford University. The tunnel is closed-circuit and can produce airspeeds up to 50 m s-1 in a rectangular test section that is 1.0 m wide, 0.82 m tall and 1.73 m long. Seamless honeycomb and screens in the airline together with a carefully designed contraction reduce centreline turbulence intensities to less than or equal to 0.030% at all operating speeds. A large diameter fan and specialized acoustic treatment allow the tunnel to operate at low noise levels of 76.4 dB at 20 m s-1. To simulate high turbulence, an active turbulence grid can increase turbulence intensities up to 45%. Finally, an open jet configuration enables stereo high-speed fluoroscopy for studying musculoskeletal control in turbulent flow.

Flight Measurements of the Flying Qualities of a Lockheed P-80A Airplane (Army No. 44-85099): Lateral- and Directional-Stability and Control Characteristics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, Seth B.; Cooper, George E.

1947-01-01

This report contains the flight-test results of the lateral and directional-stability and control phase (including tests with wing-tip tanks) of a general flying-qualities investigation of the Lockheed P-80A airplane (Army No. 44-85099). These tests were conducted at indicated airspeeds up to 494 miles per hour (0.691 Mach number) at low altitude and up to 378 miles per hour (0.816 Mach number) at high altitude. These tests showed that the flying qualities of the airplane were for the most part in accordance with the requirements of the Army Air Forces Stability and Control Specifications. The only major deficiency noted was the negative lateral stability with the wing-tip tanks installed.

Real-Time Global Nonlinear Aerodynamic Modeling for Learn-To-Fly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morelli, Eugene A.

2016-01-01

Flight testing and modeling techniques were developed to accurately identify global nonlinear aerodynamic models for aircraft in real time. The techniques were developed and demonstrated during flight testing of a remotely-piloted subscale propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft using flight test maneuvers designed to simulate a Learn-To-Fly scenario. Prediction testing was used to evaluate the quality of the global models identified in real time. The real-time global nonlinear aerodynamic modeling algorithm will be integrated and further tested with learning adaptive control and guidance for NASA Learn-To-Fly concept flight demonstrations.

Bumblebees minimize control challenges by combining active and passive modes in unsteady winds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ravi, Sridhar; Kolomenskiy, Dmitry; Engels, Thomas; Schneider, Kai; Wang, Chun; Sesterhenn, Jörn; Liu, Hao

2016-10-01

The natural wind environment that volant insects encounter is unsteady and highly complex, posing significant flight-control and stability challenges. It is critical to understand the strategies insects employ to safely navigate in natural environments. We combined experiments on free flying bumblebees with high-fidelity numerical simulations and lower-order modeling to identify the mechanics that mediate insect flight in unsteady winds. We trained bumblebees to fly upwind towards an artificial flower in a wind tunnel under steady wind and in a von Kármán street formed in the wake of a cylinder. Analysis revealed that at lower frequencies in both steady and unsteady winds the bees mediated lateral movement with body roll - typical casting motion. Numerical simulations of a bumblebee in similar conditions permitted the separation of the passive and active components of the flight trajectories. Consequently, we derived simple mathematical models that describe these two motion components. Comparison between the free-flying live and modeled bees revealed a novel mechanism that enables bees to passively ride out high-frequency perturbations while performing active maneuvers at lower frequencies. The capacity of maintaining stability by combining passive and active modes at different timescales provides a viable means for animals and machines to tackle the challenges posed by complex airflows.

Passive maintenance of high angle of attack and its lift generation during flapping translation in crane fly wing.

PubMed

Ishihara, D; Yamashita, Y; Horie, T; Yoshida, S; Niho, T

2009-12-01

We have studied the passive maintenance of high angle of attack and its lift generation during the crane fly's flapping translation using a dynamically scaled model. Since the wing and the surrounding fluid interact with each other, the dynamic similarity between the model flight and actual insect flight was measured using not only the non-dimensional numbers for the fluid (the Reynolds and Strouhal numbers) but also those for the fluid-structure interaction (the mass and Cauchy numbers). A difference was observed between the mass number of the model and that of the actual insect because of the limitation of available solid materials. However, the dynamic similarity during the flapping translation was not much affected by the mass number since the inertial force during the flapping translation is not dominant because of the small acceleration. In our model flight, a high angle of attack of the wing was maintained passively during the flapping translation and the wing generated sufficient lift force to support the insect weight. The mechanism of the maintenance is the equilibrium between the elastic reaction force resulting from the wing torsion and the fluid dynamic pressure. Our model wing rotated quickly at the stroke reversal in spite of the reduced inertial effect of the wing mass compared with that of the actual insect. This result could be explained by the added mass from the surrounding fluid. Our results suggest that the pitching motion can be passive in the crane fly's flapping flight.

The Impact of Temperature and Body Size on Fundamental Flight Tone Variation in the Mosquito Vector Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae): Implications for Acoustic Lures.

PubMed

Villarreal, Susan M; Winokur, Olivia; Harrington, Laura

2017-09-01

Aedes aegypti (L.) males use female flight tone as a means of mate localization. By playing the sound of a flying female, males can be attracted to a trap to monitor mosquito populations and the progress of transgenic male releases. However, the female flight tone used to attract males needs to be optimized to maximize trap effectiveness. The fundamental frequency of female flight tone could be influenced by both body size and ambient temperature. However, no analysis yet has considered both the effect of body size and temperature on female flight tone of Ae. aegypti. Here, we present results for both these factors by recording the sounds of free-flying and tethered females across multiple temperature environments and with females reared for small, medium, and large body sizes. We demonstrate that female fundamental frequency is highly dependent on the environmental temperature, increasing ∼8-13 Hz with each °C gain. Body size and whether a female was tethered or free-flying did not impact the relationship between frequency and temperature, although further analysis is warranted. Our study highlights the importance of understanding the relationship between flight tone and temperature, and will inform the design of male mosquito traps. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America.

Costly Nutritious Diets do not Necessarily Translate into Better Performance of Artificially Reared Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Pascacio-Villafán, C.; Williams, T.; Sivinski, J.; Birke, A.; Aluja, M.

2015-01-01

Protein, lipid, carbohydrate, and energy contents of three artificial diets (Xal2, Met1, and Met2) used for laboratory-rearing and mass-rearing the Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew), for a sterile insect technique program were measured. The larval survival, pupation, pupal weight, adult emergence, sex ratio, and flight capacity of the flies reared on each of these diets were also quantified. The diet with the highest nutrient and energy content was Xal2 followed by Met2 and Met1, but larval recovery and percent pupation was significantly higher in flies reared on either the Met1 or Met2 diets. A. ludens reared on Xal2 exhibited the highest proportion of adults capable of flight. No other response variable differed significantly among the three diets tested. This suggests that a high content of nutrients and multiple sources of protein (dried yeast and wheat germ in the case of the Xal2 diet) do not necessarily improve overall performance or fly quality. We conclude that nutritious diets for A. ludens can be modified to reduce their cost without compromising the performance of artificially reared flies. PMID:26470103

Fear of Flying in Airplanes: Effects of Minimal Therapist Guided Stress Inoculation Training.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beckham, Jean C.; And Others

Flight phobia is an area which has received little controlled investigation, even though between 10 and 20 percent of flight passengers report a fear of flying in airplanes. A study was conducted to examine the efectiveness of a minimal therapist guided form of stress inoculation training (SIT) for flight phobia. Flight phobic volunteers (N=28)…

Flying Cars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crow, Steven

1996-01-01

Flying cars have nearly mythical appeal to nonpilots, a group that includes almost the whole human race. The appeal resides in the perceived utility of flying cars, vehicles that offer portal-to-portal transportation, yet break the bonds of road and traffic and travel freely through the sky at the drivers will. Part of the appeal is an assumption that flying cars can be as easy to fly as to drive. Flying cars have been part of the dream of aviation since the dawn of powered flight. Glenn Curtiss built, displayed, and maybe even flew a flying car in 1917, the Curtiss Autoplane. Many roadable airplanes were built in the 1930's, like the Waterman Arrowbile and the Fulton Airphibian. Two flying cars came close to production in the early 1950's. Ted Hall built a series of flying cars culminating in the Convaircar, sponsored by Consolidated Vultee, General Motors, and Hertz. Molt Taylor built and certified his Aerocar, and Ford came close to producing them. Three Aerocars are still flyable, two in museums in Seattle and Oshkosh, and the third owned and flown by Ed Sweeny. Flying cars do have problems, which so far have prevented commercial success. An obvious problem is complexity of the vehicle, the infrastructure, or both. Another is the difficulty of matching low power for normal driving with high power in flight. An automobile uses only about 20 hp at traffic speeds, while a personal airplane needs about 160 hp at speeds typical of flight. Many automobile engines can deliver 160 hp, but not for very long. A more subtle issue involves the drag of automobiles and airplanes. A good personal airplane can fly 30 miles per gallon of fuel at 200 mph. A good sports car would need 660 hp at the same speed and would travel only 3 miles per gallon. The difference is drag area, about 4.5 sq ft for the automobile and 1.4 sq ft for the airplane. A flying car better have the drag area of the airplane, not the car!

Impact of flying qualities on mission effectiveness for helicopter air combat

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harris, T. M.; Beerman, D. A.; Bivens, C. C.

1984-01-01

Battlefield nap-of-the-earth (NOE) helicopter operations are vital for a use of the helicopter in a high-threat environment. As the pilot's workload in this flight regime is very high, the helicopter's handling qualities become an important factor. The present investigation is concerned with overall mission effectiveness, flying qualities, and their interaction with other parameters. A description is presented of a study which generated a significant amount of date relating the importance of flying qualities to the ability to perform several specific mission tasks. It was found that flying qualities do have a major impact on the ability to perform a specific mission. The impact of flying qualities on Scout helicopter mission effectiveness is mainly related to the probability of being detected. The flying qualities effect most critical to the Scout mission was found to be precision of hover control.

Centurion in Flight over Lakebed with STS Mate-DeMate Device in Background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

The Centurion remotely piloted flying wing in flight during an initial series of low-altitude, battery-powered test flights in late 1998 at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The special Mate-DeMate structure used by NASA to attach Space Shuttle orbiters to the back of modified Boeing 747s for transport to other locations can be seen in the background of this photo. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Centurion on Lakebed during Functional Checkout

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

A close-up view of the 14 wide-bladed propellers and electric motors on the Centurion solar-powered, remotely piloted flying wing. This photo was taken during a functional checkout of the aircraft prior to its first test flights at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, in late 1998. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Centurion Quarter-scale Prototype Pre-flight Taxi Test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

As crewmen jog and cycle alongside, a battery-powered, quarter-scale prototype of the remotely-piloted Centurion flying wing rolls across the El Mirage Dry Lake during pre-flight taxi tests. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Flying high: a theoretical analysis of the factors limiting exercise performance in birds at altitude.

PubMed

Scott, Graham R; Milsom, William K

2006-11-01

The ability of some bird species to fly at extreme altitude has fascinated comparative respiratory physiologists for decades, yet there is still no consensus about what adaptations enable high altitude flight. Using a theoretical model of O(2) transport, we performed a sensitivity analysis of the factors that might limit exercise performance in birds. We found that the influence of individual physiological traits on oxygen consumption (Vo2) during exercise differed between sea level, moderate altitude, and extreme altitude. At extreme altitude, haemoglobin (Hb) O(2) affinity, total ventilation, and tissue diffusion capacity for O(2) (D(To2)) had the greatest influences on Vo2; increasing these variables should therefore have the greatest adaptive benefit for high altitude flight. There was a beneficial interaction between D(To2) and the P(50) of Hb, such that increasing D(To2) had a greater influence on Vo2 when P(50) was low. Increases in the temperature effect on P(50) could also be beneficial for high flying birds, provided that cold inspired air at extreme altitude causes a substantial difference in temperature between blood in the lungs and in the tissues. Changes in lung diffusion capacity for O(2), cardiac output, blood Hb concentration, the Bohr coefficient, or the Hill coefficient likely have less adaptive significance at high altitude. Our sensitivity analysis provides theoretical suggestions of the adaptations most likely to promote high altitude flight in birds and provides direction for future in vivo studies.

How Far Can the Red Palm Weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Fly?: Computerized Flight Mill Studies With Field-Captured Weevils.

PubMed

Hoddle, M S; Hoddle, C D; Faleiro, J R; El-Shafie, H A F; Jeske, D R; Sallam, A A

2015-12-01

Adult Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) captured in pheromone-baited traps in commercial date palm orchards in the Al Ahsaa Directorate, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, were used in computerized flight mill studies to determine the flight characteristics of this highly invasive and destructive palm pest. Flight mill studies were run at three different time periods, winter (December), spring (March), and summer (May). Of the 192 weevils tethered to flight mills ∼30% failed to fly > 1 km. Of those weevils flying > 1 km (n = 139), 55% flew > 10 km, and of these flyers 5% flew > 50 km in 24 h. Flying weevils exhibited an average weight loss of 20-30% and nonflying control weevils lost ∼9-13% body weight in 24 h. Male and female weevils flying in summer (average laboratory temperature was ∼27°C) flew the longest average distances (∼25-35 km), exhibited highest weight reductions (∼30%), and greatest mortality rates (∼80%). Consequently, time of year not weevil sex or color morph had a consistent and significant effect on flight activity, weight loss, and survivorship rates. Flight activity was predominantly diurnal commencing around 5:00 a.m. and peaking between 9-11:00 a.m. before tapering off. The distribution of flight distances combined across season and sex was mesokurtic (i.e., normally distributed). © The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A role for acoustic distortion in novel rapid frequency modulation behaviour in free-flying male mosquitoes.

PubMed

Simões, Patrício M V; Ingham, Robert A; Gibson, Gabriella; Russell, Ian J

2016-07-01

We describe a new stereotypical acoustic behaviour by male mosquitoes in response to the fundamental frequency of female flight tones during mating sequences. This male-specific free-flight behaviour consists of phonotactic flight beginning with a steep increase in wing-beat frequency (WBF) followed by rapid frequency modulation (RFM) of WBF in the lead up to copula formation. Male RFM behaviour involves remarkably fast changes in WBF and can be elicited without acoustic feedback or physical presence of the female. RFM features are highly consistent, even in response to artificial tones that do not carry the multi-harmonic components of natural female flight tones. Comparison between audiograms of the robust RFM behaviour and the electrical responses of the auditory Johnston's organ (JO) reveals that the male JO is tuned not to the female WBF per se but, remarkably, to the difference between the male and female WBFs. This difference is generated in the JO responses as a result of intermodulation distortion products (DPs) caused by non-linear interaction between male-female flight tones in the vibrations of the antenna. We propose that male mosquitoes rely on their own flight tones in making use of DPs to acoustically detect, locate and orientate towards flying females. We argue that the previously documented flight-tone harmonic convergence of flying male and female mosquitoes could be a consequence of WBF adjustments so that DPs generated through flight-tone interaction fall within the optimal frequency ranges for JO detection. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

14 CFR 91.161 - Special awareness training required for pilots flying under visual flight rules within a 60...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... pilots flying under visual flight rules within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME... flight rules within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME. (a) Operations within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME under visual flight rules (VFR). Except as provided...

14 CFR 91.161 - Special awareness training required for pilots flying under visual flight rules within a 60...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... pilots flying under visual flight rules within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME... flight rules within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME. (a) Operations within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME under visual flight rules (VFR). Except as provided...

14 CFR 91.161 - Special awareness training required for pilots flying under visual flight rules within a 60...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... pilots flying under visual flight rules within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME... flight rules within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME. (a) Operations within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME under visual flight rules (VFR). Except as provided...

14 CFR 91.161 - Special awareness training required for pilots flying under visual flight rules within a 60...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... pilots flying under visual flight rules within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME... flight rules within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME. (a) Operations within a 60-nautical mile radius of the Washington, DC VOR/DME under visual flight rules (VFR). Except as provided...

Investigation of controlled flight into terrain : aircraft accidents involving turbine-powered aircraft with six or more passenger seats flying under FAR part 91 flight rules and the potential for their prevention by ground proximity warning systems

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-03-01

This two-volume study documents an investigation of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) aircraft accidents involving turbine-powered aircraft with six or more passenger seats flying under Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 91 flight rules, and...

Animal behavior: fly flight moves forward.

PubMed

Fox, Jessica L; Frye, Mark

2013-04-08

A new study has resolved the paradox of how flies maintain reflexive aversion to your approaching swatter, whilst tolerating similar visual signals during normal forward flight. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Archive data base and handling system for the Orbiter flying qualities experiment program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Myers, T. T.; Dimarco, R.; Magdaleno, R. E.; Aponso, B. L.

1986-01-01

The OFQ archives data base and handling system assembled as part of the Orbiter Flying Qualities (OFQ) research of the Orbiter Experiments Program (EOX) are described. The purpose of the OFQ archives is to preserve and document shuttle flight data relevant to vehicle dynamics, flight control, and flying qualities in a form that permits maximum use for qualified users. In their complete form, the OFQ archives contain descriptive text (general information about the flight, signal descriptions and units) as well as numerical time history data. Since the shuttle program is so complex, the official data base contains thousands of signals and very complex entries are required to obtain data. The OFQ archives are intended to provide flight phase oriented data subsets with relevant signals which are easily identified for flying qualities research.

Flight is the key to postprandial blood glucose balance in the fruit bats Eonycteris spelaea and Cynopterus sphinx.

PubMed

Peng, Xingwen; He, Xiangyang; Liu, Qi; Sun, Yunxiao; Liu, Hui; Zhang, Qin; Liang, Jie; Peng, Zhen; Liu, Zhixiao; Zhang, Libiao

2017-11-01

Excessive sugar consumption could lead to high blood glucose levels that are harmful to mammalian health and life. Despite consuming large amounts of sugar-rich food, fruit bats have a longer lifespan, raising the question of how these bats overcome potential hyperglycemia. We investigated the change of blood glucose level in nectar-feeding bats ( Eonycteris spelaea ) and fruit-eating bats ( Cynopterus sphinx ) via adjusting their sugar intake and time of flight. We found that the maximum blood glucose level of C. sphinx was higher than 24 mmol/L that is considered to be pathological in other mammals. After C. sphinx bats spent approximately 75% of their time to fly, their blood glucose levels dropped markedly, and the blood glucose of E. spelaea fell to the fast levels after they spent 70% time of fly. Thus, the level of blood glucose elevated with the quantity of sugar intake but declined with the time of flight. Our results indicate that high-intensive flight is a key regulator for blood glucose homeostasis during foraging. High-intensive flight may confer benefits to the fruit bats in foraging success and behavioral interactions and increases the efficiency of pollen and seed disposal mediated by bats.

Civil air transport: A fresh look at power-by-wire and fly-by-light

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sundberg, Gale R.

1990-01-01

Power-by-wire (PBW) is a key element under subsonic transport flight systems technology with potential savings of over 10 percent in gross take-off-weight and in fuel consumption compared to today's transport aircraft. The PBW technology substitutes electrical actuation in place of centralized hydraulics, uses internal starter-motor/generators and eliminates the need for variable engine bleed air to supply cabin comfort. The application of advanced fiber optics to the electrical power system controls, to built-in-test (BITE) equipment, and to fly-by-light (FBL) flight controls provides additional benefits in lightning and high energy radio frequency (HERF) immunity over existing mechanical or even fly-by-wire controls. The program plan is reviewed and a snapshot is given of the key technologies and their benefits to all future aircraft, both civil and military.

Civil air transport: A fresh look at power-by-wire and fly-by-light

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sundberg, Gale R.

1991-01-01

Power-by-wire (PBW) is a key element under subsonic transport flight systems technology with potential savings of over 10 percent in operating empty weight and in fuel consumption compared to today's transport aircraft. The PBW technology substitutes electrical actuation in place of centralized hydraulics, uses internal starter-motor/generators and eliminates the need for variable engine bleed air to supply cabin comfort. The application of advanced fiber optics to the electrical power system controls, to built-in-test (BIT) equipment, and to fly-by-light (FBL) flight controls provides additional benefits in lightning and high energy radio frequency (HERF) immunity over existing mechanical or even fly-by-wire controls. The program plan is reviewed and a snapshot is given of the key technologies and their benefits to all future aircraft, both civil and military.

Orientation in high-flying migrant insects in relation to flows: mechanisms and strategies

PubMed Central

Reynolds, Andy M.; Reynolds, Don R.; Sane, Sanjay P.; Hu, Gao; Chapman, Jason W.

2016-01-01

High-flying insect migrants have been shown to display sophisticated flight orientations that can, for example, maximize distance travelled by exploiting tailwinds, and reduce drift from seasonally optimal directions. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of the theoretical and empirical evidence for the mechanisms underlying the selection and maintenance of the observed flight headings, and the detection of wind direction and speed, for insects flying hundreds of metres above the ground. Different mechanisms may be used—visual perception of the apparent ground movement or mechanosensory cues maintained by intrinsic features of the wind—depending on circumstances (e.g. day or night migrations). In addition to putative turbulence-induced velocity, acceleration and temperature cues, we present a new mathematical analysis which shows that ‘jerks’ (the time-derivative of accelerations) can provide indicators of wind direction at altitude. The adaptive benefits of the different orientation strategies are briefly discussed, and we place these new findings for insects within a wider context by comparisons with the latest research on other flying and swimming organisms. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Moving in a moving medium: new perspectives on flight’. PMID:27528782

Flying Boresight for Advanced Testing and Calibration of Tracking Antennas and Flight Path Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hafner, D.

2015-09-01

The application of ground-based boresight sources for calibration and testing of tracking antennas usually entails various difficulties, mostly due to unwanted ground effects. To avoid this problem, DLR MORABA developed a small, lightweight, frequency-adjustable S-band boresight source, mounted on a small remote-controlled multirotor aircraft. Highly accurate GPS-supported, position and altitude control functions allow both, very steady positioning of the aircraft in mid-air, and precise waypoint-based, semi-autonomous flights. In contrast to fixed near-ground boresight sources this flying setup enables to avoid obstructions in the Fresnel zone between source and antenna. Further, it minimizes ground reflections and other multipath effects which can affect antenna calibration. In addition, the large operating range of a flying boresight simplifies measurements in the far field of the antenna and permits undisturbed antenna pattern tests. A unique application is the realistic simulation of sophisticated flight paths, including overhead tracking and demanding trajectories of fast objects such as sounding rockets. Likewise, dynamic tracking tests are feasible which provide crucial information about the antenna pedestal performance — particularly at high elevations — and reveal weaknesses in the autotrack control loop of tracking antenna systems. During acceptance tests of MORABA's new tracking antennas, a manned aircraft was never used, since the Flying Boresight surpassed all expectations regarding usability, efficiency, and precision. Hence, it became an integral part of MORABA's standard antenna setup and calibration procedures.

Turning behaviour depends on frictional damping in the fruit fly Drosophila.

PubMed

Hesselberg, Thomas; Lehmann, Fritz-Olaf

2007-12-01

Turning behaviour in the fruit fly Drosophila depends on several factors including not only feedback from sensory organs and muscular control of wing motion, but also the mass moments of inertia and the frictional damping coefficient of the rotating body. In the present study we evaluate the significance of body friction for yaw turning and thus the limits of visually mediated flight control in Drosophila, by scoring tethered flies flying in a flight simulator on their ability to visually compensate a bias on a moving object and a visual background panorama at different simulated frictional dampings. We estimated the fly's natural damping coefficient from a numerical aerodynamic model based on both friction on the body and the flapping wings during saccadic turning. The model predicts a coefficient of 54 x 10(-12) Nm s, which is more than 100-times larger than the value estimated from a previous study on the body alone. Our estimate suggests that friction plays a larger role for yaw turning in Drosophila than moments of inertia. The simulator experiments showed that visual performance of the fruit fly collapses near the physical conditions estimated for freely flying animals, which is consistent with the suggested role of the halteres for flight stabilization. However, kinematic analyses indicate that the measured loss of flight control might be due predominantly to the limited fine control in the fly's steering muscles below a threshold of 1-2 degrees stroke amplitude, rather than resulting from the limits of visual motion detection by the fly's compound eyes. We discuss the impact of these results and suggest that the elevated frictional coefficient permits freely flying fruit flies to passively terminate rotational body movements without producing counter-torque during the second half of the saccadic turning manoeuvre.

+Gz Exposure and Spinal Injury-Induced Flight Duty Limitations.

PubMed

Honkanen, Tuomas; Sovelius, Roope; Mäntysaari, Matti; Kyröläinen, Heikki; Avela, Janne; Leino, Tuomo K

2018-06-01

The present study aimed to find out if possible differences in early military flight career +Gz exposure level could predict permanent flight duty limitations (FDL) due to spinal disorders during a pilot's career. The study population consisted of 23 pilots flying with Gz limitation (max limitation ranging from +2 Gz to +5 Gz) due to spinal disorders and 50 experienced (+1000 flight hours) symptomless controls flying actively in operative missions in the Finnish Air Force. Data obtained for all subjects included the level of cumulative Gz exposure measured sortie by sortie with fatigue index (FI) recordings and flight hours during the first 5 yr of the pilot's career. The mean (± SD) accumulation of FI in the first 5 yr of flying high-performance aircraft was 8.0 ± 1.8 among the pilots in the FDL group and 7.7 ± 1.7 in the non-FDL group. There was no association between flight duty limitations and early career cumulative +Gz exposure level measured with FI or flight hours. According to the present findings, it seems that the amount of cumulative +Gz exposure during the first 5 yr of a military pilot's career is not an individual risk factor for spinal disorders leading to flight duty limitation. Future studies conducted with FI recordings should be addressed to reveal the relationship between the actual level of +Gz exposure and spinal disorders, with a longer follow-up period and larger sample sizes.Honkanen T, Sovelius R, Mäntysaari M, Kyröläinen H, Avela J, Leino TK. +Gz exposure and spinal injury-induced flight duty limitations. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2018; 89(6):552-556.

Flight initiation and maintenance deficits in flies with genetically altered biogenic amine levels.

PubMed

Brembs, Björn; Christiansen, Frauke; Pflüger, Hans Joachim; Duch, Carsten

2007-10-10

Insect flight is one of the fastest, most intense and most energy-demanding motor behaviors. It is modulated on multiple levels by the biogenic amine octopamine. Within the CNS, octopamine acts directly on the flight central pattern generator, and it affects motivational states. In the periphery, octopamine sensitizes sensory receptors, alters muscle contraction kinetics, and enhances flight muscle glycolysis. This study addresses the roles for octopamine and its precursor tyramine in flight behavior by genetic and pharmacological manipulation in Drosophila. Octopamine is not the natural signal for flight initiation because flies lacking octopamine [tyramine-beta-hydroxylase (TbetaH) null mutants] can fly. However, they show profound differences with respect to flight initiation and flight maintenance compared with wild-type controls. The morphology, kinematics, and development of the flight machinery are not impaired in TbetaH mutants because wing-beat frequencies and amplitudes, flight muscle structure, and overall dendritic structure of flight motoneurons are unaffected in TbetaH mutants. Accordingly, the flight behavior phenotypes can be rescued acutely in adult flies. Flight deficits are rescued by substituting octopamine but also by blocking the receptors for tyramine, which is enriched in TbetaH mutants. Conversely, ablating all neurons containing octopamine or tyramine phenocopies TbetaH mutants. Therefore, both octopamine and tyramine systems are simultaneously involved in regulating flight initiation and maintenance. Different sets of rescue experiments indicate different sites of action for both amines. These findings are consistent with a complex system of multiple amines orchestrating the control of motor behaviors on multiple levels rather than single amines eliciting single behaviors.

Wing attachment position of fruit fly minimizes flight cost

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noest, Robert; Wang, Jane

Flight is energetically costly which means insects need to find ways to reduce their energy expenditure during sustained flight. Previous work has shown that insect muscles can recover some of the energy used for producing flapping motion. Moreover the form of flapping motions are efficient for generating the required force to balance the weight. In this talk, we show that one of the morphological parameters, the wing attachment point on a fly, is suitably located to further reduce the cost for flight, while allowing the fly to be close to stable. We investigate why this is the case and attempt to find a general rule for the optimal location of the wing hinge. Our analysis is based on computations of flapping free flight together with the Floquet stability analysis of periodic flight for descending, hovering and ascending cases.

ARC-2006-ACD06-0091-007

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-06-05

Sharmila Bhattacharya is the principal investigator for the STS-121 space shuttle flight experiment, Fly Immunity and Tumors (FIT). She is shown here viewing Drosophila (fruit fly) inside inscet containers used during flight. Living quarters for insects.

ARC-2006-ACD06-0091-009

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-06-05

Sharmila Bhattacharya is the principal investigator for the STS-121 space shuttle flight experiment, Fly Immunity and Tumors (FIT). She is shown here viewing Drosophila (fruit fly) inside inscet containers used during flight. Living quarters for insects.

High angle of attack control law development for a free-flight wind tunnel model using direct eigenstructure assignment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wendel, Thomas R.; Boland, Joseph R.; Hahne, David E.

1991-01-01

Flight-control laws are developed for a wind-tunnel aircraft model flying at a high angle of attack by using a synthesis technique called direct eigenstructure assignment. The method employs flight guidelines and control-power constraints to develop the control laws, and gain schedules and nonlinear feedback compensation provide a framework for considering the nonlinear nature of the attack angle. Linear and nonlinear evaluations show that the control laws are effective, a conclusion that is further confirmed by a scale model used for free-flight testing.

Geophysica MTP observations during the EUPLEX campaign

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mahoney, M. J.; Gary, Bruce

2003-01-01

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Microwave Temperature Profiler (MTP) was the first United States instrument to fly on the Russian Geophysica high-altitude research aircraft. Careful comparison of MTP measurements with radiosondes launched near the Geophysica flight track has allowed us to establish the flight level temperature to an accuracy of 0.2K.

The role of experience in flight behaviour of Drosophila.

PubMed

Hesselberg, Thomas; Lehmann, Fritz-Olaf

2009-10-01

Experience plays a key role in the acquisition of complex motor skills in running and flight of many vertebrates. To evaluate the significance of previous experience for the efficiency of motor behaviour in an insect, we investigated the flight behaviour of the fruit fly Drosophila. We reared flies in chambers in which the animals could freely walk and extend their wings, but could not gain any flight experience. These naive animals were compared with control flies under both open- and closed-loop tethered flight conditions in a flight simulator as well as in a free-flight arena. The data suggest that the overall flight behaviour in Drosophila seems to be predetermined because both groups exhibited similar mean stroke amplitude and stroke frequency, similar open-loop responses to visual stimulation and the immediate ability to track visual objects under closed-loop feedback conditions. In short free flight bouts, peak saccadic turning rate, angular acceleration, peak horizontal speed and flight altitude were also similar in naive and control flies. However, we found significant changes in other key parameters in naive animals such as a reduction in mean horizontal speed (-23%) and subtle changes in mean turning rate (-48%). Naive flies produced 25% less yaw torque-equivalent stroke amplitudes than the controls in response to a visual stripe rotating in open loop around the tethered animal, potentially suggesting a flight-dependent adaptation of the visuo-motor gain in the control group. This change ceased after the animals experienced visual closed-loop feedback. During closed-loop flight conditions, naive flies had 53% larger differences in left and right stroke amplitude when fixating a visual object, thus steering control was less precise. We discuss two alternative hypotheses to explain our results: the ;neuronal experience' hypothesis, suggesting that there are some elements of learning and fine-tuning involved during the first flight experiences in Drosophila and the ;muscular exercise' hypothesis. Our experiments support the first hypothesis because maximum locomotor capacity seems not to be significantly impaired in the naive group. Although this study primarily confirms the genetic pre-disposition for flight in Drosophila, previous experience may apparently adjust locomotor fine control and aerial performance, although this effect seems to be small compared with vertebrates.

Fly-by-Wire Systems Enable Safer, More Efficient Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2012-01-01

Using the ultra-reliable Apollo Guidance Computer that enabled the Apollo Moon missions, Dryden Flight Research Center engineers, in partnership with industry leaders such as Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Draper Laboratory, demonstrated that digital computers could be used to fly aircraft. Digital fly-by-wire systems have since been incorporated into large airliners, military jets, revolutionary new aircraft, and even cars and submarines.

NASA's Helios Prototype aircraft taking off from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii,

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2001-01-01

As a follow-on to the Centurion (and earlier Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus) aircraft, the solar-powered Helios Prototype is the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions in the stratosphere. Developed by AeroVironment, Inc., of Monrovia, California, under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project, the unique craft is intended to demonstrate two key missions: the ability to reach and sustain horizontal flight at 100,000 feet altitude on a single-day flight in 2001, and to maintain flight above 50,000 feet altitude for at least four days in 2003, with the aid of a regenerative fuel cell-based energy storage system now in development. Both of these missions will be powered by electricity derived from non-polluting solar energy. The Helios Prototype is an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing, which flew a series of test flights at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in late 1998. The craft has a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of its solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. The remotely piloted, electrically powered Helios Prototype went aloft on its maiden low-altitude checkout flight Sept. 8, 1999, over Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in the Southern California desert. The initial flight series was flown on battery power as a risk-reduction measure. In all, six flights were flown in the Helios Protoype's initial development series. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved aerodynamic efficiency, allowing the Helios Prototype to fly higher, longer and with a larger payload than the smaller craft. In addition, project engineers added a differential Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system to improve navigation, an extensive turbulence monitoring system payload to record structural loads on the aircraft both in the air and on the ground, and radiator plates to assist in cooling the avionics at high altitudes where there is little air to dissipate heat. During 2000, more than 65,000 solar cells in 1,800 groups were mounted on the upper surface of Helios' wing. Produced by SunPower, Inc., these bi-facial silicon cells are about 19 percent efficient in the flight regime in which the helios is designed to operate, converting about 19 percent of the solar energy they receive into electrical current. The entire array is capable of producing a maximum output of about 35 kw at high noon on a summer day. The mission to reach and sustain flight at 100,000 feet in 2001 requires use of all 14 motors and minimal ballast to save weight, with the aircraft weighing in at only a little more than 1,600 lbs. The four-day mission above 50,000 feet envisioned for the Helios Prototype in 2003will see only eight motors powering the craft and the addition of the regenerative energy storage system now in development. The system will increase the Helios Prototype's flight weight to a little over 2,000 lbs. Fewer motors are needed for the long-endurance mission due to the lesser altitude requirements, and the excess electrical energy generated by the solar arrays during the daytime will be diverted to the hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell energy storage system, which will release the electricity to power the Helios after dark. With other system reliability improvements, production versions of the Helios are expected to fly missions lasting months at a time, becoming true 'atmospheric satellites.'

The Helios Prototype aircraft during initial climb-out to the west over the Pacific Ocean.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2001-01-01

As a follow-on to the Centurion (and earlier Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus) aircraft, the solar-powered Helios Prototype is the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions in the stratosphere. Developed by AeroVironment, Inc., of Monrovia, California, under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project, the unique craft is intended to demonstrate two key missions: the ability to reach and sustain horizontal flight at 100,000 feet altitude on a single-day flight in 2001, and to maintain flight above 50,000 feet altitude for at least four days in 2003, with the aid of a regenerative fuel cell-based energy storage system now in development. Both of these missions will be powered by electricity derived from non-polluting solar energy. The Helios Prototype is an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing, which flew a series of test flights at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in late 1998. The craft has a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of its solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. The remotely piloted, electrically powered Helios Prototype went aloft on its maiden low-altitude checkout flight Sept. 8, 1999, over Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in the Southern California desert. The initial flight series was flown on battery power as a risk-reduction measure. In all, six flights were flown in the Helios Protoype's initial development series. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved aerodynamic efficiency, allowing the Helios Prototype to fly higher, longer and with a larger payload than the smaller craft. In addition, project engineers added a differential Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system to improve navigation, an extensive turbulence monitoring system payload to record structural loads on the aircraft both in the air and on the ground, and radiator plates to assist in cooling the avionics at high altitudes where there is little air to dissipate heat. During 2000, more than 65,000 solar cells in 1,800 groups were mounted on the upper surface of Helios' wing. Produced by SunPower, Inc., these bi-facial silicon cells are about 19 percent efficient in the flight regime in which the helios is designed to operate, converting about 19 percent of the solar energy they receive into electrical current. The entire array is capable of producing a maximum output of about 35 kw at high noon on a summer day. The mission to reach and sustain flight at 100,000 feet in 2001 requires use of all 14 motors and minimal ballast to save weight, with the aircraft weighing in at only a little more than 1,600 lbs. The four-day mission above 50,000 feet envisioned for the Helios Prototype in 2003will see only eight motors powering the craft and the addition of the regenerative energy storage system now in development. The system will increase the Helios Prototype's flight weight to a little over 2,000 lbs. Fewer motors are needed for the long-endurance mission due to the lesser altitude requirements, and the excess electrical energy generated by the solar arrays during the daytime will be diverted to the hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell energy storage system, which will release the electricity to power the Helios after dark. With other system reliability improvements, production versions of the Helios are expected to fly missions lasting months at a time, becoming true 'atmospheric satellites.'

The Helios Prototype aircraft in a northerly climb over Niihau Island, Hawaii, at about 8,000 feet a

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2001-01-01

As a follow-on to the Centurion (and earlier Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus) aircraft, the solar-powered Helios Prototype is the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions in the stratosphere. Developed by AeroVironment, Inc., of Monrovia, California, under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project, the unique craft is intended to demonstrate two key missions: the ability to reach and sustain horizontal flight at 100,000 feet altitude on a single-day flight in 2001, and to maintain flight above 50,000 feet altitude for at least four days in 2003, with the aid of a regenerative fuel cell-based energy storage system now in development. Both of these missions will be powered by electricity derived from non-polluting solar energy. The Helios Prototype is an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing, which flew a series of test flights at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in late 1998. The craft has a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of its solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. The remotely piloted, electrically powered Helios Prototype went aloft on its maiden low-altitude checkout flight Sept. 8, 1999, over Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in the Southern California desert. The initial flight series was flown on battery power as a risk-reduction measure. In all, six flights were flown in the Helios Protoype's initial development series. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved aerodynamic efficiency, allowing the Helios Prototype to fly higher, longer and with a larger payload than the smaller craft. In addition, project engineers added a differential Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system to improve navigation, an extensive turbulence monitoring system payload to record structural loads on the aircraft both in the air and on the ground, and radiator plates to assist in cooling the avionics at high altitudes where there is little air to dissipate heat. During 2000, more than 65,000 solar cells in 1,800 groups were mounted on the upper surface of Helios' wing. Produced by SunPower, Inc., these bi-facial silicon cells are about 19 percent efficient in the flight regime in which the helios is designed to operate, converting about 19 percent of the solar energy they receive into electrical current. The entire array is capable of producing a maximum output of about 35 kw at high noon on a summer day. The mission to reach and sustain flight at 100,000 feet in 2001 requires use of all 14 motors and minimal ballast to save weight, with the aircraft weighing in at only a little more than 1,600 lbs. The four-day mission above 50,000 feet envisioned for the Helios Prototype in 2003will see only eight motors powering the craft and the addition of the regenerative energy storage system now in development. The system will increase the Helios Prototype's flight weight to a little over 2,000 lbs. Fewer motors are needed for the long-endurance mission due to the lesser altitude requirements, and the excess electrical energy generated by the solar arrays during the daytime will be diverted to the hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell energy storage system, which will release the electricity to power the Helios after dark. With other system reliability improvements, production versions of the Helios are expected to fly missions lasting months at a time, becoming true 'atmospheric satellites.'

Enhancing Public Helicopter Safety as a Component of Homeland Security

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

Risk Assessment Tool GPS Global Positioning System IFR instrument flight rules ILS instrument landing system IMC instrument meteorological...flight rules ( IFR ) flying and the lack of a pre-flight risk assessment. Pilot fatigue is a factor that appeared in two of the accident reports (New...three common factors that emerged from the qualitative analysis of coding: inadequate proficiency of IFR flying, lack of a pre- flight risk assessment

A new low-turbulence wind tunnel for animal and small vehicle flight experiments

PubMed Central

Watts, Anthony; Nagle, Tony; Lentink, David

2017-01-01

Our understanding of animal flight benefits greatly from specialized wind tunnels designed for flying animals. Existing facilities can simulate laminar flow during straight, ascending and descending flight, as well as at different altitudes. However, the atmosphere in which animals fly is even more complex. Flow can be laminar and quiet at high altitudes but highly turbulent near the ground, and gusts can rapidly change wind speed. To study flight in both laminar and turbulent environments, a multi-purpose wind tunnel for studying animal and small vehicle flight was built at Stanford University. The tunnel is closed-circuit and can produce airspeeds up to 50 m s−1 in a rectangular test section that is 1.0 m wide, 0.82 m tall and 1.73 m long. Seamless honeycomb and screens in the airline together with a carefully designed contraction reduce centreline turbulence intensities to less than or equal to 0.030% at all operating speeds. A large diameter fan and specialized acoustic treatment allow the tunnel to operate at low noise levels of 76.4 dB at 20 m s−1. To simulate high turbulence, an active turbulence grid can increase turbulence intensities up to 45%. Finally, an open jet configuration enables stereo high-speed fluoroscopy for studying musculoskeletal control in turbulent flow. PMID:28405384

Centurion Quarter-scale Prototype Pre-flight Checkout

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Technicians perform pre-test checks of a battery-powered quarter-scale prototype of the remotely-piloted Centurion flying wing during taxi tests In March 1997 at California's El Mirage Dry Lake. Centurion was a unique remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor (ERAST) Program at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Dryden joined with AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, under an ERAST Joint Sponsored Research Agreement, to design, develop, manufacture, and conduct flight development tests for the Centurion. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Achieving this capability would meet the ERAST goal of developing an ultrahigh-altitude airplane that could meet the needs of the science community to perform upper-atmosphere environmental data missions. Much of the technology leading to the Centurion was developed during the Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus projects. However, in the course of its development, the Centurion became a prototype technology demonstration aircraft designed to validate the technology for the Helios, a planned future high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft that could fly for weeks or months at a time on science or telecommunications missions. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems. Centurion first flew at Dryden Nov. 10, 1998, and followed up with a second test flight Nov. 19. On its third and final flight on Dec. 3, the craft was aloft for 31 minutes and reached an altitude of about 400 feet. All three flights were conducted over a section of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to Dryden. For its third flight, the Centurion carried a simulated payload of more than 600 pounds--almost half the lightweight aircraft's empty weight. John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for solar-powered aircraft, said he was impressed to see how well the aircraft handled the large weight increase from an initial payload of 150 pounds to one of 600 pounds. During 1999, Centurion gave way to the Helios Prototype, the latest and largest example of a slow-flying ultralight flying wing designed for long-duration, high-altitude Earth science or telecommunications relay missions. This was an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing with a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of the solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than the wingspans of either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. In upgrading the Centurion to the Helios Prototype configuration, AeroVironment added a sixth wing section and a fifth landing gear pod, among other improvements. The additional wingspan increased the area available for installation of solar cells and improved its lifting capability. This allows the Helios Prototype to carry a regenerative fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will enable flight at night, while still meeting the performance goals originally established for the Centurion.

Bombs, flyin' high. In-flight dynamics of volcanic bombs from Strombolian to Vulcanian eruptions.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taddeucci, Jacopo; Alatorre, Miguel; Cruz Vázquez, Omar; Del Bello, Elisabetta; Ricci, Tullio; Scarlato, Piergiorgio; Palladino, Danilo

2016-04-01

Bomb-sized (larger than 64 mm) pyroclasts are a common product of explosive eruptions and a considerable source of hazard, both from directly impacting on people and properties and from wildfires associated with their landing in vegetated areas. The dispersal of bombs is mostly modeled as purely ballistic trajectories controlled by gravity and drag forces associated with still air, and only recently other effects, such as the influence of eruption dynamics, the gas expansion, and in-flight collisions, are starting to be quantified both numerically and observationally. By using high-speed imaging of explosive volcanic eruptions here we attempt to calculate the drag coefficient of free-flying volcanic bombs during an eruption and at the same time we document a wide range of in-flight processes affecting bomb trajectories and introducing deviations from purely ballistic emplacement. High-speed (500 frames per second) videos of explosions at Stromboli and Etna (Italy), Fuego (Gatemala), Sakurajima (Japan), Yasur (Vanuatu), and Batu Tara (Indonesia) volcanoes provide a large assortment of free-flying bombs spanning Strombolian to Vulcanian source eruptions, basaltic to andesitic composition, centimeters to meters in size, and 10 to 300 m/s in fly velocity. By tracking the bombs during their flying trajectories we were able to: 1) measure their size, shape, and vertical component of velocity and related changes over time; and 2) measure the different interactions with the atmosphere and with other bombs. Quantitatively, these data allow us to provide the first direct measurement of the aerodynamic behavior and drag coefficient of volcanic bombs while settling, also including the effect of bomb rotation and changes in bomb shape and frontal section. We also show how our observations have the potential to parameterize a number of previously hypothesized and /or described but yet unquantified processes, including in-flight rotation, deformation, fragmentation, agglutination, and bouncing of volcanic bombs.

Study of the flying ability of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae) adults using a computer-monitored flight mill.

PubMed

Ávalos, J A; Martí-Campoy, A; Soto, A

2014-08-01

The red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae), native to tropical Asian regions, has become a serious threat to palm trees all over the world. Knowledge of its flight potential is vital to improving the preventive and curative measures currently used to manage this pest. As R. ferrugineus is a quarantine pest, it is difficult to study its flight potential in the field. A computer-monitored flight mill was adapted to analyse the flying ability of R. ferrugineus through the study of different flight parameters (number of flights, total distance flown, longest single flight, flight duration, and average and maximum speed) and the influence of the weevil's sex, age, and body size on these flight parameters. Despite significant differences in the adult body size (body weight and length) of males and females, the sex of R. ferrugineus adults did not have an influence on their flight potential. Neither adult body size nor age was found to affect the weevil's flying abilities, although there was a significantly higher percentage of individuals flying that were 8-23 days old than 1-7 days old. Compared to the longest single flight, 54% of the insects were classified as short-distance flyers (covering <100 m) and 36 and 10% were classified as medium- (100-5000 m) and long-distance (>5000 m), respectively. The results are compared with similar studies on different insect species under laboratory and field conditions.

Interaction of feel system and flight control system dynamics on lateral flying qualities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailey, Randall E.; Powers, Bruce G.; Shafer, Mary F.

1988-01-01

An investigation of feel system and flight control system dynamics on lateral flying qualities was conducted using the variable stability USAF NT-33 aircraft. Experimental variations in feel system natural frequency, force-deflection gradient, control system command architecture type, flight control system filter frequency, and control system delay were made. The experiment data include pilot ratings using the Cooper-Harper (1969) rating scale, pilot comments, and tracking performance statistic. Three test pilots served as evaluators. The data indicate that as the feel system natural frequency is reduced lateral flying qualities degrade. At the slowest feel system frequency, the closed-loop response becomes nonlinear with a 'bobweight' effect apparent in the feel system. Feel system influences were essentially independent of the control system architecture. The flying qualities influence due to the feel system was different than when the identical dynamic systenm was used as a flight control system element.

To Fly or Not to Fly: Teaching Advanced Secondary School Students about Principles of Flight in Biological Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pietsch, Renée B.; Bohland, Cynthia L.; Schmale, David G., III.

2015-01-01

Biological flight mechanics is typically taught in graduate level college classes rather than in secondary school classes. We developed an interdisciplinary unit for advanced upper-level secondary school students (ages 15-18) to teach the principles of flight and applications to biological systems. This unit capitalised on the tremendous…

Kinematics of slow turn maneuvering in the fruit bat Cynopterus brachyotis.

PubMed

Iriarte-Díaz, José; Swartz, Sharon M

2008-11-01

Maneuvering abilities have long been considered key factors that influence habitat selection and foraging strategies in bats. To date, however, very little experimental work has been carried out to understand the mechanisms that bats use to perform maneuvers. In the present study, we examined the kinematics of slow-speed turning flight in the lesser short-nosed fruit bat, Cynopterus brachyotis, to understand the basic mechanics employed to perform maneuvers and to compare them with previous findings in bats and other flying organisms. Four individuals were trained to fly in L-shaped flight enclosure that required them to make a 90 deg. turn midway through each flight. Flights were recorded with three low-light, high-speed videocameras, allowing the three-dimensional reconstruction of the body and wing kinematics. For any flying organisms, turning requires changes of the direction of travel and the reorientation of the body around the center of mass to maintain the alignment with the flight direction. In C. brachyotis, changes in body orientation (i.e. heading) took place during upstroke and preceded the changes in flight direction, which were restricted to the downstroke portion of the wingbeat cycle. Mean change in flight direction was significantly correlated to the mean heading angular velocity at the beginning of the downstroke and to the mean bank angle during downstroke, although only heading velocity was significant when both variables were considered. Body reorientation prior to changes in direction might be a mechanism to maintain the head and body aligned with the direction of travel and, thus, maximizing spatial accuracy in three-dimensionally complex environments.

Haltere removal alters responses to gravity in standing flies.

PubMed

Daltorio, Kathryn; Fox, Jessica

2018-05-31

Animals detect the force of gravity with multiple sensory organs, from subcutaneous receptors at body joints to specialized sensors like the vertebrate inner ear. The halteres of flies, specialized mechanoreceptive organs derived from hindwings, are known to detect body rotations during flight, and some groups of flies also oscillate their halteres while walking. The dynamics of halteres are such that they could act as gravity detectors for flies standing on substrates, but their utility during non-flight behaviors is not known. We observed the behaviors of intact and haltere-ablated flies during walking and during perturbations in which the acceleration due to gravity suddenly changed. We found that intact halteres are necessary for flies to maintain normal walking speeds on vertical surfaces and to respond to sudden changes in gravity. Our results suggest that halteres can serve multiple sensory purposes during different behaviors, expanding their role beyond their canonical use in flight. © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Costly Nutritious Diets do not Necessarily Translate into Better Performance of Artificially Reared Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Pascacio-Villafán, C; Williams, T; Sivinski, J; Birke, A; Aluja, M

2015-02-01

Protein, lipid, carbohydrate, and energy contents of three artificial diets (Xal2, Met1, and Met2) used for laboratory-rearing and mass-rearing the Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew), for a sterile insect technique program were measured. The larval survival, pupation, pupal weight, adult emergence, sex ratio, and flight capacity of the flies reared on each of these diets were also quantified. The diet with the highest nutrient and energy content was Xal2 followed by Met2 and Met1, but larval recovery and percent pupation was significantly higher in flies reared on either the Met1 or Met2 diets. A. ludens reared on Xal2 exhibited the highest proportion of adults capable of flight. No other response variable differed significantly among the three diets tested. This suggests that a high content of nutrients and multiple sources of protein (dried yeast and wheat germ in the case of the Xal2 diet) do not necessarily improve overall performance or fly quality. We conclude that nutritious diets for A. ludens can be modified to reduce their cost without compromising the performance of artificially reared flies. © The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America.

Plant terpenoids: acute toxicities and effects on flight motor activity and wing beat frequency in the blow fly Phaenicia sericata.

PubMed

Waliwitiya, Ranil; Belton, Peter; Nicholson, Russell A; Lowenberger, Carl A

2012-02-01

We evaluated the acute toxicities and the physiological effects of plant monoterpenoids (eugenol, pulegone, citronellal and alpha-terpineol) and neuroactive insecticides (malathion, dieldrin and RH3421) on flight muscle impulses (FMI) and wing beat signals (WBS) of the blow fly (Phaenicia sericata). Topically-applied eugenol, pulegone, citronellal, and alpha-terpineol produced neurotoxic symptoms, but were less toxic than malathion, dieldrin, or RH3421. Topical application of eugenol, pulegone, and citronellal reduced spike amplitude in one of the two banks of blow fly dorsolongitudinal flight muscles within 6-8 min, but with citronellal, the amplitude of FMIs reverted to a normal pattern within 1 hr. In contrast to pulegone and citronellal, where impulse frequency remained relatively constant, eugenol caused a gradual increase, then a decline in the frequency of spikes in each muscle bank. Wing beating was blocked permanently within 6-7 min of administering pulegone or citronellal and within 16 mins with eugenol. alpha-Terpineol-treated blow flies could not beat their wings despite normal FMI patterns. The actions of these monoterpenoids on blow fly flight motor patterns are discussed and compared with those of dieldrin, malathion, RH3421, and a variety of other neuroactive substances we have previously investigated in this system. Eugenol, pulegone and citronellal readily penetrate blow fly cuticle and interfere with flight muscle and/or central nervous function. Although there were differences in the effects of these compounds, they mainly depressed flight-associated responses, and acted similarly to compounds that block sodium channels and facilitate GABA action.

Flying Drosophilamelanogaster maintain arbitrary but stable headings relative to the angle of polarized light.

PubMed

Warren, Timothy L; Weir, Peter T; Dickinson, Michael H

2018-05-11

Animals must use external cues to maintain a straight course over long distances. In this study, we investigated how the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster selects and maintains a flight heading relative to the axis of linearly polarized light, a visual cue produced by the atmospheric scattering of sunlight. To track flies' headings over extended periods, we used a flight simulator that coupled the angular velocity of dorsally presented polarized light to the stroke amplitude difference of the animals' wings. In the simulator, most flies actively maintained a stable heading relative to the axis of polarized light for the duration of 15 min flights. We found that individuals selected arbitrary, unpredictable headings relative to the polarization axis, which demonstrates that D . melanogaster can perform proportional navigation using a polarized light pattern. When flies flew in two consecutive bouts separated by a 5 min gap, the two flight headings were correlated, suggesting individuals retain a memory of their chosen heading. We found that adding a polarized light pattern to a light intensity gradient enhanced flies' orientation ability, suggesting D . melanogaster use a combination of cues to navigate. For both polarized light and intensity cues, flies' capacity to maintain a stable heading gradually increased over several minutes from the onset of flight. Our findings are consistent with a model in which each individual initially orients haphazardly but then settles on a heading which is maintained via a self-reinforcing process. This may be a general dispersal strategy for animals with no target destination. © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Space Shuttle flying qualities and flight control system assessment study, phase 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Myers, T. T.; Johnston, D. E.; Mcruer, D. T.

1983-01-01

A program of flying qualities experiments as part of the Orbiter Experiments Program (OEX) is defined. Phase 1, published as CR-170391, reviewed flying qualities criteria and shuttle data. The review of applicable experimental and shuttle data to further define the OEX plan is continued. An unconventional feature of this approach is the use of pilot strategy model identification to relate flight and simulator results. Instrumentation, software, and data analysis techniques for pilot model measurements are examined. The relationship between shuttle characteristics and superaugmented aircraft is established. STS flights 1 through 4 are reviewed from the point of view of flying qualities. A preliminary plan for a coordinated program of inflight and simulator research is presented.

Flight performance in night-flying sweat bees suffers at low light levels.

PubMed

Theobald, Jamie Carroll; Coates, Melissa M; Wcislo, William T; Warrant, Eric J

2007-11-01

The sweat bee Megalopta (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), unlike most bees, flies in extremely dim light. And although nocturnal insects are often equipped with superposition eyes, which greatly enhance light capture, Megalopta performs visually guided flight with apposition eyes. We examined how light limits Megalopta's flight behavior by measuring flight times and corresponding light levels and comparing them with flight trajectories upon return to the nest. We found the average time to land increased in dim light, an effect due not to slow approaches, but to circuitous approaches. Some landings, however, were quite fast even in the dark. To explain this, we examined the flight trajectories and found that in dim light, landings became increasingly error prone and erratic, consistent with repeated landing attempts. These data agree well with the premise that Megalopta uses visual summation, sacrificing acuity in order to see and fly at the very dimmest light intensities that its visual system allows.

How Cheap Is Soaring Flight in Raptors? A Preliminary Investigation in Freely-Flying Vultures

PubMed Central

Duriez, Olivier; Kato, Akiko; Tromp, Clara; Dell'Omo, Giacomo; Vyssotski, Alexei L.; Sarrazin, François; Ropert-Coudert, Yan

2014-01-01

Measuring the costs of soaring, gliding and flapping flight in raptors is challenging, but essential for understanding their ecology. Among raptors, vultures are scavengers that have evolved highly efficient soaring-gliding flight techniques to minimize energy costs to find unpredictable food resources. Using electrocardiogram, GPS and accelerometer bio-loggers, we report the heart rate (HR) of captive griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus and G. himalayensis) trained for freely-flying. HR increased three-fold at take-off (characterized by prolonged flapping flight) and landing (>300 beats-per-minute, (bpm)) compared to baseline levels (80–100 bpm). However, within 10 minutes after the initial flapping phase, HR in soaring/gliding flight dropped to values similar to baseline levels, i.e. slightly lower than theoretically expected. However, the extremely rapid decrease in HR was unexpected, when compared with other marine gliders, such as albatrosses. Weather conditions influenced flight performance and HR was noticeably higher during cloudy compared to sunny conditions when prolonged soaring flight is made easier by thermal ascending air currents. Soaring as a cheap locomotory mode is a crucial adaptation for vultures who spend so long on the wing for wide-ranging movements to find food. PMID:24454760

How cheap is soaring flight in raptors? A preliminary investigation in freely-flying vultures.

PubMed

Duriez, Olivier; Kato, Akiko; Tromp, Clara; Dell'Omo, Giacomo; Vyssotski, Alexei L; Sarrazin, François; Ropert-Coudert, Yan

2014-01-01

Measuring the costs of soaring, gliding and flapping flight in raptors is challenging, but essential for understanding their ecology. Among raptors, vultures are scavengers that have evolved highly efficient soaring-gliding flight techniques to minimize energy costs to find unpredictable food resources. Using electrocardiogram, GPS and accelerometer bio-loggers, we report the heart rate (HR) of captive griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus and G. himalayensis) trained for freely-flying. HR increased three-fold at take-off (characterized by prolonged flapping flight) and landing (>300 beats-per-minute, (bpm)) compared to baseline levels (80-100 bpm). However, within 10 minutes after the initial flapping phase, HR in soaring/gliding flight dropped to values similar to baseline levels, i.e. slightly lower than theoretically expected. However, the extremely rapid decrease in HR was unexpected, when compared with other marine gliders, such as albatrosses. Weather conditions influenced flight performance and HR was noticeably higher during cloudy compared to sunny conditions when prolonged soaring flight is made easier by thermal ascending air currents. Soaring as a cheap locomotory mode is a crucial adaptation for vultures who spend so long on the wing for wide-ranging movements to find food.

Body saccades of Drosophila consist of stereotyped banked turns.

PubMed

Muijres, Florian T; Elzinga, Michael J; Iwasaki, Nicole A; Dickinson, Michael H

2015-03-01

The flight pattern of many fly species consists of straight flight segments interspersed with rapid turns called body saccades, a strategy that is thought to minimize motion blur. We analyzed the body saccades of fruit flies (Drosophila hydei), using high-speed 3D videography to track body and wing kinematics and a dynamically scaled robot to study the production of aerodynamic forces and moments. Although the size, degree and speed of the saccades vary, the dynamics of the maneuver are remarkably stereotypic. In executing a body saccade, flies perform a quick roll and counter-roll, combined with a slower unidirectional rotation around their yaw axis. Flies regulate the size of the turn by adjusting the magnitude of torque that they produce about these control axes, while maintaining the orientation of the rotational axes in the body frame constant. In this way, body saccades are different from escape responses in the same species, in which the roll and pitch component of banking is varied to adjust turn angle. Our analysis of the wing kinematics and aerodynamics showed that flies control aerodynamic torques during the saccade primarily by adjusting the timing and amount of span-wise wing rotation. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Flight dynamic investigations of flying wing with winglet configured unmanned aerial vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ro, Kapseong

2006-05-01

A swept wing tailless vehicle platform is well known in the radio control (RC) and sailing aircraft community for excellent spiral stability during soaring or thermaling, while exhibiting no Dutch roll behavior at high speed. When an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is subjected to fly a mission in a rugged mountainous terrain where air current or thermal up-drift is frequently present, this is great aerodynamic benefit over the conventional cross-tailed aircraft which requires careful balance between lateral and directional stability. Such dynamic characteristics can be studied through vehicle dynamic modeling and simulation, but it requires configuration aerodynamic data through wind tunnel experiments. Obtaining such data is very costly and time consuming, and it is not feasible especially for low cost and dispensable UAVs. On the other hand, the vehicle autonomy is quite demanding which requires substantial understanding of aircraft dynamic characteristics. In this study, flight dynamics of an UAV platform based on flying wing with a large winglet was investigated through analytical modeling and numerical simulation. Flight dynamic modeling software and experimental formulae were used to obtain essential configuration aerodynamic characteristics, and linear flight dynamic analysis was carried out to understand the effect of wing sweep angle and winglet size on the vehicle dynamic characteristics.

Oxygen partial pressure effects on metabolic rate and behavior of tethered flying locusts.

PubMed

Rascón, Brenda; Harrison, Jon F

2005-11-01

Resting insects are extremely tolerant of hypoxia. However, oxygen requirements increase dramatically during flight. Does the critical atmospheric P (O)(2) (P(c)) increase strongly during flight, or does increased tracheal conductance allow even flying insects to possess large safety margins for oxygen delivery? We tested the effect of P(O)(2) on resting and flying CO(2) emission, as well as on flight behavior and vertical force production in flying locusts, Schistocerca americana. The P(c) for CO(2) emission of resting animals was less than 1 kPa, similar to prior studies. The P(c) for flight bout duration was between 10 and 21 kPa, the P(c) for vertical force production was between 3 and 5 kPa, and the P(c) for CO(2) emission was between 10 and 21 kPa. Our study suggests that the P(c) for steady-state oxygen consumption is between 10 and 21 kPa (much higher than for resting animals), and that tracheal oxygen stores allowed brief flights in 5 and 10 kPa P(O)(2) atmospheres to occur. Thus, P(c) values strongly increased during flight, consistent with the hypothesis that the excess oxygen delivery capacity observed in resting insects is substantially reduced during flight.

Initial Results of Instrument-Flying Trials Conducted In A Single-Rotor Helicopter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crim, Almer D; Reeder, John P; Whitten, James B

1953-01-01

Instrument-flying trials have been conducted in a single-rotor helicopter, the maneuver stability of which could be changed from satisfactory to unsatisfactory. The results indicated that existing longitudinal flying-qualities requirements based on contact flight were adequate for instrument flight at speeds above that for minimum power. However, lateral-directional problems were encountered at low speeds and during precision maneuvers. The adequacy, for helicopter use, of standard airplane instruments was also investigated, and the conclusion was reached that special instruments would be desirable under all conditions, and necessary for sustained low-speed instrument flight.

Studies of the Lateral-Directional Flying Qualities of a Tandem Helicopter in Forward Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Amer, Kenneth B; Tapscott, Robert J

1954-01-01

An investigation of the lateral-directional flying qualities of a tandem-rotor helicopter in forward flight was undertaken to determine desirable goals for helicopter lateral-directional flying qualities and possible methods of achieving these goals in the tandem-rotor helicopter. Comparison between directional stability as measured in flight and rotor-off model tests in a wind tunnel shows qualitative agreement and, hence, indicates such wind-tunnel test, despite the absence of the rotors, to be one effective method of studying means of improving the directional stability of the tandem helicopter. Flight-test measurements of turns and oscillations, in conjunction with analytical studies, suggest possible practical methods of achieving the goals of satisfactory turn and oscillatory characteristics in the tandem helicopter.

Controlled banked turns in coleopteran flight measured by a miniature wireless inertial measurement unit.

PubMed

Li, Yao; Cao, Feng; Thang Vo Doan, Tat; Sato, Hirotaka

2016-09-28

The mechanisms and principles of insect flight have long been investigated by researchers working on micro and nano air vehicles (MAVs/NAVs). However, studies of insect flight maneuvers require high speed filming and high spatial resolution in a small experimental space, or the tethering of the insect to a fixed place. Under such artificial conditions, the insects may deviate its flying behavior from that of regular flight. In this study, we mounted a tiny wireless system, or 'backpack', on live beetles (Mecynorrhina torquata; length 62 ± 8 mm; mass 7.4 ± 1.3 g) freely flying in a large laboratory space. The backpack contains a micro inertial measurement unit (IMU) that was especially designed and manufactured for this purpose. Owing to the small mass (∼1.30 g) and dimensions (∼2.3 cm 2 ) of the backpack and the high accuracy of the IMU, we could remotely record the beetle in free flight. The free flight data revealed a strong linear correlation between the roll angle and yaw angular velocity. The strength of the correlation was quantified by the correlation coefficients and mean values. The change in roll angle preceded the change in yaw angular velocity. Moreover, there were frequent fluctuations in the roll angular velocity, which were uncorrelated with the yaw angular velocity. Apart from the strong correlation, these findings imply that Mecynorrhina torquata actively manipulates its roll rotation without coupling to the yaw rotation.

Research pilot and former astronaut C. Gordon Fullerton in an F/A-18

NASA Image and Video Library

2002-05-14

Former NASA astronaut C. Gordon Fullerton, seated in the cockpit of an F/A-18, is a research pilot at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. Since transferring to Dryden in 1986, his assignments have included a variety of flight research and support activities piloting NASA's B-52 launch aircraft, the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), and other multi-engine and high performance aircraft. He flew a series of development air launches of the X-38 prototype Crew Return Vehicle and in the launches for the X-43A Hyper-X project. Fullerton also flies Dryden's DC-8 Airborne Science aircraft in support a variety of atmospheric physics, ground mapping and meteorology studies. Fullerton also was project pilot on the Propulsion Controlled Aircraft program, during which he successfully landed both a modified F-15 and an MD-11 transport with all control surfaces neutralized, using only engine thrust modulation for control. Fullerton also evaluated the flying qualities of the Russian Tu-144 supersonic transport during two flights in 1998, one of only two non-Russian pilots to fly that aircraft. With more than 15,000 hours of flying time, Fullerton has piloted 135 different types of aircraft in his career. As an astronaut, Fullerton served on the support crews for the Apollo 14, 15, 16, and 17 lunar missions. In 1977, Fullerton was on one of the two flight crews that piloted the Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise during the Approach and Landing Test Program at Dryden. Fullerton was the pilot on the STS-3 Space Shuttle orbital flight test mission in 1982, and commanded the STS-51F Spacelab 2 mission in 1985. He has logged 382 hours in space flight. In July 1988, he completed a 30-year career with the U.S. Air Force and retired as a colonel.

The hazard of spatial disorientation during helicopter flight using night vision devices.

PubMed

Braithwaite, M G; Douglass, P K; Durnford, S J; Lucas, G

1998-11-01

Night Vision Devices (NVDs) provide an enormous advantage to the operational effectiveness of military helicopter flying by permitting flight throughout the night. However, compared with daytime flight, many of the depth perception and orientational cues are severely degraded. These degraded cues predispose aviators to spatial disorientation (SD), which is a serious drawback of these devices. As part of an overall analysis of Army helicopter accidents to assess the impact of SD on military flying, we scrutinized the class A-C mishap reports involving night-aided flight from 1987 to 1995. The accidents were classified according to the role of SD by three independent assessors, with the SD group further analyzed to determine associated factors and possible countermeasures. Almost 43% of all SD-related accidents in this series occurred during flight using NVDs, whereas only 13% of non-SD accidents involved NVDs. An examination of the SD accident rates per 100,000 flying hours revealed a significant difference between the rate for day flying and the rate for flight using NVDs (mean rate for daytime flight = 1.66, mean rate for NVD flight = 9.00, p < 0.001). The most important factors associated with these accidents were related to equipment limitations, distraction from the task, and training or procedural inadequacies. SD remains an important source of attrition of Army aircraft. The more than fivefold increase in risk associated with NVD flight is of serious concern. The associated factors and suggested countermeasures should be urgently addressed.

Aerodynamics, sensing and control of insect-scale flapping-wing flight.

PubMed

Shyy, Wei; Kang, Chang-Kwon; Chirarattananon, Pakpong; Ravi, Sridhar; Liu, Hao

2016-02-01

There are nearly a million known species of flying insects and 13 000 species of flying warm-blooded vertebrates, including mammals, birds and bats. While in flight, their wings not only move forward relative to the air, they also flap up and down, plunge and sweep, so that both lift and thrust can be generated and balanced, accommodate uncertain surrounding environment, with superior flight stability and dynamics with highly varied speeds and missions. As the size of a flyer is reduced, the wing-to-body mass ratio tends to decrease as well. Furthermore, these flyers use integrated system consisting of wings to generate aerodynamic forces, muscles to move the wings, and sensing and control systems to guide and manoeuvre. In this article, recent advances in insect-scale flapping-wing aerodynamics, flexible wing structures, unsteady flight environment, sensing, stability and control are reviewed with perspective offered. In particular, the special features of the low Reynolds number flyers associated with small sizes, thin and light structures, slow flight with comparable wind gust speeds, bioinspired fabrication of wing structures, neuron-based sensing and adaptive control are highlighted.

Aerodynamics, sensing and control of insect-scale flapping-wing flight

PubMed Central

Shyy, Wei; Kang, Chang-kwon; Chirarattananon, Pakpong; Ravi, Sridhar; Liu, Hao

2016-01-01

There are nearly a million known species of flying insects and 13 000 species of flying warm-blooded vertebrates, including mammals, birds and bats. While in flight, their wings not only move forward relative to the air, they also flap up and down, plunge and sweep, so that both lift and thrust can be generated and balanced, accommodate uncertain surrounding environment, with superior flight stability and dynamics with highly varied speeds and missions. As the size of a flyer is reduced, the wing-to-body mass ratio tends to decrease as well. Furthermore, these flyers use integrated system consisting of wings to generate aerodynamic forces, muscles to move the wings, and sensing and control systems to guide and manoeuvre. In this article, recent advances in insect-scale flapping-wing aerodynamics, flexible wing structures, unsteady flight environment, sensing, stability and control are reviewed with perspective offered. In particular, the special features of the low Reynolds number flyers associated with small sizes, thin and light structures, slow flight with comparable wind gust speeds, bioinspired fabrication of wing structures, neuron-based sensing and adaptive control are highlighted. PMID:27118897

Alertness management in two-person long-haul flight operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosekind, M. R.; Gander, P. H.

1992-01-01

Long-haul flight operations involve cumulative sleep loss, circadian disruption, and extended and irregular duty schedules. These factors reduce pilot alertness and performance on the flightdeck. Conceptually and operationally, alertness management in flight operations can be divided into preventive strategies and operational countermeasures. Preventive strategies are utilized prior to a duty period to mitigate or reduce the effects of sleep loss, circadian disruption and fatigue during subsequent flight operations. Operational countermeasures are used during operations as acute techniques for maintaining performance and alertness. Results from previous NASA Ames field studies document the sleep loss and circadian disruption in three-person long-haul flying and illustrate the application of preventive strategies and operational countermeasures. One strategy that can be used in both a preventive and operational manner is strategic napping. The application and effectiveness of strategic napping in long-haul operations will be discussed. Finally, long-haul flying in two-person highly automated aircraft capable of extended range operations will create new challenges to maintaining pilot alertness and performance. Alertness management issues in this flight environment will be explored.

APEX 3D Propeller Test Preliminary Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colozza, Anthony J.

2002-01-01

A low Reynolds number, high subsonic mach number flight regime is fairly uncommon in aeronautics. Most flight vehicles do not fly under these aerodynamic conditions. However, recently there have been a number of proposed aircraft applications (such as high altitude observation platforms and Mars aircraft) that require flight within this regime. One of the main obstacles to flight under these conditions is the ability to reliably generate sufficient thrust for the aircraft. For a conventional propulsion system, the operation and design of the propeller is the key aspect to its operation. Due to the difficulty in experimentally modeling the flight conditions in ground-based facilities, it has been proposed to conduct propeller experiments from a high altitude gliding platform (APEX). A preliminary design of a propeller experiment under the low Reynolds number, high mach number flight conditions has been devised. The details of the design are described as well as the potential data that will be collected.

A system overview of the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Porter, Wallace M.; Enmark, Harry T.

1987-01-01

The AVIRIS instrument has been designed to do high spectral resolution remote sensing of the Earth. Utilizing both silicon and indium antimonide line array detectors, AVIRIS covers the spectral region from 0.41 to 2.45 microns in 10-nm bands. It was designed to fly aboard NASA's U-2 and ER-2 aircraft, where it will simulate the performance of future spacecraft instrumentation. Flying at an altitude of 20 km, it has an instantaneous field of view of 20 m and views a swath over 10 km wide. With an ability to record 40 minutes of data, it can, during a single flight, capture 500 km of flight line.

In-Flight Validation of a Pilot Rating Scale for Evaluating Failure Transients in Electronic Flight Control Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kalinowski, Kevin F.; Tucker, George E.; Moralez, Ernesto, III

2006-01-01

Engineering development and qualification of a Research Flight Control System (RFCS) for the Rotorcraft Aircrew Systems Concepts Airborne Laboratory (RASCAL) JUH-60A has motivated the development of a pilot rating scale for evaluating failure transients in fly-by-wire flight control systems. The RASCAL RFCS includes a highly-reliable, dual-channel Servo Control Unit (SCU) to command and monitor the performance of the fly-by-wire actuators and protect against the effects of erroneous commands from the flexible, but single-thread Flight Control Computer. During the design phase of the RFCS, two piloted simulations were conducted on the Ames Research Center Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) to help define the required performance characteristics of the safety monitoring algorithms in the SCU. Simulated failures, including hard-over and slow-over commands, were injected into the command path, and the aircraft response and safety monitor performance were evaluated. A subjective Failure/Recovery Rating (F/RR) scale was developed as a means of quantifying the effects of the injected failures on the aircraft state and the degree of pilot effort required to safely recover the aircraft. A brief evaluation of the rating scale was also conducted on the Army/NASA CH-47B variable stability helicopter to confirm that the rating scale was likely to be equally applicable to in-flight evaluations. Following the initial research flight qualification of the RFCS in 2002, a flight test effort was begun to validate the performance of the safety monitors and to validate their design for the safe conduct of research flight testing. Simulated failures were injected into the SCU, and the F/RR scale was applied to assess the results. The results validate the performance of the monitors, and indicate that the Failure/Recovery Rating scale is a very useful tool for evaluating failure transients in fly-by-wire flight control systems.

Flight Capacity of the Walnut Twig Beetle (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) on a Laboratory Flight Mill.

PubMed

Kees, Aubree M; Hefty, Andrea R; Venette, Robert C; Seybold, Steven J; Aukema, Brian H

2017-06-01

The walnut twig beetle, Pityophthorus juglandis Blackman, and associated fungus Geosmithia morbida Kolařík, Freeland, Utley, & Tisserat constitute the insect-fungal complex that causes thousand cankers disease in walnut, Juglans spp., and wingnut, Pterocarya spp. Thousand cankers disease is responsible for the decline of Juglans species throughout the western United States and more recently, the eastern United States and northern Italy. We examined the flight capacity of P. juglandis over 24-h trials on a flight mill in the laboratory. The maximum total flight distance observed was ∼3.6 km in 24 h; however, the mean and median distances flown by beetles that initiated flight were ∼372 m and ∼158 m, respectively. Beetles flew for 34 min on average within a 24-h flight trial. Male and female flight capacities were similar, even though males were larger than females (0.64 vs. 0.57 mm pronotal width). Age postemergence had no effect on flight distance, flight time, or mean flight velocity. The propensity to fly, however, decreased with age. We integrated results of flight distance with propensity to fly as beetles aged in a Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the maximum dispersal capacity over 5 d, assuming no mortality. Only 1% of the insects would be expected to fly >2 km, whereas one-third of the insects were estimated to fly <100 m. These results suggest that nascent establishments remain relatively localized without anthropogenic transport or wind-aided dispersal, which has implications for management and sampling of this hardwood pest. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America 2017. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the US.

Impact of Airspace Charges on Transatlantic Aircraft Trajectories

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sridhar, Banavar; Ng, Hok K.; Linke, Florian; Chen, Neil Y.

2015-01-01

Aircraft flying over the airspace of different countries are subject to over-flight charges. These charges vary from country to country. Airspace charges, while necessary to support the communication, navigation and surveillance services, may lead to aircraft flying routes longer than wind-optimal routes and produce additional carbon dioxide and other gaseous emissions. This paper develops an optimal route between city pairs by modifying the cost function to include an airspace cost whenever an aircraft flies through a controlled airspace without landing or departing from that airspace. It is assumed that the aircraft will fly the trajectory at a constant cruise altitude and constant speed. The computationally efficient optimal trajectory is derived by solving a non-linear optimal control problem. The operational strategies investigated in this study for minimizing aircraft fuel burn and emissions include flying fuel-optimal routes and flying cost-optimal routes that may completely or partially reduce airspace charges en route. The results in this paper use traffic data for transatlantic flights during July 2012. The mean daily savings in over-flight charges, fuel cost and total operation cost during the period are 17.6 percent, 1.6 percent, and 2.4 percent respectively, along the cost- optimal trajectories. The transatlantic flights can potentially save $600,000 in fuel cost plus $360,000 in over-flight charges daily by flying the cost-optimal trajectories. In addition, the aircraft emissions can be potentially reduced by 2,070 metric tons each day. The airport pairs and airspace regions that have the highest potential impacts due to airspace charges are identified for possible reduction of fuel burn and aircraft emissions for the transatlantic flights. The results in the paper show that the impact of the variation in fuel price on the optimal routes is to reduce the difference between wind-optimal and cost-optimal routes as the fuel price increases. The additional fuel consumption is quantified using the 30 percent variation in fuel prices during March 2014 to March 2015.

A neural based intelligent flight control system for the NASA F-15 flight research aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urnes, James M.; Hoy, Stephen E.; Ladage, Robert N.; Stewart, James

1993-01-01

A flight control concept that can identify aircraft stability properties and continually optimize the aircraft flying qualities has been developed by McDonnell Aircraft Company under a contract with the NASA-Dryden Flight Research Facility. This flight concept, termed the Intelligent Flight Control System, utilizes Neural Network technology to identify the host aircraft stability and control properties during flight, and use this information to design on-line the control system feedback gains to provide continuous optimum flight response. This self-repairing capability can provide high performance flight maneuvering response throughout large flight envelopes, such as needed for the National Aerospace Plane. Moreover, achieving this response early in the vehicle's development schedule will save cost.

An Analysis of Helicopter Pilot Scan Techniques While Flying at Low Altitudes and High Speed

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

Manager SV Synthetic Vision TFH Total Flight Hours TOFT Tactical Operational Flight Trainer VFR Visual Flight Rules VMC Visual Meteorological...Crognale, 2008). Recently, the use of synthetic vision (SV) and a heads-up- display (HUD) have been a topic of discussion in the aviation community... Synthetic vision uses external cameras to provide the pilot with an enhanced view of the outside world, usually with the assistance of night vision

Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration-1 Concept of Operations (ATD-1 ConOps)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baxley, Brian T.; Johnson, William C.; Swenson, Harry; Robinson, John E.; Prevot, Thomas; Callantine, Todd; Scardina, John; Greene, Michael

2012-01-01

The operational goal of the ATD-1 ConOps is to enable aircraft, using their onboard FMS capabilities, to fly Optimized Profile Descents (OPDs) from cruise to the runway threshold at a high-density airport, at a high throughput rate, using primarily speed control to maintain in-trail separation and the arrival schedule. The three technologies in the ATD-1 ConOps achieve this by calculating a precise arrival schedule, using controller decision support tools to provide terminal controllers with speeds for aircraft to fly to meet times at a particular meter points, and onboard software providing flight crews with speeds for the aircraft to fly to achieve a particular spacing behind preceding aircraft.

Analytical redundancy management mechanization and flight data analysis for the F-8 digital fly-by-wire aircraft flight control sensors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deckert, J. C.

1983-01-01

The details are presented of an onboard digital computer algorithm designed to reliably detect and isolate the first failure in a duplex set of flight control sensors aboard the NASA F-8 digital fly-by-wire aircraft. The algorithm's successful flight test program is summarized, and specific examples are presented of algorithm behavior in response to software-induced signal faults, both with and without aircraft parameter modeling errors.

Orion Powered Flight Guidance Burn Options for Near Term Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fill, Tom; Goodman, John; Robinson, Shane

2018-01-01

NASA's Orion exploration spacecraft will fly more demanding mission profiles than previous NASA human flight spacecraft. Missions currently under development are destined for cislunar space. The EM-1 mission will fly unmanned to a Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) around the Moon. EM-2 will fly astronauts on a mission to the lunar vicinity. To fly these missions, Orion requires powered flight guidance that is more sophisticated than the orbital guidance flown on Apollo and the Space Shuttle. Orion's powered flight guidance software contains five burn guidance options. These five options are integrated into an architecture based on a proven shuttle heritage design, with a simple closed-loop guidance strategy. The architecture provides modularity, simplicity, versatility, and adaptability to future, yet-to-be-defined, exploration mission profiles. This paper provides a summary of the executive guidance architecture and details the five burn options to support both the nominal and abort profiles for the EM-1 and EM-2 missions.

Orion's Powered Flight Guidance Burn Options for Near Term Exploration Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fill, Thomas; Goodman, John; Robinson, Shane

2018-01-01

NASA's Orion exploration spacecraft will fly more demanding mission profiles than previous NASA human flight spacecraft. Missions currently under development are destined for cislunar space. The EM-1 mission will fly unmanned to a Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) around the Moon. EM-2 will fly astronauts on a mission to the lunar vicinity. To fly these missions, Orion requires powered flight guidance that is more sophisticated than the orbital guidance flown on Apollo and the Space Shuttle. Orion's powered flight guidance software contains five burn guidance options. These five options are integrated into an architecture based on a proven shuttle heritage design, with a simple closed-loop guidance strategy. The architecture provides modularity, simplicity, versatility, and adaptability to future, yet-to-be-defined, exploration mission profiles. This paper provides a summary of the executive guidance architecture and details the five burn options to support both the nominal and abort profiles for the EM-1 and EM-2 missions.

Development and system identification of a light unmanned aircraft for flying qualities research

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peters, M.E.; Andrisani, D. II

This paper describes the design, construction, flight testing and system identification of a light weight remotely piloted aircraft and its use in studying flying qualities in the longitudinal axis. The short period approximation to the longitudinal dynamics of the aircraft was used. Parameters in this model were determined a priori using various empirical estimators. These parameters were then estimated from flight data using a maximum likelihood parameter identification method. A comparison of the parameter values revealed that the stability derivatives obtained from the empirical estimators were reasonably close to the flight test results. However, the control derivatives determined by themore » empirical estimators were too large by a factor of two. The aircraft was also flown to determine how the longitudinal flying qualities of light weight remotely piloted aircraft compared to full size manned aircraft. It was shown that light weight remotely piloted aircraft require much faster short period dynamics to achieve level I flying qualities in an up-and-away flight task.« less

Temporary threshold shift in military pilots measured using conventional and extended high-frequency audiometry after one flight.

PubMed

Kuronen, Pentti; Sorri, Martti J; Pääkkönen, Rauno; Muhli, Arto

2003-01-01

Noise of such a high level that it can result in hearing deterioration is an inherent characteristic of military flying. Susceptibility to hearing impairment was studied using 51 Finnish Air Force military personnel as subjects. The test persons flew missions on a British Aerospace Hawk 51 advanced jet trainer, Boeing F-18 Hornet, Mikoyan & Gurevich MiG-21bis and Saab 35 Draken interceptors, and a Valmet Redigo turboprop liaison aircraft. The duration of noise exposure was one flight mission, which varied from 30 to 60 min. Noise doses and levels were measured using a miniature microphone at the inlet of the ear canal, while a second microphone was located at the level of the subject's shoulder. Hearing thresholds were measured before each flight using conventional (0.125-8 kHz) and extended high-frequency (EHF) (8.20 kHz) audiometry. The measurements were repeated as soon as possible after the flight. The study showed that the pre-flight threshold levels of the subjects were good. Both conventional and EHF audiometry revealed statistically significant temporary threshold shifts (TTS) at several frequencies and with all aircraft types involved. The changes were, however, minor. The risk of noise-induced hearing impairment at the studied exposure levels is, in all probability, rather small. The role of extended high-frequency audiometry would be in research, and it might be performed for flying personnel upon entering service and every fifth year thereafter.

F-18 HARV research pilot Dana Purifoy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

Dana D. Purifoy is an aerospace research pilot at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. He joined NASA in August 1994. Purifoy is a former Air Force test pilot who served as a project pilot in the joint NASA/Air Force X-29 Forward Swept Wing research program conducted at Dryden from 1984 to 1991. His most recent assignment in the Air Force was flying U-2 aircraft as a test pilot at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, CA. In addition to flying the X-29 at Dryden as an Air Force pilot, Purifoy also served as project pilot and joint test force director with the AFTI F-16 (Advanced Fighter Technology Integration/F-16) program, also located at Dryden. Before his assignments as project pilot on the X-29 and AFTI/F-16 aircraft, Purifoy was chief of the Academics Systems Branch at the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards. Prior to becoming a test pilot, he flew F-111 and F-16 aircraft in Great Britain and Germany. He has accumulated 3800 hours of flying time in his career. The final flight for the F-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV) took place at NASA Dryden on May 29, 1996. The highly modified F-18 airplane flew 383 flights over a nine year period and demonstrated concepts that greatly increase fighter maneuverability. Among concepts proven in the aircraft is the use of paddles to direct jet engine exhaust in cases of extreme altitudes where conventional control surfaces lose effectiveness. Another concept, developed by NASA Langley Research Center, is a deployable wing-like surface installed on the nose of the aircraft for increased right and left (yaw) control on nose-high flight angles.

Formation Flying in Earth, Libration, and Distant Retrograde Orbits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Folta, David C.

2004-01-01

This slide presentation examines the current and future state of formation flying, LEO formations, control strategies for flight in the vicinity of the libration points, and distant retrograde orbit formations. This discussion of LEO formations includes background on perturbation theory/accelerations and LEO formation flying. The discussion of strategies for formation flight in the vicinity of the libration points includes libration missions and natural and controlled libration orbit formations. A reference list is included.

Advanced flight control system study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hartmann, G. L.; Wall, J. E., Jr.; Rang, E. R.; Lee, H. P.; Schulte, R. W.; Ng, W. K.

1982-01-01

A fly by wire flight control system architecture designed for high reliability includes spare sensor and computer elements to permit safe dispatch with failed elements, thereby reducing unscheduled maintenance. A methodology capable of demonstrating that the architecture does achieve the predicted performance characteristics consists of a hierarchy of activities ranging from analytical calculations of system reliability and formal methods of software verification to iron bird testing followed by flight evaluation. Interfacing this architecture to the Lockheed S-3A aircraft for flight test is discussed. This testbed vehicle can be expanded to support flight experiments in advanced aerodynamics, electromechanical actuators, secondary power systems, flight management, new displays, and air traffic control concepts.

ARC-2006-ACD06-0091-013

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-06-05

Space shuttle STS-121 FIT (Fly Immunity and Tumors) payload. Using Drosophila (fruit fly) to complete the experiments. Max Sanchezviewing Drosophila (fruit fly) inside insect containers used during flight.

Chilled packing systems for fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the sterile insect technique.

PubMed

Hernández, Emilio; Escobar, Arseny; Bravo, Bigail; Montoya, Pablo

2010-01-01

We evaluated three packing systems (PARC boxes, "GT" screen towers and "MX" screen towers) for the emergence and sexual maturation of sterile fruit flies, at three adult fly densities (1, 1.2 and 1.3 fly/cm²) and three food types. At the lowest density, results showed no significant differences in the longevity and flight ability of adult Anastrepha ludens (Loew) and Anastrepha obliqua Macquart among the three packing systems. Higher densities resulted in a decrease in these parameters. In the evaluation of the three food types, no significant differences were found either on longevity or flight ability of A. ludens. However, the greatest longevity for both sexes A. obliqua was obtained with commercial powdered Mb® and the mix of sugar, protein and corn starch on paper (SPCP) food types. The highest value for flight ability in A. obliqua males was obtained with powdered Mb® and SPCP food types, and for females with Mb® powdered food. Our data indicated that GT and MX screen tower packing systems are an alternative to the PARC boxes, since they were suitable for adult fly sexual maturation without any harm to their longevity or flight ability. The tested foods were equivalent in both fruit fly species, with the exception of the agar type for A. obliqua, which yielded the lowest biological parameters evaluated. Our results contribute to the application of new methods for the packing and release of sterile flies in large-scale programs.

Motor neurons in Drosophila flight control: could b1 be the one?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitehead, Samuel; Shirangi, Troy; Cohen, Itai

Similar to balancing a stick on one's fingertip, flapping flight is inherently unstable; maintaining stability is a delicate balancing act made possible only by near-constant, often-subtle corrective actions. For fruit flies, such corrective responses need not only be robust, but also fast: the Drosophila flight control reflex has a response latency time of ~5 ms, ranking it among the fastest reflexes in the animal kingdom. How is such rapid, robust control implemented physiologically? Here we present an analysis of a putatively crucial component of the Drosophila flight control circuit: the b1 motor neuron. Specifically, we apply mechanical perturbations to freely-flying Drosophila and analyze the differences in kinematics patterns between flies with manipulated and un-manipulated b1 motor neurons. Ultimately, we hope to identify the functional role of b1 in flight stabilization, with the aim of linking it to previously-proposed, reduced-order models for reflexive control.

The aerodynamic cost of flight in the short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata): comparing theory with measurement

PubMed Central

von Busse, Rhea; Waldman, Rye M.; Swartz, Sharon M.; Voigt, Christian C.; Breuer, Kenneth S.

2014-01-01

Aerodynamic theory has long been used to predict the power required for animal flight, but widely used models contain many simplifications. It has been difficult to ascertain how closely biological reality matches model predictions, largely because of the technical challenges of accurately measuring the power expended when an animal flies. We designed a study to measure flight speed-dependent aerodynamic power directly from the kinetic energy contained in the wake of bats flying in a wind tunnel. We compared these measurements with two theoretical predictions that have been used for several decades in diverse fields of vertebrate biology and to metabolic measurements from a previous study using the same individuals. A high-accuracy displaced laser sheet stereo particle image velocimetry experimental design measured the wake velocities in the Trefftz plane behind four bats flying over a range of speeds (3–7 m s−1). We computed the aerodynamic power contained in the wake using a novel interpolation method and compared these results with the power predicted by Pennycuick's and Rayner's models. The measured aerodynamic power falls between the two theoretical predictions, demonstrating that the models effectively predict the appropriate range of flight power, but the models do not accurately predict minimum power or maximum range speeds. Mechanical efficiency—the ratio of aerodynamic power output to metabolic power input—varied from 5.9% to 9.8% for the same individuals, changing with flight speed. PMID:24718450

Metabolism during flight in two species of bats, Phyllostomus hastatus and Pteropus gouldii.

PubMed

Thomas, S P

1975-08-01

The energetic cost of flight in a wind-tunnel was measured at various combinations of speed and flight angle from two species of bats whose body masses differ by almost an order of magnitude. The highest mean metabolic rate per unit body mass measured from P. hastatus (mean body mass, 0.093 kg) was 130.4 Wkg-1, and that for P. gouldii (mean body mass, 0.78 kg) was 69.6 Wkg-1. These highest metabolic rates, recorded from flying bats, are essentially the same as those predicted for flying birds of the same body masses, but are from 2.5 to 3.0 times greater than the highest metabolic rates of which similar-size exercising terrestrial mammals appear capable. The lowest mean rate of energy utilization per unit body mass P. hastatus required to sustain level flight was 94.2 Wkg-1 and that for P. gouldii was 53.4 Wkg-1. These data from flying bats together with comparable data for flying birds all fall along a straight line when plotted on double logarithmic coordinates as a function of body mass. Such data show that even the lowest metabolic requirements of bats and birds during level flight are about twice the highest metabolic capabilities of similar-size terrestrial mammals. Flying bats share with flying birds the ability to move substantially greater distance per unit energy consumed than walking or running mammals. Calculations show that P. hastatus requires only one-sixth the energy to cover a given distance as does the same-size terrestrial mammal, while P. gouldii requires one-fourth the energy of the same-size terrestrial mammal. An empirically derived equation is presented which enables one to make estimates of the metabolic rates of bats and birds during level flight in nature from body mass data alone. Metabolic data obtained in this study are compared with predictions calculated from an avian flight theory.

Student Experiments Fly with the Shuttle.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saunders, Walter; And Others

1979-01-01

Describes various experiments which high school students are preparing, to be carried on NASA's 500 or more Space Shuttle flights in the 1980s. The project is intended to stimulate superior secondary school students. (SA)

Mechanization of and experience with a triplex fly-by-wire backup control system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lock, W. P.; Petersen, W. R.; Whitman, G. B.

1975-01-01

A redundant three-axis analog control system was designed and developed to back up a digital fly-by-wire control system for an F-8C airplane. Forty-two flights, involving 58 hours of flight time, were flown by six pilots. The mechanization and operational experience with the backup control system, the problems involved in synchronizing it with the primary system, and the reliability of the system are discussed. The backup control system was dissimilar to the primary system, and it provided satisfactory handling through the flight envelope evaluated. Limited flight tests of a variety of control tasks showed that control was also satisfactory when the backup control system was controlled by a minimum-displacement (force) side stick. The operational reliability of the F-8 digital fly-by-wire control system was satisfactory, with no unintentional downmodes to the backup control system in flight. The ground and flight reliability of the system's components is discussed.

Uncontrolled Stability in Freely Flying Insects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melfi, James, Jr.; Wang, Z. Jane

2015-11-01

One of the key flight modes of a flying insect is longitudinal flight, traveling along a localized two-dimensional plane from one location to another. Past work on this topic has shown that flying insects, unless stabilized by some external stimulus, are typically unstable to a well studied pitching instability. In our work, we examine this instability in a computational study to understand whether it is possible for either evolution or an aero-vehicle designer to stabilize longitudinal flight through changes to insect morphology, kinematics, or aerodynamic quantities. A quasi-steady wingbeat averaged flapping flight model is used to describe the insect. From this model, a number of non-dimensional parameters are identified. The effect of these parameters was then quantified using linear stability analysis, applied to various translational states of the insect. Based on our understanding of these parameters, we demonstrate how to find an intrinsically stable flapping flight sequence for a dragonfly-like flapping flier in an instantaneous flapping flight model.

Physiological aeroecology: Anatomical and physiological adaptations for flight

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Flight has evolved independently in birds, bats, and insects and was present in the Mesozoic pterosaurians that have disappeared. Of the roughly 1 million living animal species, more than three-quarters are flying insects. Flying is an extremely successful way of locomotion. At first glance this see...

Evaluation of commercial and field-expedient baited traps for house flies, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae).

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A comparison of 9 commercial baited fly traps on Florida dairy farms demonstrated that Terminator traps collected significantly more (13,323/trap) house flies (Musca domestica L.) than the others tested; Final Flight, Fly Magnet and FliesBeGone traps collected intermediate numbers of flies (834-2,16...

Ride quality assessment. III - Questionnaire results of a second flight programme

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richards, L. G.; Jacobson, I. D.

1977-01-01

A questionnaire was completed by 861 passengers on regularly-scheduled flights of four commuter airlines. Four types of aircraft were involved. Questions assessed major demographic variables, attitudes toward flying, frequency of flying, experience of airsickness, and passenger perceptions of detailed aspects of the physical environment. Passengers also rated their overall comfort level and their willingness to fly again. Passengers perceive motion, noise, and seat factors as the primary determinants of their comfort. Rated comfort is strongly related to willingness to fly again. Incidence of airsickness was low. Sex differences in reactions to aspects of the environment were found.

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center: We Fly What Others Only Imagine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ennix-Sandhu, Kimberly

2006-01-01

A powerpoint presentation of NASA Dryden's historical and future flight programs is shown. The contents include: 1) Getting To Know NASA; 2) Our Namesake; 3) To Fly What Others Only Imagine; 4) Dryden's Mission: Advancing Technology and Science Through Flight; 5) X-1 The First of the Rocket-Powered Research Aircraft; 6) X-1 Landing; 7) Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) Liftoff and Landing; 8) Linear Aerospike SR-71 Experiment (LASRE) Ground Test; 9) M2-F1 (The Flying Bathtub); 10) M2-F2 Drop Test; 11) Enterprise Space Shuttle Prototype; 12) Space Shuttle Columbia STS-1; 13) STS-114 Landing-August 2005; 14) Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV); 15) What You Can Do To Succeed!; and 16) NASA Dryden Flight Research Center: This is What We Do!

Adaptive Evolution of Mitochondrial Energy Metabolism Genes Associated with Increased Energy Demand in Flying Insects

PubMed Central

Yang, Yunxia; Xu, Shixia; Xu, Junxiao; Guo, Yan; Yang, Guang

2014-01-01

Insects are unique among invertebrates for their ability to fly, which raises intriguing questions about how energy metabolism in insects evolved and changed along with flight. Although physiological studies indicated that energy consumption differs between flying and non-flying insects, the evolution of molecular energy metabolism mechanisms in insects remains largely unexplored. Considering that about 95% of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is supplied by mitochondria via oxidative phosphorylation, we examined 13 mitochondrial protein-encoding genes to test whether adaptive evolution of energy metabolism-related genes occurred in insects. The analyses demonstrated that mitochondrial DNA protein-encoding genes are subject to positive selection from the last common ancestor of Pterygota, which evolved primitive flight ability. Positive selection was also found in insects with flight ability, whereas no significant sign of selection was found in flightless insects where the wings had degenerated. In addition, significant positive selection was also identified in the last common ancestor of Neoptera, which changed its flight mode from direct to indirect. Interestingly, detection of more positively selected genes in indirect flight rather than direct flight insects suggested a stronger selective pressure in insects having higher energy consumption. In conclusion, mitochondrial protein-encoding genes involved in energy metabolism were targets of adaptive evolution in response to increased energy demands that arose during the evolution of flight ability in insects. PMID:24918926

Adaptive evolution of mitochondrial energy metabolism genes associated with increased energy demand in flying insects.

PubMed

Yang, Yunxia; Xu, Shixia; Xu, Junxiao; Guo, Yan; Yang, Guang

2014-01-01

Insects are unique among invertebrates for their ability to fly, which raises intriguing questions about how energy metabolism in insects evolved and changed along with flight. Although physiological studies indicated that energy consumption differs between flying and non-flying insects, the evolution of molecular energy metabolism mechanisms in insects remains largely unexplored. Considering that about 95% of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is supplied by mitochondria via oxidative phosphorylation, we examined 13 mitochondrial protein-encoding genes to test whether adaptive evolution of energy metabolism-related genes occurred in insects. The analyses demonstrated that mitochondrial DNA protein-encoding genes are subject to positive selection from the last common ancestor of Pterygota, which evolved primitive flight ability. Positive selection was also found in insects with flight ability, whereas no significant sign of selection was found in flightless insects where the wings had degenerated. In addition, significant positive selection was also identified in the last common ancestor of Neoptera, which changed its flight mode from direct to indirect. Interestingly, detection of more positively selected genes in indirect flight rather than direct flight insects suggested a stronger selective pressure in insects having higher energy consumption. In conclusion, mitochondrial protein-encoding genes involved in energy metabolism were targets of adaptive evolution in response to increased energy demands that arose during the evolution of flight ability in insects.

F-8 DFBW in flight

NASA Image and Video Library

1972-10-07

F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire aircraft in flight. The computer-controlled flight systems pioneered by the F-8 DFBW created a revolution in aircraft design. The F-117A, X-29, X-31, and many other aircraft have relied on computers to make them flyable. Built with inherent instabilities to make them more maneuverable, they would be impossible for human pilots to fly if the computers failed or received incorrect data.

Flight Measurements of the Flying Qualities of a Lockheed P-80A Airplane (Army No. 44-85099) - Stalling Characteristics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, Seth B.; Cooper, George E.

1947-01-01

This report contains the flight-test results of the stalling characteristics measured during the flying-qualities investigation of the Lockheed P-8OA airplane (Army No. 44-85099). The tests were conducted in straight and turning flight with and without wing-tip tanks. These tests showed satisfactory stalling characteristics and adequate stall warning for all configurations and conditions tested.

Space Shuttle Project

NASA Image and Video Library

1992-09-12

A smooth countdown culminated in a picture-perfect launch as the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-47) climbed skyward atop a ladder of billowing smoke. Primary payload for the plarned seven-day flight was Spacelab-J science laboratory. The second flight of Endeavour marks a number of historic firsts: the first space flight of an African-American woman, the first Japanese citizen to fly on a Space Shuttle, and the first married couple to fly in space.

Fruit bats (Pteropodidae) fuel their metabolism rapidly and directly with exogenous sugars.

PubMed

Amitai, O; Holtze, S; Barkan, S; Amichai, E; Korine, C; Pinshow, B; Voigt, C C

2010-08-01

Previous studies reported that fed bats and birds mostly use recently acquired exogenous nutrients as fuel for flight, rather than endogenous fuels, such as lipids or glycogen. However, this pattern of fuel use may be a simple size-related phenomenon because, to date, only small birds and bats have been studied with respect to the origin of metabolized fuel, and because small animals carry relatively small energy reserves, considering their high mass-specific metabolic rate. We hypothesized that approximately 150 g Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus Pteropodidae), which are more than an order of magnitude heavier than previously studied bats, also catabolize dietary sugars directly and exclusively to fuel both rest and flight metabolism. We based our expectation on the observation that these animals rapidly transport ingested dietary sugars, which are absorbed via passive paracellular pathways in the intestine, to organs of high energy demand. We used the stable carbon isotope ratio in exhaled CO(2) (delta(13)C(breath)) to assess the origin of metabolized substrates in 16 Egyptian fruit bats that were maintained on a diet of C3 plants before experiments. First, we predicted that in resting bats delta(13)C(breath) remains constant when bats ingest C3 sucrose, but increases and converges on the dietary isotopic signature when C4 sucrose and C4 glucose are ingested. Second, if flying fruit bats use exogenous nutrients exclusively to fuel flight, we predicted that delta(13)C(breath) of flying bats would converge on the isotopic signature of the C4 sucrose they were fed. Both resting and flying Egyptian fruit bats, indeed, directly fuelled their metabolism with freshly ingested exogenous substrates. The rate at which the fruit bats oxidized dietary sugars was as fast as in 10 g nectar-feeding bats and 5 g hummingbirds. Our results support the notion that flying bats, irrespective of their size, catabolize dietary sugars directly, and possibly exclusively, to fuel flight.

Nocturnal insects use optic flow for flight control

PubMed Central

Baird, Emily; Kreiss, Eva; Wcislo, William; Warrant, Eric; Dacke, Marie

2011-01-01

To avoid collisions when navigating through cluttered environments, flying insects must control their flight so that their sensory systems have time to detect obstacles and avoid them. To do this, day-active insects rely primarily on the pattern of apparent motion generated on the retina during flight (optic flow). However, many flying insects are active at night, when obtaining reliable visual information for flight control presents much more of a challenge. To assess whether nocturnal flying insects also rely on optic flow cues to control flight in dim light, we recorded flights of the nocturnal neotropical sweat bee, Megalopta genalis, flying along an experimental tunnel when: (i) the visual texture on each wall generated strong horizontal (front-to-back) optic flow cues, (ii) the texture on only one wall generated these cues, and (iii) horizontal optic flow cues were removed from both walls. We find that Megalopta increase their groundspeed when horizontal motion cues in the tunnel are reduced (conditions (ii) and (iii)). However, differences in the amount of horizontal optic flow on each wall of the tunnel (condition (ii)) do not affect the centred position of the bee within the flight tunnel. To better understand the behavioural response of Megalopta, we repeated the experiments on day-active bumble-bees (Bombus terrestris). Overall, our findings demonstrate that despite the limitations imposed by dim light, Megalopta—like their day-active relatives—rely heavily on vision to control flight, but that they use visual cues in a different manner from diurnal insects. PMID:21307047

Comparative aerodynamic performance of flapping flight in two bat species using time-resolved wake visualization

PubMed Central

Muijres, Florian T.; Johansson, L. Christoffer; Winter, York; Hedenström, Anders

2011-01-01

Bats are unique among extant actively flying animals in having very flexible wings, controlled by multi-jointed fingers. This gives the potential for fine-tuned active control to optimize aerodynamic performance throughout the wingbeat and thus a more efficient flight. But how bat wing performance scales with size, morphology and ecology is not yet known. Here, we present time-resolved fluid wake data of two species of bats flying freely across a range of flight speeds using stereoscopic digital particle image velocimetry in a wind tunnel. From these data, we construct an average wake for each bat species and speed combination, which is used to estimate the flight forces throughout the wingbeat and resulting flight performance properties such as lift-to-drag ratio (L/D). The results show that the wake dynamics and flight performance of both bat species are similar, as was expected since both species operate at similar Reynolds numbers (Re) and Strouhal numbers (St). However, maximum L/D is achieved at a significant higher flight speed for the larger, highly mobile and migratory bat species than for the smaller non-migratory species. Although the flight performance of these bats may depend on a range of morphological and ecological factors, the differences in optimal flight speeds between the species could at least partly be explained by differences in their movement ecology. PMID:21367776

The New Commercial Suborbital Vehicles: An Opportunity for Scientific and Microgravity Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moro-Aguilar, Rafael

2014-11-01

As of 2013, a number of companies had announced their intention to start flying suborbital vehicles, capable of transporting people to high altitudes out of any airport or launch site, on a commercial and regular basis. According to several studies, a market for suborbital "space tourism" exists. Another very promising application of suborbital flight is scientific research. The present paper provides an overview of the potential of commercial suborbital flight for science, including microgravity research. Suborbital flight provides a much-needed intermediate-duration opportunity between research performed in Earth orbit and more affordable but shorter duration alternatives, such as drop towers and zero-g parabolic flights. Moreover, suborbital flight will be less expensive and more frequent than both orbital flight and sounding rockets, and it has the capability to fly into sub-orbit the researcher together with the payload, and thus enable on-site interaction with the experiment. In the United States, both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and a number of private institutions have already shown interest in conducting scientific experiments, particularly microgravity research, aboard these new platforms. Researchers who intend to participate in future suborbital flights as payload specialists will need training, given the physical challenges posed by the flight. Finally, suborbital researchers may also want to have a basic knowledge of the legal status that will apply to them as passengers of such flights.

Aerodynamic characteristics of flying fish in gliding flight.

PubMed

Park, Hyungmin; Choi, Haecheon

2010-10-01

The flying fish (family Exocoetidae) is an exceptional marine flying vertebrate, utilizing the advantages of moving in two different media, i.e. swimming in water and flying in air. Despite some physical limitations by moving in both water and air, the flying fish has evolved to have good aerodynamic designs (such as the hypertrophied fins and cylindrical body with a ventrally flattened surface) for proficient gliding flight. Hence, the morphological and behavioral adaptations of flying fish to aerial locomotion have attracted great interest from various fields including biology and aerodynamics. Several aspects of the flight of flying fish have been determined or conjectured from previous field observations and measurements of morphometric parameters. However, the detailed measurement of wing performance associated with its morphometry for identifying the characteristics of flight in flying fish has not been performed yet. Therefore, in the present study, we directly measure the aerodynamic forces and moment on darkedged-wing flying fish (Cypselurus hiraii) models and correlated them with morphological characteristics of wing (fin). The model configurations considered are: (1) both the pectoral and pelvic fins spread out, (2) only the pectoral fins spread with the pelvic fins folded, and (3) both fins folded. The role of the pelvic fins was found to increase the lift force and lift-to-drag ratio, which is confirmed by the jet-like flow structure existing between the pectoral and pelvic fins. With both the pectoral and pelvic fins spread, the longitudinal static stability is also more enhanced than that with the pelvic fins folded. For cases 1 and 2, the lift-to-drag ratio was maximum at attack angles of around 0 deg, where the attack angle is the angle between the longitudinal body axis and the flying direction. The lift coefficient is largest at attack angles around 30∼35 deg, at which the flying fish is observed to emerge from the sea surface. From glide polar, we find that the gliding performance of flying fish is comparable to those of bird wings such as the hawk, petrel and wood duck. However, the induced drag by strong wing-tip vortices is one of the dominant drag components. Finally, we examine ground effect on the aerodynamic forces of the gliding flying fish and find that the flying fish achieves the reduction of drag and increase of lift-to-drag ratio by flying close to the sea surface.

How Lovebirds Maneuver Rapidly Using Super-Fast Head Saccades and Image Feature Stabilization

PubMed Central

Kress, Daniel; van Bokhorst, Evelien; Lentink, David

2015-01-01

Diurnal flying animals such as birds depend primarily on vision to coordinate their flight path during goal-directed flight tasks. To extract the spatial structure of the surrounding environment, birds are thought to use retinal image motion (optical flow) that is primarily induced by motion of their head. It is unclear what gaze behaviors birds perform to support visuomotor control during rapid maneuvering flight in which they continuously switch between flight modes. To analyze this, we measured the gaze behavior of rapidly turning lovebirds in a goal-directed task: take-off and fly away from a perch, turn on a dime, and fly back and land on the same perch. High-speed flight recordings revealed that rapidly turning lovebirds perform a remarkable stereotypical gaze behavior with peak saccadic head turns up to 2700 degrees per second, as fast as insects, enabled by fast neck muscles. In between saccades, gaze orientation is held constant. By comparing saccade and wingbeat phase, we find that these super-fast saccades are coordinated with the downstroke when the lateral visual field is occluded by the wings. Lovebirds thus maximize visual perception by overlying behaviors that impair vision, which helps coordinate maneuvers. Before the turn, lovebirds keep a high contrast edge in their visual midline. Similarly, before landing, the lovebirds stabilize the center of the perch in their visual midline. The perch on which the birds land swings, like a branch in the wind, and we find that retinal size of the perch is the most parsimonious visual cue to initiate landing. Our observations show that rapidly maneuvering birds use precisely timed stereotypic gaze behaviors consisting of rapid head turns and frontal feature stabilization, which facilitates optical flow based flight control. Similar gaze behaviors have been reported for visually navigating humans. This finding can inspire more effective vision-based autopilots for drones. PMID:26107413

Dissociation of visual associative and motor learning in Drosophila at the flight simulator.

PubMed

Wang, Shunpeng; Li, Yan; Feng, Chunhua; Guo, Aike

2003-08-29

Ever since operant conditioning was studied experimentally, the relationship between associative learning and possible motor learning has become controversial. Although motor learning and its underlying neural substrates have been extensively studied in mammals, it is still poorly understood in invertebrates. The visual discriminative avoidance paradigm of Drosophila at the flight simulator has been widely used to study the flies' visual associative learning and related functions, but it has not been used to study the motor learning process. In this study, newly-designed data analysis was employed to examine the flies' solitary behavioural variable that was recorded at the flight simulator-yaw torque. Analysis was conducted to explore torque distributions of both wild-type and mutant flies in conditioning, with the following results: (1) Wild-type Canton-S flies had motor learning performance in conditioning, which was proved by modifications of the animal's behavioural mode in conditioning. (2) Repetition of training improved the motor learning performance of wild-type Canton-S flies. (3) Although mutant dunce(1) flies were defective in visual associative learning, they showed essentially normal motor learning performance in terms of yaw torque distribution in conditioning. Finally, we tentatively proposed that both visual associative learning and motor learning were involved in the visual operant conditioning of Drosophila at the flight simulator, that the two learning forms could be dissociated and they might have different neural bases.

The role of visual and mechanosensory cues in structuring forward flight in Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Budick, Seth A; Reiser, Michael B; Dickinson, Michael H

2007-12-01

It has long been known that many flying insects use visual cues to orient with respect to the wind and to control their groundspeed in the face of varying wind conditions. Much less explored has been the role of mechanosensory cues in orienting insects relative to the ambient air. Here we show that Drosophila melanogaster, magnetically tethered so as to be able to rotate about their yaw axis, are able to detect and orient into a wind, as would be experienced during forward flight. Further, this behavior is velocity dependent and is likely subserved, at least in part, by the Johnston's organs, chordotonal organs in the antennae also involved in near-field sound detection. These wind-mediated responses may help to explain how flies are able to fly forward despite visual responses that might otherwise inhibit this behavior. Expanding visual stimuli, such as are encountered during forward flight, are the most potent aversive visual cues known for D. melanogaster flying in a tethered paradigm. Accordingly, tethered flies strongly orient towards a focus of contraction, a problematic situation for any animal attempting to fly forward. We show in this study that wind stimuli, transduced via mechanosensory means, can compensate for the aversion to visual expansion and thus may help to explain how these animals are indeed able to maintain forward flight.

Flight of frigatebirds inside clouds - energy gain, stability and control.

PubMed

Sachs, Gottfried; Weimerskirch, Henri

2018-07-07

Investigating the unique ability of frigatebirds of flying inside clouds, it is shown that they achieve a large energy gain by ascents to high altitudes in strong updrafts of trade cumulus clouds. Frigatebirds often perform that kind of flight, at daytime as well as in the night. This suggests that they are capable of flying inside clouds in a controlled and stabilized manner. The control requirements for ascents in terms of a circling flight in updrafts of trade cumulus clouds are analyzed, and the necessary aerodynamic control moments are determined. Based on a stability investigation, it is shown that there are restoring effects which act against disturbances causing possible deviations from the circling flight condition. The aerodynamic moments which effectuate that stabilization are identified. Furthermore, the problem of neutral azimuth stability which generally exists in the flight of birds and which is the reason for continually increasing deviations from the course is dealt with. It is shown for the circling flight mode of frigatebirds inside clouds that, here, deviations are small and remain constant, suggesting that a corrective control action is not required. This is particularly important for circling flight in conditions without a visual reference, like inside clouds. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigation of Aerodynamic Capabilities of Flying Fish in Gliding Flight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, H.; Choi, H.

In the present study, we experimentally investigate the aerodynamic capabilities of flying fish. We consider four different flying fish models, which are darkedged-wing flying fishes stuffed in actual gliding posture. Some morphological parameters of flying fish such as lateral dihedral angle of pectoral fins, incidence angles of pectoral and pelvic fins are considered to examine their effect on the aerodynamic performance. We directly measure the aerodynamic properties (lift, drag, and pitching moment) for different morphological parameters of flying fish models. For the present flying fish models, the maximum lift coefficient and lift-to-drag ratio are similar to those of medium-sized birds such as the vulture, nighthawk and petrel. The pectoral fins are found to enhance the lift-to-drag ratio and the longitudinal static stability of gliding flight. On the other hand, the lift coefficient and lift-to-drag ratio decrease with increasing lateral dihedral angle of pectoral fins.

Case reports of insulin-dependent glider pilots in the United Kingdom.

PubMed

Saundby, R P

1998-10-01

Insulin-dependent diabetics have not been licensed to fly as pilots. In the United Kingdom, the standards for flying gliders solo were adopted from those required for driving licences, allowing diabetics to fly gliders. No accidents had been reported. My hypothesis was that insulin-dependent diabetics can fly as pilots without danger. A survey was conducted among insulin-dependent glider pilots, using a questionnaire to determine their flying experience and establish any difficulties arising from their disease. Respondents reported that their blood sugar level could be managed in flight and that while complications of diabetes occurred, they had not presented a flight safety hazard. Insulin dependent diabetic pilots flying solo recreational aircraft are not at greater risk than when driving road vehicles. The decision by the British Gliding Association to allow insulin dependent pilots to fly gliders solo has been justified by experience.

Flight control systems development and flight test experience with the HiMAT research vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kempel, Robert W.; Earls, Michael R.

1988-01-01

Two highly maneuverable aircraft technology (HiMAT) remotely piloted vehicles were flown a total of 26 flights. These subscale vehicles were of advanced aerodynamic configuration with advanced technology concepts such as composite and metallic structures, digital integrated propulsion control, and ground (primary) and airborne (backup) relaxed static stability, digital fly-by-wire control systems. Extensive systems development, checkout, and flight qualification were required to conduct the flight test program. The design maneuver goal was to achieve a sustained 8-g turn at Mach 0.9 at an altitude of 25,000 feet. This goal was achieved, along with the acquisition of high-quality flight data at subsonic and supersonic Mach numbers. Control systems were modified in a variety of ways using the flight-determined aerodynamic characteristics. The HiMAT program was successfully completed with approximately 11 hours of total flight time.

[ROLE OF THE SYMPATHOADRENOMEDULLARY SYSTEM IN FORMATION OF PILOT'S ADAPTATION TO FLIGHT LOADS].

PubMed

Sukhoterin, A F; Pashchenko, P S; Plakhov, N N; Zhuravlev, A G

2015-01-01

Purpose of the work was to evaluate the sympathoadrenomedullary functions and associated psychophysiological reactions of pilots as a function of flight hours on highly maneuverable aircraft. Volunteers to the investigation were 78 pilots (41 pilots of maneuverable aircraft and 37 pilots of bombers and transporters). Selected methods were to enable comprehensive evaluation of the body functioning against flight loads. Our results evidence that piloting of high maneuverable aircraft but not of bombing and transporting aircrafts activates the sympathoadrenomedullary system significantly. This is particularly common to young pilots with the total flying time less than 1000 hours. Adaptive changes to flight factors were noted to develop with age and experience.

Longitudinal Handling Qualities of the Tu-144LL Airplane and Comparisons With Other Large, Supersonic Aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cox, Timothy H.; Marshall, Alisa

2000-01-01

Four flights have been conducted using the Tu-144LL supersonic transport aircraft with the dedicated objective of collecting quantitative data and qualitative pilot comments. These data are compared with the following longitudinal flying qualities criteria: Neal-Smith, short-period damping, time delay, control anticipation parameter, phase delay (omega(sp)*T(theta(2))), pitch bandwidth as a function of time delay, and flight path as a function of pitch bandwidth. Determining the applicability of these criteria and gaining insight into the flying qualities of a large, supersonic aircraft are attempted. Where appropriate, YF-12, XB-70, and SR-71 pilot ratings are compared with the Tu-144LL results to aid in the interpretation of the Tu-144LL data and to gain insight into the application of criteria. The data show that approach and landing requirements appear to be applicable to the precision flightpath control required for up-and-away flight of large, supersonic aircraft. The Neal-Smith, control anticipation parameter, and pitch-bandwidth criteria tend to correlate with the pilot comments better than the phase delay criterion, omega(sp)*T(theta(2)). The data indicate that the detrimental flying qualities implication of decoupled pitch-attitude and flightpath responses occurring for high-speed flight may be mitigated by requiring the pilot to close the loop on flightpath or vertical speed.

Optic flow-based collision-free strategies: From insects to robots.

PubMed

Serres, Julien R; Ruffier, Franck

2017-09-01

Flying insects are able to fly smartly in an unpredictable environment. It has been found that flying insects have smart neurons inside their tiny brains that are sensitive to visual motion also called optic flow. Consequently, flying insects rely mainly on visual motion during their flight maneuvers such as: takeoff or landing, terrain following, tunnel crossing, lateral and frontal obstacle avoidance, and adjusting flight speed in a cluttered environment. Optic flow can be defined as the vector field of the apparent motion of objects, surfaces, and edges in a visual scene generated by the relative motion between an observer (an eye or a camera) and the scene. Translational optic flow is particularly interesting for short-range navigation because it depends on the ratio between (i) the relative linear speed of the visual scene with respect to the observer and (ii) the distance of the observer from obstacles in the surrounding environment without any direct measurement of either speed or distance. In flying insects, roll stabilization reflex and yaw saccades attenuate any rotation at the eye level in roll and yaw respectively (i.e. to cancel any rotational optic flow) in order to ensure pure translational optic flow between two successive saccades. Our survey focuses on feedback-loops which use the translational optic flow that insects employ for collision-free navigation. Optic flow is likely, over the next decade to be one of the most important visual cues that can explain flying insects' behaviors for short-range navigation maneuvers in complex tunnels. Conversely, the biorobotic approach can therefore help to develop innovative flight control systems for flying robots with the aim of mimicking flying insects' abilities and better understanding their flight. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft in flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

The X-36 technology demonstrator shows off its distinctive shape as the remotely piloted aircraft flies a research mission over the Southern California desert on October 30, 1997. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

Stress training improves performance during a stressful flight.

PubMed

McClernon, Christopher K; McCauley, Michael E; O'Connor, Paul E; Warm, Joel S

2011-06-01

This study investigated whether stress training introduced during the acquisition of simulator-based flight skills enhances pilot performance during subsequent stressful flight operations in an actual aircraft. Despite knowledge that preconditions to aircraft accidents can be strongly influenced by pilot stress, little is known about the effectiveness of stress training and how it transfers to operational flight settings. For this study, 30 participants with no flying experience were assigned at random to a stress-trained treatment group or a control group. Stress training consisted of systematic pairing of skill acquisition in a flight simulator with stress coping mechanisms in the presence of a cold pressor. Control participants received identical flight skill acquisition training but without stress training. Participants then performed a stressful flying task in a Piper Archer aircraft. Stress-trained research participants flew the aircraft more smoothly, as recorded by aircraft telemetry data, and generally better, as recorded by flight instructor evaluations, than did control participants. Introducing stress coping mechanisms during flight training improved performance in a stressful flying task. The results of this study indicate that stress training during the acquisition of flight skills may serve to enhance pilot performance in stressful operational flight and, therefore, might mitigate the contribution of pilot stress to aircraft mishaps.

Norwegian airline passengers are not more afraid of flying after the terror act of September 11. The flight anxiety, however, is significantly attributed to acts of terrorism

PubMed Central

Ekeberg, Øivind; Fauske, Berit; Berg-Hansen, Bente

2014-01-01

The aim of this paper is to study: (1) the prevalence of flight anxiety among Norwegian airline passengers; (2) situations that may be of concern during flights and situations not related to flying; (3) whether passengers feel more afraid after the terror act of September 11, 2001; and (4) whether passengers were more afraid in 2002 than in 1986.A questionnaire was distributed during domestic flights in Norway in 1986 and 2002. To asses flight anxiety, a six point scale was used, from 0 = not afraid at all, to 5 = always very afraid, and sometimes avoid flying because of that. A 10-cm visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to measure the degree of anxiety. There were 50.8% who were not afraid at all. There were 12 women (5.2%) and one man (0.4%) with flight phobia. However, 22 (4.5%) had cancelled flights because of anxiety during the last two years. Situations that caused most concern during flights were turbulence and fear of terrorism and highjacking. After September 11, 48% were not more afraid, 38% a little more, 10% moderately, 3% rather much and 2% very much. The passengers, however, were not more afraid of flying in 2002 than in 1986. About 3% of Norwegian airline passengers have a flight phobia. Women are significantly more concerned than men. The impact of the terror act September 11, 2001 was rather moderate. The level of flight anxiety among Norwegian airline passengers was not significantly different in 2002 and 1986. PMID:24934082

Norwegian airline passengers are not more afraid of flying after the terror act of September 11. The flight anxiety, however, is significantly attributed to acts of terrorism.

PubMed

Ekeberg, Oivind; Fauske, Berit; Berg-Hansen, Bente

2014-10-01

The aim of this paper is to study: (1) the prevalence of flight anxiety among Norwegian airline passengers; (2) situations that may be of concern during flights and situations not related to flying; (3) whether passengers feel more afraid after the terror act of September 11, 2001; and (4) whether passengers were more afraid in 2002 than in 1986.A questionnaire was distributed during domestic flights in Norway in 1986 and 2002. To asses flight anxiety, a six point scale was used, from 0 = not afraid at all, to 5 = always very afraid, and sometimes avoid flying because of that. A 10-cm visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to measure the degree of anxiety. There were 50.8% who were not afraid at all. There were 12 women (5.2%) and one man (0.4%) with flight phobia. However, 22 (4.5%) had cancelled flights because of anxiety during the last two years. Situations that caused most concern during flights were turbulence and fear of terrorism and highjacking. After September 11, 48% were not more afraid, 38% a little more, 10% moderately, 3% rather much and 2% very much. The passengers, however, were not more afraid of flying in 2002 than in 1986. About 3% of Norwegian airline passengers have a flight phobia. Women are significantly more concerned than men. The impact of the terror act September 11, 2001 was rather moderate. The level of flight anxiety among Norwegian airline passengers was not significantly different in 2002 and 1986. © 2014 Oslo University Hospital. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology published by Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Flying in a flock comes at a cost in pigeons.

PubMed

Usherwood, James R; Stavrou, Marinos; Lowe, John C; Roskilly, Kyle; Wilson, Alan M

2011-06-22

Flying birds often form flocks, with social, navigational and anti-predator implications. Further, flying in a flock can result in aerodynamic benefits, thus reducing power requirements, as demonstrated by a reduction in heart rate and wingbeat frequency in pelicans flying in a V-formation. But how general is an aerodynamic power reduction due to group-flight? V-formation flocks are limited to moderately steady flight in relatively large birds, and may represent a special case. What are the aerodynamic consequences of flying in the more usual 'cluster' flock? Here we use data from innovative back-mounted Global Positioning System (GPS) and 6-degrees-of-freedom inertial sensors to show that pigeons (1) maintain powered, banked turns like aircraft, imposing dorsal accelerations of up to 2g, effectively doubling body weight and quadrupling induced power requirements; (2) increase flap frequency with increases in all conventional aerodynamic power requirements; and (3) increase flap frequency when flying near, particularly behind, other birds. Therefore, unlike V-formation pelicans, pigeons do not gain an aerodynamic advantage from flying in a flock. Indeed, the increased flap frequency, whether due to direct aerodynamic interactions or requirements for increased stability or control, suggests a considerable energetic cost to flight in a tight cluster flock.

Flying in a flock comes at a cost in pigeons

PubMed Central

Usherwood, James R.; Stavrou, Marinos; Lowe, John C.; Roskilly, Kyle; Wilson, Alan M.

2011-01-01

Flying birds often form flocks, with social1, navigational2 and anti-predator3 implications. Further, flying in a flock can result in aerodynamic benefits, thus reducing power requirements4, as demonstrated by a reduction in heart rate and wingbeat frequency in pelicans flying in a V-formation5. But how general is an aerodynamic power reduction due to group-flight? V-formation flocks are limited to moderately steady flight in relatively large birds, and may represent a special case. What are the aerodynamic consequences of flying in the more usual ‘cluster’ 6,7 flock? Here, we use data from innovative back-mounted GPS and 6 degree of freedom inertial sensors to show that pigeons 1) maintain powered, banked turns like aircraft, imposing dorsal accelerations of up to 2g, effectively doubling body weight and quadrupling induced power requirements; 2) increase flap frequency with increases in all conventional aerodynamic power requirements; and 3) increase flap frequency when flying near, particularly behind, other birds. Therefore, unlike V-formation pelicans, pigeons do not gain an aerodynamic advantage from flying in a flock; indeed, the increased flap frequency – whether due to direct aerodynamic interactions or requirements for increased stability or control – suggests a considerable energetic cost to flight in a tight cluster flock. PMID:21697946

X-36 in Flight over Mojave Desert during 5th Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

The unusual lines of the X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft contrast sharply with the desert floor as the remotely-piloted aircraft flies over the Mojave Desert on a June 1997 research flight. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

X-36 in Flight near Edge of Rogers Dry Lake during 5th Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

This photo shows the X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft passing over the edge of Rogers Dry Lake as the remotely-piloted aircraft flies over Edwards Air Force Base on a June 1997 research flight. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

Why They Fly: An Expectancy-Based Analysis of the Factors that Motivate Commissioned Army Aviators to Gain Flying Experience

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-15

Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202- 4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be... Moroze and Snow (1999) controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents, where the crew unintentionally flies the aircraft into the earth or a man...number of CFIT accidents for the pilots with more flight hours was based on the behavior patterns that result from experience ( Moroze & Snow, 1999

Flight performance of bumble bee as a possible pollinator in space agriculture under partial gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamashita, Masamichi; Hashimoto, Hirofumi; Mitsuhata, Masahiro; Sasaki, Masami; Space Agriculture Task Force, J.

Space agriculture is an advanced life support concept for habitation on extraterrestrial bodies based on biological and ecological function. Flowering plant species are core member of space agriculture to produce food and revitalize air and water. Selection of crop plant species is made on the basis of nutritional requirements to maintain healthy life of space crew. Species selected for space agriculture have several mode of reproduction. For some of plant species, insect pollination is effective to increase yield and quality of food. In terrestrial agriculture, bee is widely introduced to pollinate flower. For pollinator insect on Mars, working environment is different from Earth. Magnitude of gravity is 0.38G on Mars surface. In order to confirm feasibility of insect pollination for space agriculture, capability of flying pollinator insect under such exotic condition should be examined. Even bee does not possess evident gravity sensory system, gravity dominates flying performance and behavior. During flight or hovering, lifting force produced by wing beat sustains body weight, which is the product of body mass and gravitational acceleration. Flying behavior of bumble bee, Bombus ignitus, was documented under partial or micro-gravity produced by parabolic flight of jet plane. Flying behavior at absence of gravity differed from that under normal gravity. Ability of bee to fly under partial gravity was examined at the level of Mars, Moon and the less, to determine the threshold level of gravity for bee flying maneuver. Adaptation process of bee flying under different gravity level was evaluated as well by successive documentation of parabolic flight experiment.

Haltere mechanosensory influence on tethered flight behavior in Drosophila.

PubMed

Mureli, Shwetha; Fox, Jessica L

2015-08-01

In flies, mechanosensory information from modified hindwings known as halteres is combined with visual information for wing-steering behavior. Haltere input is necessary for free flight, making it difficult to study the effects of haltere ablation under natural flight conditions. We thus used tethered Drosophila melanogaster flies to examine the relationship between halteres and the visual system, using wide-field motion or moving figures as visual stimuli. Haltere input was altered by surgically decreasing its mass, or by removing it entirely. Haltere removal does not affect the flies' ability to flap or steer their wings, but it does increase the temporal frequency at which they modify their wingbeat amplitude. Reducing the haltere mass decreases the optomotor reflex response to wide-field motion, and removing the haltere entirely does not further decrease the response. Decreasing the mass does not attenuate the response to figure motion, but removing the entire haltere does attenuate the response. When flies are allowed to control a visual stimulus in closed-loop conditions, haltereless flies fixate figures with the same acuity as intact flies, but cannot stabilize a wide-field stimulus as accurately as intact flies can. These manipulations suggest that the haltere mass is influential in wide-field stabilization, but less so in figure tracking. In both figure and wide-field experiments, we observe responses to visual motion with and without halteres, indicating that during tethered flight, intact halteres are not strictly necessary for visually guided wing-steering responses. However, the haltere feedback loop may operate in a context-dependent way to modulate responses to visual motion. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

A Flying Qualities Study of Longitudinal Long-Term Dynamics of Hypersonic Planes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cox, Timothy H.; Sachs, G.; Knoll, A.; Stich, R.

1995-01-01

The NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and the Technical University of Munich are cooperating in a research program to assess the impact of unstable long-term dynamics on the flying qualities of planes in hypersonic flight. These flying qualities issues are being investigated with a dedicated flight simulator for hypersonic vehicles located at NASA Dryden. Several NASA research pilots have flown the simulator through well defined steady-level turns with varying phugoid and height mode instabilities. The data collected include Pilot ratings and comments, performance measurements, and Pilot workload measurements. The results presented in this paper include design guidelines for height and Phugoid mode instabilities, an evaluation of the tapping method used to measure pilot workload, a discussion of techniques developed by the pilots to control large instabilities, and a discussion of how flying qualities of unstable long-term dynamics influence control Power design requirements.

A flying qualities study of longitudinal long-term dynamics of hypersonic planes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cox, T.; Sachs, G.; Knoll, A.; Stich, R.

1995-01-01

The NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and the Technical University of Munich are cooperating in a research program to assess the impact of unstable long-term dynamics on the flying qualities of planes in hypersonic flight. These flying qualities issues are being investigated with a dedicated flight simulator for hypersonic vehicles located at NASA Dryden. Several NASA research pilots have flown the simulator through well-defined steady-level turns with varying phugoid and height mode instabilities. Th data collected include pilot ratings and comments, performance measurements, and pilot workload measurements. The results presented in this paper include design guidelines for height and phugoid mode instabilities, an evaluation of the tapping method used to measure pilot workload, a discussion of techniques developed by the pilots to control large instabilities, and a discussion of how flying qualities of unstable long-term dynamics influence control power design requirements.

Underwater flight by the planktonic sea butterfly.

PubMed

Murphy, David W; Adhikari, Deepak; Webster, Donald R; Yen, Jeannette

2016-02-01

In a remarkable example of convergent evolution, we show that the zooplanktonic sea butterfly Limacina helicina 'flies' underwater in the same way that very small insects fly in the air. Both sea butterflies and flying insects stroke their wings in a characteristic figure-of-eight pattern to produce lift, and both generate extra lift by peeling their wings apart at the beginning of the power stroke (the well-known Weis-Fogh 'clap-and-fling' mechanism). It is highly surprising to find a zooplankter 'mimicking' insect flight as almost all zooplankton swim in this intermediate Reynolds number range (Re=10-100) by using their appendages as paddles rather than wings. The sea butterfly is also unique in that it accomplishes its insect-like figure-of-eight wing stroke by extreme rotation of its body (what we call 'hyper-pitching'), a paradigm that has implications for micro aerial vehicle (MAV) design. No other animal, to our knowledge, pitches to this extent under normal locomotion. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Measurement of atmospheric surface layer turbulence using unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bailey, Sean; Canter, Caleb

2017-11-01

We describe measurements of the turbulence within the atmospheric surface layer using highly instrumented and autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Results from the CLOUDMAP measurement campaign in Stillwater Oklahoma are presented including turbulence statistics measured during the transition from stably stratified to convective conditions. The measurements were made using pre-fabricated fixed-wing remote-control aircraft adapted to fly autonomously and carry multi-hole pressure probes, pressure, temperature and humidity sensors. Two aircraft were flown simultaneously, with one flying a flight path intended to profile the boundary layer up to 100 m and the other flying at a constant fixed altitude of 50 m. The evolution of various turbulent statistics was determined from these flights, including Reynolds stresses, correlations, spectra and structure functions. These results were compared to those measured by a sonic anemometer located on a 7.5 m tower. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through Grant #CBET-1351411 and by National Science Foundation award #1539070, Collaboration Leading Operational UAS Development for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics (CLOUDMAP).

Measurement of atmospheric surface layer turbulence using unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Witte, Brandon; Smith, Lorli; Schlagenhauf, Cornelia; Bailey, Sean

2016-11-01

We describe measurements of the turbulence within the atmospheric surface layer using highly instrumented and autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Results from the CLOUDMAP measurement campaign in Stillwater Oklahoma are presented including turbulence statistics measured during the transition from stably stratified to convective conditions. The measurements were made using pre-fabricated fixed-wing remote-control aircraft adapted to fly autonomously and carry multi-hole pressure probes, pressure, temperature and humidity sensors. Two aircraft were flown simultaneously, with one flying a flight path intended to profile the boundary layer up to 100 m and the other flying at a constant fixed altitude of 50 m. The evolution of various turbulent statistics was determined from these flights, including Reynolds stresses, correlations, spectra and structure functions. These results were compared to those measured by a sonic anemometer located on a 7.5 m tower. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through Grant #CBET-1351411 and by National Science Foundation award #1539070, Collaboration Leading Operational UAS Development for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics (CLOUDMAP).

Investigation of gliding flight by flying fish

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Hyungmin; Jeon, Woo-Pyung; Choi, Haecheon

2006-11-01

The most successful flight capability of fish is observed in the flying fish. Furthermore, despite the difference between two medium (air and water), the flying fish is well evolved to have an excellent gliding performance as well as fast swimming capability. In this study, flying fish's morphological adaptation to gliding flight is experimentally investigated using dry-mounted darkedged-wing flying fish, Cypselurus Hiraii. Specifically, we examine the effects of the pectoral and pelvic fins on the aerodynamic performance considering (i) both pectoral and pelvic fins, (ii) pectoral fins only, and (iii) body only with both fins folded. Varying the attack angle, we measure the lift, drag and pitching moment at the free-stream velocity of 12m/s for each case. Case (i) has higher lift-to-drag ratio (i.e. longer gliding distance) and more enhanced longitudinal static stability than case (ii). However, the lift coefficient is smaller for case (i) than for case (ii), indicating that the pelvic fins are not so beneficial for wing loading. The gliding performance of flying fish is compared with those of other fliers and is found to be similar to those of insects such as the butterfly and fruitfly.

Mobility of olive fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) late third instars and teneral adults in test arenas

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The mobility of olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), late third instars before pupation, teneral adults before flight, and mature adults restricted from flight was studied under mulches in greenhouse cage tests, in horizontal pipes, vertical bottles and pipes filled with sand, and by observati...

Development of a New Flight Vent for the LOLA Laser Cavity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramsey, W. Lawrence; Rosecrans, Glenn

2007-01-01

The Lunar Orbiting Laser Altimeter (LOLA) will fly on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The laser is based upon the one in the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA). LOLA will fly two lasers instead of one in the laser cavity. The MLA laser has a six year flight to station.

Theseus in Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

The Theseus prototype research aircraft shows off its unique design as it flies low over Rogers Dry Lake during a 1996 test flight from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Theseus aircraft, built and operated by Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, Manassas, Virginia, was a unique aircraft flown at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, under a cooperative agreement between NASA and Aurora. Dryden hosted the Theseus program, providing hangar space and range safety for flight testing. Aurora Flight Sciences was responsible for the actual flight testing, vehicle flight safety, and operation of the aircraft. The Theseus remotely piloted aircraft flew its maiden flight on May 24, 1996, at Dryden. During its sixth flight on November 12, 1996, Theseus experienced an in-flight structural failure that resulted in the loss of the aircraft. As of the beginning of the year 2000, Aurora had not rebuilt the aircraft Theseus was built for NASA under an innovative, $4.9 million fixed-price contract by Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation and its partners, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, and Fairmont State College, Fairmont, West Virginia. The twin-engine, unpiloted vehicle had a 140-foot wingspan, and was constructed largely of composite materials. Powered by two 80-horsepower, turbocharged piston engines that drove twin 9-foot-diameter propellers, Theseus was designed to fly autonomously at high altitudes, with takeoff and landing under the active control of a ground-based pilot in a ground control station 'cockpit.' With the potential ability to carry 700 pounds of science instruments to altitudes above 60,000 feet for durations of greater than 24 hours, Theseus was intended to support research in areas such as stratospheric ozone depletion and the atmospheric effects of future high-speed civil transport aircraft engines. Instruments carried aboard Theseus also would be able to validate satellite-based global environmental change measurements. Dryden's Project Manager was John Del Frate.

Benchmark Problems for Spacecraft Formation Flying Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carpenter, J. Russell; Leitner, Jesse A.; Burns, Richard D.; Folta, David C.

2003-01-01

To provide high-level focus to distributed space system flight dynamics and control research, several benchmark problems are suggested. These problems are not specific to any current or proposed mission, but instead are intended to capture high-level features that would be generic to many similar missions.

Nocturnal insects use optic flow for flight control.

PubMed

Baird, Emily; Kreiss, Eva; Wcislo, William; Warrant, Eric; Dacke, Marie

2011-08-23

To avoid collisions when navigating through cluttered environments, flying insects must control their flight so that their sensory systems have time to detect obstacles and avoid them. To do this, day-active insects rely primarily on the pattern of apparent motion generated on the retina during flight (optic flow). However, many flying insects are active at night, when obtaining reliable visual information for flight control presents much more of a challenge. To assess whether nocturnal flying insects also rely on optic flow cues to control flight in dim light, we recorded flights of the nocturnal neotropical sweat bee, Megalopta genalis, flying along an experimental tunnel when: (i) the visual texture on each wall generated strong horizontal (front-to-back) optic flow cues, (ii) the texture on only one wall generated these cues, and (iii) horizontal optic flow cues were removed from both walls. We find that Megalopta increase their groundspeed when horizontal motion cues in the tunnel are reduced (conditions (ii) and (iii)). However, differences in the amount of horizontal optic flow on each wall of the tunnel (condition (ii)) do not affect the centred position of the bee within the flight tunnel. To better understand the behavioural response of Megalopta, we repeated the experiments on day-active bumble-bees (Bombus terrestris). Overall, our findings demonstrate that despite the limitations imposed by dim light, Megalopta-like their day-active relatives-rely heavily on vision to control flight, but that they use visual cues in a different manner from diurnal insects. This journal is © 2011 The Royal Society

Effect of a general aviation trainer on the stress of flight training.

PubMed

Melton, C E; McKenzie, J M; Kellin, J R; Hoffmann, S M; Saldivar, J T

1975-01-01

Sixteen students were given flight training according to a highly standardized and rigidly controlled 35-h syllabus. Eight of the group (TG) recieved 10 h of their training in a Link GAT-1 ground trainer and 25 h in a Cherokee 140B. the other eight (AG) recieved all of their training in the airplane. The resting heart rate (HR) of group TG was significantly lower when the ground trainer was to be used than was the resting HR of group AG on equivalent lessons. The difference disappeared when group TG was to fly the airpland. In flight, group AG'S HR was significantly higher than group TG's in the ground trainer. Again the difference disappeared when group TG flew the airpland. Physcial work, as indicated by O2 consumption, was greater in the airplane than in the ground trainer. Urine chemistry indicated only a few and inconsistent points of significant differece between the groups. However, pre- and post-flight differences showed highly significant differences for both TG and AG. Objective flight tests administered four times during the syllabus indicated insignigicant differences between TG and AG, likewise, a check pilot who did not know to which group a student belonged could not differentiate between groups TG and AG. It was concluded that 10 h training in the GAT-1 did not compromise the flying skill as judged by the check pilot.

NASA Studies Lightning Storms Using High-Flying, Uninhabited Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

A NASA team studying the causes of electrical storms and their effects on our home planet achieved a milestone on August 21, 2002, completing the study's longest-duration research flight and monitoring four thunderstorms in succession. Based at the Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, researchers with the Altus Cumulus Electrification Study (ACES) used the Altus II remotely-piloted aircraft to study thunderstorms in the Atlantic Ocean off Key West and the west of the Everglades. The ACES lightning study used the Altus II twin turbo uninhabited aerial vehicle, built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. of San Diego. The Altus II was chosen for its slow flight speed of 75 to 100 knots (80 to 115 mph), long endurance, and high-altitude flight (up to 65,000 feet). These qualities gave the Altus II the ability to fly near and around thunderstorms for long periods of time, allowing investigations to be to be conducted over the entire life cycle of storms. The vehicle has a wing span of 55 feet and a payload capacity of over 300 lbs. With dual goals of gathering weather data safely and testing the adaptability of the uninhabited aircraft, the ACES study is a collaboration among the Marshall Space Flight Center, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, NASA,s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Pernsylvania State University in University Park, and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

NASA Studies Lightning Storms Using High-Flying, Uninhabited Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

A NASA team studying the causes of electrical storms and their effects on our home planet achieved a milestone on August 21, 2002, completing the study's longest-duration research flight and monitoring four thunderstorms in succession. Based at the Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, researchers with the Altus Cumulus Electrification Study (ACES) used the Altus II remotely piloted aircraft to study thunderstorms in the Atlantic Ocean off Key West and the west of the Everglades. The ACES lightning study used the Altus II twin turbo uninhabited aerial vehicle, built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. of San Diego. The Altus II was chosen for its slow flight speed of 75 to 100 knots (80 to 115 mph), long endurance, and high-altitude flight (up to 65,000 feet). These qualities gave the Altus II the ability to fly near and around thunderstorms for long periods of time, allowing investigations to be conducted over the entire life cycle of storms. The vehicle has a wing span of 55 feet and a payload capacity of over 300 lbs. With dual goals of gathering weather data safely and testing the adaptability of the uninhabited aircraft, the ACES study is a collaboration among the Marshall Space Flight Center, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Pernsylvania State University in University Park, and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

Collision-avoidance behaviors of minimally restrained flying locusts to looming stimuli

PubMed Central

Chan, R. WM.; Gabbiani, F.

2013-01-01

SUMMARY Visually guided collision avoidance is of paramount importance in flight, for instance to allow escape from potential predators. Yet, little is known about the types of collision-avoidance behaviors that may be generated by flying animals in response to an impending visual threat. We studied the behavior of minimally restrained locusts flying in a wind tunnel as they were subjected to looming stimuli presented to the side of the animal, simulating the approach of an object on a collision course. Using high-speed movie recordings, we observed a wide variety of collision-avoidance behaviors including climbs and dives away from – but also towards – the stimulus. In a more restrained setting, we were able to relate kinematic parameters of the flapping wings with yaw changes in the trajectory of the animal. Asymmetric wing flapping was most strongly correlated with changes in yaw, but we also observed a substantial effect of wing deformations. Additionally, the effect of wing deformations on yaw was relatively independent of that of wing asymmetries. Thus, flying locusts exhibit a rich range of collision-avoidance behaviors that depend on several distinct aerodynamic characteristics of wing flapping flight. PMID:23364572

Aerodynamic Characteristics and Flying Qualities of a Tailless Triangular-wing Airplane Configuration as Obtained from Flights of Rocket-propelled Models at Transonic and Supersonic Speeds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mitcham, Grady L; Stevens, Joseph E; Norris, Harry P

1956-01-01

A flight investigation of rocket-powered models of a tailless triangular-wing airplane configuration was made through the transonic and low supersonic speed range at the Langley Pilotless Aircraft Research Station at Wallops Island, Va. An analysis of the aerodynamic coefficients, stability derivatives, and flying qualities based on the results obtained from the successful flight tests of three models is presented.

USAF Test Pilot School. Flying Qualities Textbook, Volume 2, Part 1

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-04-01

Qualities Flight Testing, Performance and Flying Qaulities Branch, Flight Test Engneerd ision, 6510th Test Wing, Air Force Flight Mayst Ce1ter, Edwards...For these aircraft, the program manager may re*uire a mil spec written specifically for the aircraft and control system involwd. 5.20.2 _EL k,Tt...OR MANAGED IN CONTEXT OF MISSION, WITH AVAILABLE PILOT ATTENTION. S UNCONTROLLABLE CONTROL WILL BE LOST DURING SOME PORTION OF MISSION. ACCEPTABLE

Space Shuttle Project

NASA Image and Video Library

1992-09-12

A smooth countdown culminated in a picture-perfect launch as the Space Shuttle Orbiter Endeavour (STS-47) climbed skyward atop a ladder of billowing smoke on September 12, 1992. The primary payload for the plarned seven-day flight was the Spacelab-J science laboratory. The second flight of Endeavour marks a number of historic firsts: the first space flight of an African-American woman, the first Japanese citizen to fly on a Space Shuttle, and the first married couple to fly in space.

Two NASA Dryden F/A-18s flown by Gordon Fullerton and Nils Larson fly in tight formation Dec. 21, 2007 during Fullerton's final flight before his retirement.

NASA Image and Video Library

2007-12-21

Long-time NASA Dryden research pilot and former astronaut C. Gordon Fullerton capped an almost 50-year flying career, including more than 38 years with NASA, with a final flight in a NASA F/A-18 on Dec. 21, 2007. Fullerton and Dryden research pilot Jim Smolka flew a 90-minute pilot proficiency formation aerobatics flight with another Dryden F/A-18 and a Dryden T-38 before concluding with two low-level formation flyovers of Dryden before landing. Fullerton was honored with a water-cannon spray arch provided by two fire trucks from the Edwards Air Force Base fire department as he taxied the F/A-18 up to the Dryden ramp, and was then greeted by his wife Marie and several hundred Dryden staff after his final flight. Fullerton began his flying career with the U.S. Air Force in 1958 after earning bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology. Initially trained as a fighter pilot, he later transitioned to multi-engine bombers and became a bomber operations test pilot after attending the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. He then was assigned to the flight crew for the planned Air Force Manned Orbital Laboratory in 1966. Upon cancellation of that program, the Air Force assigned Fullerton to NASA's astronaut corps in 1969. He served on the support crews for the Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17 lunar missions, and was later assigned to one of the two flight crews that piloted the space shuttle prototype Enterprise during the Approach and Landing Test program at Dryden. He then logged some 382 hours in space when he flew on two early space shuttle missions, STS-3 on Columbia in 1982 and STS-51F on Challenger in 1985. He joined the flight crew branch at NASA Dryden after leaving the astronaut corps in 1986. During his 21 years at Dryden, Fullerton was project pilot on a number of high-profile research efforts, including the Propulsion Controlled Aircraft, the high-speed landing tests of

From damselflies to pterosaurs: how burst and sustainable flight performance scale with size.

PubMed

Marden, J H

1994-04-01

Recent empirical data for short-burst lift and power production of flying animals indicate that mass-specific lift and power output scale independently (lift) or slightly positively (power) with increasing size. These results contradict previous theory, as well as simple observation, which argues for degradation of flight performance with increasing size. Here, empirical measures of lift and power during short-burst exertion are combined with empirically based estimates of maximum muscle power output in order to predict how burst and sustainable performance scale with body size. The resulting model is used to estimate performance of the largest extant flying birds and insects, along with the largest flying animals known from fossils. These estimates indicate that burst flight performance capacities of even the largest extinct fliers (estimated mass 250 kg) would allow takeoff from the ground; however, limitations on sustainable power output should constrain capacity for continuous flight at body sizes exceeding 0.003-1.0 kg, depending on relative wing length and flight muscle mass.

Autonomous Formation Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schkolnik, Gerard S.; Cobleigh, Brent

2004-01-01

NASA's Strategic Plan for the Aerospace Technology Enterprise includes ambitious objectives focused on affordable air travel, reduced emissions, and expanded aviation-system capacity. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, in cooperation with NASA Ames Research Center, the Boeing Company, and the University of California, Los Angeles, has embarked on an autonomous-formation-flight project that promises to make significant strides towards these goals. For millions of years, birds have taken advantage of the aerodynamic benefit of flying in formation. The traditional "V" formation flown by many species of birds (including gulls, pelicans, and geese) enables each of the trailing birds to fly in the upwash flow field that exists just outboard of the bird immediately ahead in the formation. The result for each trailing bird is a decrease in induced drag and thus a reduction in the energy needed to maintain a given speed. Hence, for migratory birds, formation flight extends the range of the system of birds over the range of birds flying solo. The Autonomous Formation Flight (AFF) Project is seeking to extend this symbiotic relationship to aircraft.

Is air travel safe for those with lung disease?

PubMed

Coker, R K; Shiner, R J; Partridge, M R

2007-12-01

Airlines commonly report respiratory in-flight emergencies; flight outcomes have not been examined prospectively in large numbers of respiratory patients. The current authors conducted a prospective, observational study of flight outcomes in this group. UK respiratory specialists were invited to recruit patients planning air travel. Centres undertook their usual pre-flight assessment. Within 2 weeks of returning, patients completed a questionnaire documenting symptoms, in-flight oxygen use and unscheduled healthcare use. In total, 616 patients were recruited. Of these, 500 (81%) returned questionnaires. The most common diagnoses were airway (54%) and diffuse parenchymal lung disease (23%). In total, 12 patients died, seven before flying and five within 1 month. Pre-flight assessment included oximetry (96%), spirometry (95%), hypoxic challenge (45%) and walk test (10%). Of the patients, 11% did not fly. In those who flew, unscheduled respiratory healthcare use increased from 9% in the 4 weeks prior to travel to 19% in the 4 weeks after travel. However, when compared with self-reported data during the preceding year, medical consultations increased by just 2%. In patients flying after careful respiratory specialist assessment, commercial air travel appears generally safe.

Flight demonstration of aircraft fuselage and bulkhead monitoring using optical fiber distributed sensing system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wada, Daichi; Igawa, Hirotaka; Tamayama, Masato; Kasai, Tokio; Arizono, Hitoshi; Murayama, Hideaki; Shiotsubo, Katsuya

2018-02-01

We have developed an optical fiber distributed sensing system based on optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) that uses long-length fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). This technique obtains strain data not as a point data from an FBG but as a distributed profile within the FBG. This system can measure the strain distribution profile with an adjustable high spatial resolution of the mm or sub-mm order in real-time. In this study, we applied this OFDR-FBG technique to a flying test bed that is a mid-sized jet passenger aircraft. We conducted flight tests and monitored the structural responses of a fuselage stringer and the bulkhead of the flying test bed during flights. The strain distribution variations were successfully monitored for various events including taxiing, takeoff, landing and several other maneuvers. The monitoring was effective not only for measuring the strain amplitude applied to the individual structural parts but also for understanding the characteristics of the structural responses in accordance with the flight maneuvers. We studied the correlations between various maneuvers and strains to explore the relationship between the operation and condition of aircraft.

Flight Tests of a Remaining Flying Time Prediction System for Small Electric Aircraft in the Presence of Faults

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hogge, Edward F.; Kulkarni, Chetan S.; Vazquez, Sixto L.; Smalling, Kyle M.; Strom, Thomas H.; Hill, Boyd L.; Quach, Cuong C.

2017-01-01

This paper addresses the problem of building trust in the online prediction of a battery powered aircraft's remaining flying time. A series of flight tests is described that make use of a small electric powered unmanned aerial vehicle (eUAV) to verify the performance of the remaining flying time prediction algorithm. The estimate of remaining flying time is used to activate an alarm when the predicted remaining time is two minutes. This notifies the pilot to transition to the landing phase of the flight. A second alarm is activated when the battery charge falls below a specified limit threshold. This threshold is the point at which the battery energy reserve would no longer safely support two repeated aborted landing attempts. During the test series, the motor system is operated with the same predefined timed airspeed profile for each test. To test the robustness of the prediction, half of the tests were performed with, and half were performed without, a simulated powertrain fault. The pilot remotely engages a resistor bank at a specified time during the test flight to simulate a partial powertrain fault. The flying time prediction system is agnostic of the pilot's activation of the fault and must adapt to the vehicle's state. The time at which the limit threshold on battery charge is reached is then used to measure the accuracy of the remaining flying time predictions. Accuracy requirements for the alarms are considered and the results discussed.

SR-71 Ship #1 - Ultraviolet Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

NASA's SR-71 streaks into the twilight on a night/science flight from the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Mounted in the nose of the SR-71 was an ultraviolet video camera aimed skyward to capture images of stars, asteroids and comets. The science portion of the flight is a project of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. Two SR-71 aircraft have been used by NASA as test beds for high-speed and high-altitude aeronautical research. One early research project flown on one of Dryden's SR-71s consisted of a proposal for a series of flights using the SR-71 as a science camera platform for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of the California Institute of Technology, which operates under contract to NASA in much the way that NASA centers do. In March 1993, an upward-looking ultraviolet (UV) video camera placed in the SR-71's nosebay studied a variety of celestial objects in the ultraviolet light spectrum. The SR-71 was proposed as a test bed for the experiment because it is capable of flying at altitudes above 80,000 feet for an extended length of time. Observation of ultraviolet radiation is not possible from the Earth's surface because the atmosphere's ozone layer absorbs UV rays. Study of UV radiation is important because it is known to cause skin cancer with prolonged exposure. UV radiation is also valuable to study from an astronomical perspective. Satellite study of ultraviolet radiation is very expensive. As a result, the South West Research Institute (SWRI) in Texas developed the hypothesis of using a high-flying aircraft such as the SR-71 to conduct UV observations. The SR-71 is capable of flying above 90 percent of the Earth's atmosphere. The flight program was also designed to test the stability of the aircraft as a test bed for UV observation. A joint flight program was developed between the JPL and NASA's Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (redesignated the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, in 1994) in conjunction with SWRI to test the hypothesis. Dryden modified the nosebay of the SR-71, creating an upward-observing window to carry SWRI's ultraviolet CCD camera so it could make observations. According to Dryden's SR-71 Project Manager Dave Lux, a single flight of the aircraft confirmed the aircraft's capability and stability as a test bed for UV observations. SWRI's principle investigator was Dr. Allen Stern.

X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft in flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

The lack of a vertical tail on the X-36 technology demonstrator is evident as the remotely piloted aircraft flies a low-altitude research flight above Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base in the California desert on October 30, 1997. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

Behavioural system identification of visual flight speed control in Drosophila melanogaster

PubMed Central

Rohrseitz, Nicola; Fry, Steven N.

2011-01-01

Behavioural control in many animals involves complex mechanisms with intricate sensory-motor feedback loops. Modelling allows functional aspects to be captured without relying on a description of the underlying complex, and often unknown, mechanisms. A wide range of engineering techniques are available for modelling, but their ability to describe time-continuous processes is rarely exploited to describe sensory-motor control mechanisms in biological systems. We performed a system identification of visual flight speed control in the fruitfly Drosophila, based on an extensive dataset of open-loop responses previously measured under free flight conditions. We identified a second-order under-damped control model with just six free parameters that well describes both the transient and steady-state characteristics of the open-loop data. We then used the identified control model to predict flight speed responses after a visual perturbation under closed-loop conditions and validated the model with behavioural measurements performed in free-flying flies under the same closed-loop conditions. Our system identification of the fruitfly's flight speed response uncovers the high-level control strategy of a fundamental flight control reflex without depending on assumptions about the underlying physiological mechanisms. The results are relevant for future investigations of the underlying neuromotor processing mechanisms, as well as for the design of biomimetic robots, such as micro-air vehicles. PMID:20525744

Behavioural system identification of visual flight speed control in Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Rohrseitz, Nicola; Fry, Steven N

2011-02-06

Behavioural control in many animals involves complex mechanisms with intricate sensory-motor feedback loops. Modelling allows functional aspects to be captured without relying on a description of the underlying complex, and often unknown, mechanisms. A wide range of engineering techniques are available for modelling, but their ability to describe time-continuous processes is rarely exploited to describe sensory-motor control mechanisms in biological systems. We performed a system identification of visual flight speed control in the fruitfly Drosophila, based on an extensive dataset of open-loop responses previously measured under free flight conditions. We identified a second-order under-damped control model with just six free parameters that well describes both the transient and steady-state characteristics of the open-loop data. We then used the identified control model to predict flight speed responses after a visual perturbation under closed-loop conditions and validated the model with behavioural measurements performed in free-flying flies under the same closed-loop conditions. Our system identification of the fruitfly's flight speed response uncovers the high-level control strategy of a fundamental flight control reflex without depending on assumptions about the underlying physiological mechanisms. The results are relevant for future investigations of the underlying neuromotor processing mechanisms, as well as for the design of biomimetic robots, such as micro-air vehicles.

Figure–ground discrimination behavior in Drosophila. I. Spatial organization of wing-steering responses

PubMed Central

Fox, Jessica L.; Aptekar, Jacob W.; Zolotova, Nadezhda M.; Shoemaker, Patrick A.; Frye, Mark A.

2014-01-01

The behavioral algorithms and neural subsystems for visual figure–ground discrimination are not sufficiently described in any model system. The fly visual system shares structural and functional similarity with that of vertebrates and, like vertebrates, flies robustly track visual figures in the face of ground motion. This computation is crucial for animals that pursue salient objects under the high performance requirements imposed by flight behavior. Flies smoothly track small objects and use wide-field optic flow to maintain flight-stabilizing optomotor reflexes. The spatial and temporal properties of visual figure tracking and wide-field stabilization have been characterized in flies, but how the two systems interact spatially to allow flies to actively track figures against a moving ground has not. We took a systems identification approach in flying Drosophila and measured wing-steering responses to velocity impulses of figure and ground motion independently. We constructed a spatiotemporal action field (STAF) – the behavioral analog of a spatiotemporal receptive field – revealing how the behavioral impulse responses to figure tracking and concurrent ground stabilization vary for figure motion centered at each location across the visual azimuth. The figure tracking and ground stabilization STAFs show distinct spatial tuning and temporal dynamics, confirming the independence of the two systems. When the figure tracking system is activated by a narrow vertical bar moving within the frontal field of view, ground motion is essentially ignored despite comprising over 90% of the total visual input. PMID:24198267

ARC-2006-ACD06-0091-010

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-06-05

Space shuttle STS-121 FIT (Fly Immunity and Tumors) payload. Using Drosophila (fruit fly) to complete the experiments. Here we have sample preparation for post flight analysis of Drosophila (fruit fly) larva with Oana Marcu and Laura Higgins

Preliminary Results of NASA's First Autonomous Formation Flying Experiment: Earth Observing-1 (EO-1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Folta, David; Hawkins, Albin

2001-01-01

NASA's first autonomous formation flying mission is completing a primary goal of demonstrating an advanced technology called enhanced formation flying. To enable this technology, the Guidance, Navigation, and Control center at the Goddard Space Flight Center has implemented an autonomous universal three-axis formation flying algorithm in executive flight code onboard the New Millennium Program's (NMP) Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) spacecraft. This paper describes the mathematical background of the autonomous formation flying algorithm and the onboard design and presents the preliminary validation results of this unique system. Results from functionality assessment and autonomous maneuver control are presented as comparisons between the onboard EO-1 operational autonomous control system called AutoCon(tm), its ground-based predecessor, and a stand-alone algorithm.

PTERA - Modular Aircraft Flight Test

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-13

Aerospace testing can be costly and time consuming but a new modular, subscale remotely piloted aircraft offers NASA researchers more affordable options for developing a wide range of cutting edge aviation and space technologies. The Prototype-Technology Evaluation and Research Aircraft (PTERA), developed by Area-I, Inc., of Kennesaw, Georgia, is an extremely versatile and high quality, yet inexpensive, flying laboratory bridging the gap between wind tunnels and crewed flight testing.

EC94-42513-3

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-03-15

The three thrust-vectoring aircraft at Edwards, California, each capable of flying at extreme angles of attack, cruise over the California desert in formation during flight in March 1994. They are, from left, NASA's F-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV), flown by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center; the X-31, flown by the X-31 International Test Organization (ITO) at Dryden; and the Air Force F-16 Multi-Axis Thrust Vectoring (MATV) aircraft.

EXPERIMENT - SHUTTLE

NASA Image and Video Library

1982-03-05

S82-27835 (26 Feb. 1982) --- The astronaut crew members for NASA?s third space transportation system (STS-3) flight meet with Todd E. Nelson, who devised a scientific experiment to fly on their mission. Astronauts Jack R. Lousma, left, commander, and C. Gordon Fullerton, pilot, along with the 18-year-old high school senior, discussed the experiment, entitled ?Insects in Flight Motion Study,? during a press briefing in JSC?s public affairs facility. Photo credit: NASA

EXPERIMENTS - SHUTTLE

NASA Image and Video Library

1982-03-01

S82-27604 (26 Feb. 1982) --- The astronaut crew members for NASA?s third space transportation system (STS-3) flight meet with Todd E. Nelson, who devised a scientific experiment to fly on their mission. Astronauts Jack R. Lousma, left, commander, and C. Gordon Fullerton, pilot, along with the 18-year-old high school senior, discussed the experiment, entitled ?Insects in Flight Motion Study,? during a press briefing in JSC?s public affairs facility. Photo credit: NASA

Effect of time delay on flying qualities: An update

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, R. E.; Sarrafian, S. K.

1986-01-01

Flying qualities problems of modern, full-authority electronic flight control systems are most often related to the introduction of additional time delay in aircraft response to a pilot input. These delays can have a significant effect on the flying qualities of the aircraft. Time delay effects are reexamined in light of recent flight test experience with aircraft incorporating new technology. Data from the X-29A forward-swept-wing demonstrator, a related preliminary in-flight experiment, and other flight observations are presented. These data suggest that the present MIL-F-8785C allowable-control system time delay specifications are inadequate or, at least, incomplete. Allowable time delay appears to be a function of the shape of the aircraft response following the initial delay. The cockpit feel system is discussed as a dynamic element in the flight control system. Data presented indicate that the time delay associated with a significant low-frequency feel system does not result in the predicted degradation in aircraft flying qualities. The impact of the feel system is discussed from two viewpoints: as a filter in the control system which can alter the initial response shape and, therefore, the allowable time delay, and as a unique dynamic element whose delay contribution can potentially be discounted by special pilot loop closures.

Harnessing the Power of the Sun

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

The Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) Alliance was created in 1994 and operated for 9 years as a NASA-sponsored coalition of 28 members from small companies, government, universities, and nonprofit organizations. ERAST s goal was to foster development of remotely piloted aircraft technology for scientific, humanitarian, and commercial purposes. Some of the aircraft in the ERAST Alliance were intended to fly unmanned at high altitudes for days at a time, and flying for such durations required alternative sources of power that did not add weight. The most successful solution for this type of sustained flight is the lightest solar energy. Photovoltaic cells convert sunlight directly into electricity. They are made of semi-conducting materials similar to those used in computer chips. When sunlight is absorbed, electrons are knocked loose from their atoms, allowing electricity to flow. Under the ERAST Alliance, two solar-powered technology demonstration aircraft, Pathfinder and Helios, were developed. Pathfinder is a lightweight, remotely piloted flying wing aircraft that demonstrated the technology of applying solar cells for long-duration, high-altitude flight. Solar arrays covering most of the upper wing surface provide power for the aircraft s electric motors, avionics, communications, and other electronic systems. Pathfinder also has a backup battery system that can provide power for between 2 and 5 hours to allow limited-duration flight after dark. It was designed, built, and operated by AeroVironment, Inc., of Monrovia, California. On September 11, 1995, Pathfinder reached an altitude of 50,500 feet, setting a new altitude record for solar-powered aircraft. The National Aeronautic Association presented the NASA-industry team with an award for 1 of the 10 Most Memorable Record Flights of 1995.

Identification of high-speed rail ballast flight risk factors and risk mitigation strategies - final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-04-01

The phenomenon of flying ballast is well-documented in high-speed rail operations. Displaced ballast particles from the track bed : may cause damage to rolling stock as well as the track infrastructure, and wayside structures close to the right of wa...

Mechanization of and experience with a triplex fly-by-wire backup control system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lock, W. P.; Petersen, W. R.; Whitman, G. B.

1976-01-01

A redundant three axis analog control system was designed and developed to back up a digital fly by wire control system for an F-8C airplane. The mechanization and operational experience with the backup control system, the problems involved in synchronizing it with the primary system, and the reliability of the system are discussed. The backup control system was dissimilar to the primary system, and it provided satisfactory handling through the flight envelope evaluated. Limited flight tests of a variety of control tasks showed that control was also satisfactory when the backup control system was controlled by a minimum displacement (force) side stick. The operational reliability of the F-8 digital fly by wire control system was satisfactory, with no unintentional downmodes to the backup control system in flight. The ground and flight reliability of the system's components is discussed.

ED01-0146-3

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-04-28

The 247-foot length of the Helios prototype wing is in evidence as the high-altitude, solar-powered flying wing rests on its ground dolly during pre-flight tests at the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua'i, Hawaii.

Surpassing Mt. Everest: extreme flight performance of alpine bumble-bees.

PubMed

Dillon, Michael E; Dudley, Robert

2014-02-01

Animal flight at altitude involves substantial aerodynamic and physiological challenges. Hovering at high elevations is particularly demanding from the dual perspectives of lift and power output; nevertheless, some volant insects reside and fly at elevations in excess of 4000 m. Here, we demonstrate that alpine bumble-bees possess substantial aerodynamic reserves, and can sustain hovering flight under hypobaria at effective elevations in excess of 9000 m, i.e. higher than Mt. Everest. Modulation of stroke amplitude and not wingbeat frequency is the primary means of compensation for overcoming the aerodynamic challenge. The presence of such excess capacity in a high-altitude bumble-bee is surprising and suggests intermittent behavioural demands for extreme flight performance supplemental to routine foraging.

Radiation dose to the global flying population.

PubMed

Alvarez, Luis E; Eastham, Sebastian D; Barrett, Steven R H

2016-03-01

Civil airliner passengers and crew are exposed to elevated levels of radiation relative to being at sea level. Previous studies have assessed the radiation dose received in particular cases or for cohort studies. Here we present the first estimate of the total radiation dose received by the worldwide civilian flying population. We simulated flights globally from 2000 to 2013 using schedule data, applying a radiation propagation code to estimate the dose associated with each flight. Passengers flying in Europe and North America exceed the International Commission on Radiological Protection annual dose limits at an annual average of 510 or 420 flight hours per year, respectively. However, this falls to 160 or 120 h on specific routes under maximum exposure conditions.

Preliminary system design study for a digital fly-by-wire flight control system for an F-8C aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seacord, C. L.; Vaughn, D. K.

1976-01-01

The design of a fly-by-wire control system having a mission failure probability of less than one millionth failures per flight hour is examined. Emphasis was placed on developing actuator configurations that would improve the system performance, and consideration of the practical aspects of sensor/computer and computer/actuator interface implementation. Five basic configurations were defined as appropriate candidates for the F-8C research aircraft. Options on the basic configurations were included to cover variations in flight sensors, redundancy levels, data transmission techniques, processor input/output methods, and servo actuator arrangements. The study results can be applied to fly by wire systems for transport aircraft in general and the space shuttle.

Robust, nonlinear, high angle-of-attack control design for a supermaneuverable vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, Richard J.

1993-01-01

High angle-of-attack flight control laws are developed for a supermaneuverable fighter aircraft. The methods of dynamic inversion and structured singular value synthesis are combined into an approach which addresses both the nonlinearity and robustness problems of flight at extreme operating conditions. The primary purpose of the dynamic inversion control elements is to linearize the vehicle response across the flight envelope. Structured singular value synthesis is used to design a dynamic controller which provides robust tracking to pilot commands. The resulting control system achieves desired flying qualities and guarantees a large margin of robustness to uncertainties for high angle-of-attack flight conditions. The results of linear simulation and structured singular value stability analysis are presented to demonstrate satisfaction of the design criteria. High fidelity nonlinear simulation results show that the combined dynamics inversion/structured singular value synthesis control law achieves a high level of performance in a realistic environment.

Aerodynamic performance of two-dimensional, chordwise flexible flapping wings at fruit fly scale in hover flight.

PubMed

Sridhar, Madhu; Kang, Chang-kwon

2015-05-06

Fruit flies have flexible wings that deform during flight. To explore the fluid-structure interaction of flexible flapping wings at fruit fly scale, we use a well-validated Navier-Stokes equation solver, fully-coupled with a structural dynamics solver. Effects of chordwise flexibility on a two dimensional hovering wing is studied. Resulting wing rotation is purely passive, due to the dynamic balance between aerodynamic loading, elastic restoring force, and inertial force of the wing. Hover flight is considered at a Reynolds number of Re = 100, equivalent to that of fruit flies. The thickness and density of the wing also corresponds to a fruit fly wing. The wing stiffness and motion amplitude are varied to assess their influences on the resulting aerodynamic performance and structural response. Highest lift coefficient of 3.3 was obtained at the lowest-amplitude, highest-frequency motion (reduced frequency of 3.0) at the lowest stiffness (frequency ratio of 0.7) wing within the range of the current study, although the corresponding power required was also the highest. Optimal efficiency was achieved for a lower reduced frequency of 0.3 and frequency ratio 0.35. Compared to the water tunnel scale with water as the surrounding fluid instead of air, the resulting vortex dynamics and aerodynamic performance remained similar for the optimal efficiency motion, while the structural response varied significantly. Despite these differences, the time-averaged lift scaled with the dimensionless shape deformation parameter γ. Moreover, the wing kinematics that resulted in the optimal efficiency motion was closely aligned to the fruit fly measurements, suggesting that fruit fly flight aims to conserve energy, rather than to generate large forces.

Insect-machine Hybrid System: Remote Radio Control of a Freely Flying Beetle (Mercynorrhina torquata).

PubMed

Vo Doan, T Thang; Sato, Hirotaka

2016-09-02

The rise of radio-enabled digital electronic devices has prompted the use of small wireless neuromuscular recorders and stimulators for studying in-flight insect behavior. This technology enables the development of an insect-machine hybrid system using a living insect platform described in this protocol. Moreover, this protocol presents the system configuration and free flight experimental procedures for evaluating the function of the flight muscles in an untethered insect. For demonstration, we targeted the third axillary sclerite (3Ax) muscle to control and achieve left or right turning of a flying beetle. A thin silver wire electrode was implanted on the 3Ax muscle on each side of the beetle. These were connected to the outputs of a wireless backpack (i.e., a neuromuscular electrical stimulator) mounted on the pronotum of the beetle. The muscle was stimulated in free flight by alternating the stimulation side (left or right) or varying the stimulation frequency. The beetle turned to the ipsilateral side when the muscle was stimulated and exhibited a graded response to an increasing frequency. The implantation process and volume calibration of the 3 dimensional motion capture camera system need to be carried out with care to avoid damaging the muscle and losing track of the marker, respectively. This method is highly beneficial to study insect flight, as it helps to reveal the functions of the flight muscle of interest in free flight.

[Peculiarities of research of flying thinking].

PubMed

Kovalenko, P A; Chulaevskiĭ, A O

2011-01-01

New approach to the research of flying thinking is offered. This approach is based on principals of stage-by-stage approach (research of the reflection of every parameter of flight, than its aggregate in figured and conceptual framework), on the usage of the methods of registration of inner and external characteristics of activity of the air staff with the priority of research of content area and mechanisms of flying thinking, typology of content area and mechanisms of flying thinking. This approach is also based on the effectiveness of reflection by means of correlation of the detected figured and conceptual framework with time and correctness of decisions of test flight tasks and with different psychophysiological characteristics.

Rules to fly by: pigeons navigating horizontal obstacles limit steering by selecting gaps most aligned to their flight direction.

PubMed

Ros, Ivo G; Bhagavatula, Partha S; Lin, Huai-Ti; Biewener, Andrew A

2017-02-06

Flying animals must successfully contend with obstacles in their natural environments. Inspired by the robust manoeuvring abilities of flying animals, unmanned aerial systems are being developed and tested to improve flight control through cluttered environments. We previously examined steering strategies that pigeons adopt to fly through an array of vertical obstacles (VOs). Modelling VO flight guidance revealed that pigeons steer towards larger visual gaps when making fast steering decisions. In the present experiments, we recorded three-dimensional flight kinematics of pigeons as they flew through randomized arrays of horizontal obstacles (HOs). We found that pigeons still decelerated upon approach but flew faster through a denser array of HOs compared with the VO array previously tested. Pigeons exhibited limited steering and chose gaps between obstacles most aligned to their immediate flight direction, in contrast to VO navigation that favoured widest gap steering. In addition, pigeons navigated past the HOs with more variable and decreased wing stroke span and adjusted their wing stroke plane to reduce contact with the obstacles. Variability in wing extension, stroke plane and wing stroke path was greater during HO flight. Pigeons also exhibited pronounced head movements when negotiating HOs, which potentially serve a visual function. These head-bobbing-like movements were most pronounced in the horizontal (flight direction) and vertical directions, consistent with engaging motion vision mechanisms for obstacle detection. These results show that pigeons exhibit a keen kinesthetic sense of their body and wings in relation to obstacles. Together with aerodynamic flapping flight mechanics that favours vertical manoeuvring, pigeons are able to navigate HOs using simple rules, with remarkable success.

Rules to fly by: pigeons navigating horizontal obstacles limit steering by selecting gaps most aligned to their flight direction

PubMed Central

Ros, Ivo G.; Bhagavatula, Partha S.; Lin, Huai-Ti

2017-01-01

Flying animals must successfully contend with obstacles in their natural environments. Inspired by the robust manoeuvring abilities of flying animals, unmanned aerial systems are being developed and tested to improve flight control through cluttered environments. We previously examined steering strategies that pigeons adopt to fly through an array of vertical obstacles (VOs). Modelling VO flight guidance revealed that pigeons steer towards larger visual gaps when making fast steering decisions. In the present experiments, we recorded three-dimensional flight kinematics of pigeons as they flew through randomized arrays of horizontal obstacles (HOs). We found that pigeons still decelerated upon approach but flew faster through a denser array of HOs compared with the VO array previously tested. Pigeons exhibited limited steering and chose gaps between obstacles most aligned to their immediate flight direction, in contrast to VO navigation that favoured widest gap steering. In addition, pigeons navigated past the HOs with more variable and decreased wing stroke span and adjusted their wing stroke plane to reduce contact with the obstacles. Variability in wing extension, stroke plane and wing stroke path was greater during HO flight. Pigeons also exhibited pronounced head movements when negotiating HOs, which potentially serve a visual function. These head-bobbing-like movements were most pronounced in the horizontal (flight direction) and vertical directions, consistent with engaging motion vision mechanisms for obstacle detection. These results show that pigeons exhibit a keen kinesthetic sense of their body and wings in relation to obstacles. Together with aerodynamic flapping flight mechanics that favours vertical manoeuvring, pigeons are able to navigate HOs using simple rules, with remarkable success. PMID:28163883

Development and flight evaluation of an augmented stability active controls concept with a small horizontal tail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rising, J. J.; Kairys, A. A.; Maass, C. A.; Siegart, C. D.; Rakness, W. L.; Mijares, R. D.; King, R. W.; Peterson, R. S.; Hurley, S. R.; Wickson, D.

1982-01-01

A limited authority pitch active control system (PACS) was developed for a wide body jet transport (L-1011) with a flying horizontal stabilizer. Two dual channel digital computers and the associated software provide command signals to a dual channel series servo which controls the stabilizer power actuators. Input sensor signals to the computer are pitch rate, column-trim position, and dynamic pressure. Control laws are given for the PACS and the system architecture is defined. The piloted flight simulation and vehicle system simulation tests performed to verify control laws and system operation prior to installation on the aircraft are discussed. Modifications to the basic aircraft are described. Flying qualities of the aircraft with the PACS on and off were evaluated. Handling qualities for cruise and high speed flight conditions with the c.g. at 39% mac ( + 1% stability margin) and PACS operating were judged to be as good as the handling qualities with the c.g. at 25% (+15% stability margin) and PACS off.

The miniature parachute of the dandelion fruit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cummins, Cathal; Viola, Ignazio Maria; Seale, Madeleine; Mastropaolo, Enrico; Nakayama, Naomi

2017-11-01

At the low Reynolds number at which small plant fruit (the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants) fly, there are a variety of modes of flight available: from parachuting to gliding and autorotation. Here we will explore the aerodynamics of small plumed fruit (dandelions) that utilise the parachuting mode of flight. If a parachute-type fruit is picked up by the breeze, it can be carried over formidable distances. Incredibly, these parachutes are mostly empty space, yet they are effectively impervious to the airflow as they descend. In addition, the fruit can become more or less streamlined depending on the environmental conditions. In this talk, we will present results from our numerical and physical modelling that clarify how these tiny parachutes achieve such impermeability despite their high porosity. We reveal that the dandelion's parachute tunes its permeability to achieve the aerodynamic stability as it flies, which helps confer the fruit's incredible flight capacity. This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust [RPG-2015-255].

Extended season for northern butterflies.

PubMed

Karlsson, Bengt

2014-07-01

Butterflies are like all insects in that they are temperature sensitive and a changing climate with higher temperatures might effect their phenology. Several studies have found support for earlier flight dates among the investigated species. A comparative study with data from a citizen science project, including 66 species of butterflies in Sweden, was undertaken, and the result confirms that most butterfly species now fly earlier during the season. This is especially evident for butterflies overwintering as adults or as pupae. However, the advancement in phenology is correlated with flight date, and some late season species show no advancement or have even postponed their flight dates and are now flying later in the season. The results also showed that latitude had a strong effect on the adult flight date, and most of the investigated species showed significantly later flights towards the north. Only some late flying species showed an opposite trend, flying earlier in the north. A majority of the investigated species in this study showed a general response to temperature and advanced their flight dates with warmer temperatures (on average they advanced their flight dates by 3.8 days/°C), although not all species showed this response. In essence, a climate with earlier springs and longer growing seasons seems not to change the appearance patterns in a one-way direction. We now see butterflies on the wings both earlier and later in the season and some consequences of these patterns are discussed. So far, studies have concentrated mostly on early season butterfly-plant interactions but also late season studies are needed for a better understanding of long-term population consequences.

Controlling free flight of a robotic fly using an onboard vision sensor inspired by insect ocelli

PubMed Central

Fuller, Sawyer B.; Karpelson, Michael; Censi, Andrea; Ma, Kevin Y.; Wood, Robert J.

2014-01-01

Scaling a flying robot down to the size of a fly or bee requires advances in manufacturing, sensing and control, and will provide insights into mechanisms used by their biological counterparts. Controlled flight at this scale has previously required external cameras to provide the feedback to regulate the continuous corrective manoeuvres necessary to keep the unstable robot from tumbling. One stabilization mechanism used by flying insects may be to sense the horizon or Sun using the ocelli, a set of three light sensors distinct from the compound eyes. Here, we present an ocelli-inspired visual sensor and use it to stabilize a fly-sized robot. We propose a feedback controller that applies torque in proportion to the angular velocity of the source of light estimated by the ocelli. We demonstrate theoretically and empirically that this is sufficient to stabilize the robot's upright orientation. This constitutes the first known use of onboard sensors at this scale. Dipteran flies use halteres to provide gyroscopic velocity feedback, but it is unknown how other insects such as honeybees stabilize flight without these sensory organs. Our results, using a vehicle of similar size and dynamics to the honeybee, suggest how the ocelli could serve this role. PMID:24942846

Identification of host fruit volatiles from flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) attractive to dogwood-origin Rhagoletis pomonella flies.

PubMed

Nojima, Satoshi; Linn, Charles; Roelofs, Wendell

2003-10-01

Solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography coupled with electroantennographic detection were used to identify volatiles from fruit of flowering dogwood, Cornus florida, as key attractants for Rhagoletis pomonella flies originating from dogwood fruit. A six-component blend containing ethyl acetate (54.9%), 3-methylbutan-1-ol (27.5%), isoamyl acetate (0.9%), dimethyl trisulfide (1.9%), 1-octen-3-ol (9.1%), and beta-caryophyllene (5.8%) was identified from flowering dogwood fruit that gave consistent EAD activity. In a flight tunnel assay there was no significant difference in the response of individual dogwood flies exhibiting upwind anemotactic flight to volatile extracts from dogwood fruit and the six-component synthetic mixture. Dogwood flies also displayed significantly greater levels of upwind flight to sources with the dogwood volatile blend than with previously identified volatile blends from domestic apple or hawthorn fruit. Selected subtraction assays showed that the three-component mixture of 3-methylbutan-1-ol, 1-octen-3-ol, and beta-caryophyllene elicited levels of upwind flight to the source equivalent to the six-component mixture. Our study adds to previous ones showing that populations of Rhagoletis pomonella flies infesting apple, hawthorn, and flowering dogwood fruit are attracted to unique mixtures of fruit volatiles, supporting the hypothesis that host fruit odors could be key traits in sympatric host shifts and establishing host fidelity within members of the Rhagoletis pomonella species complex.

Motion Systems Role in Flight Simulators for Flying Training. Final Report for Period June 1977-June 1978.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cyrus, Michael L.

This report reviews the literature as it relates to the use of platform motion systems in flight simulators for flying training. Motion is discussed in terms of its effect on compensatory, pursuit, and precognitive tasks, within both the simulator and transfer contexts. Although both skilled and unskilled behaviors are addressed, the former are…

Project Ares 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raymer, Dan; Russell, Phyllis; Fox, Tim; Meyers, Doug; Lovric, Steven; Grabow, Robert; Epp, Manfred; Wynn, Warren, Jr.; Mako, Zoltan; Linzner, Gunther

1992-01-01

The mission of Project Ares is to design and fabricate an Earth prototype, autonomous flying rover capable of flying on the Martian surface. The project was awarded to California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in 1989 where an in-depth paper study was completed. The second year's group, Project Ares 2, designed and fabricated a full-scale flight demonstration aircraft. Project Ares 3, the third and final group, is responsible for propulsion system design and installation, controls and instrumentation, and high altitude testing. The propulsion system consists of a motor and its power supply, geartrain, and propeller. The motor is a four-brush DC motor powered by a 50-V NiCd battery supply. A pulley and belt arrangement is used for the geartrain and includes light weight, low temperature materials. The propeller is constructed from composite materials which ensures high strength and light weight, and is specifically developed to provide thrust at extremely high altitudes. The aircraft is controlled with a ground-based radio control system and an autopilot which will activate in the event that the control signal is lost. A transponder is used to maintain radar contact for ground tracking purposes. The aircraft possesses a small, onboard computer for collecting and storing flight data. To safeguard the possibility of computer failure, all flight data is transmitted to a ground station via a telemetry system. An initial, unpowered, low-level test flight was completed in August of 1991. Testing of systems integration in the second low-level test flight resulted in loss of elevator control which caused considerable damage on landing. Complete failure analysis and repairs are scheduled for September of 1992.

Steering a virtual blowfly: simulation of visual pursuit.

PubMed

Boeddeker, Norbert; Egelhaaf, Martin

2003-09-22

The behavioural repertoire of male flies includes visually guided chasing after moving targets. The visuomotor control system for these pursuits belongs to the fastest found in the animal kingdom. We simulated a virtual fly, to test whether or not experimentally established hypotheses on the underlying control system are sufficient to explain chasing behaviour. Two operating instructions for steering the chasing virtual fly were derived from behavioural experiments: (i) the retinal size of the target controls the fly's forward speed and, thus, indirectly its distance to the target; and (ii) a smooth pursuit system uses the retinal position of the target to regulate the fly's flight direction. Low-pass filters implement neuronal processing time. Treating the virtual fly as a point mass, its kinematics are modelled in consideration of the effects of translatory inertia and air friction. Despite its simplicity, the model shows behaviour similar to that of real flies. Depending on its starting position and orientation as well as on target size and speed, the virtual fly either catches the target or follows it indefinitely without capture. These two behavioural modes of the virtual fly emerge from the control system for flight steering without implementation of an explicit decision maker.

Flight test of the X-29A at high angle of attack: Flight dynamics and controls

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bauer, Jeffrey E.; Clarke, Robert; Burken, John J.

1995-01-01

The NASA Dryden Flight Research Center has flight tested two X-29A aircraft at low and high angles of attack. The high-angle-of-attack tests evaluate the feasibility of integrated X-29A technologies. More specific objectives focus on evaluating the high-angle-of-attack flying qualities, defining multiaxis controllability limits, and determining the maximum pitch-pointing capability. A pilot-selectable gain system allows examination of tradeoffs in airplane stability and maneuverability. Basic fighter maneuvers provide qualitative evaluation. Bank angle captures permit qualitative data analysis. This paper discusses the design goals and approach for high-angle-of-attack control laws and provides results from the envelope expansion and handling qualities testing at intermediate angles of attack. Comparisons of the flight test results to the predictions are made where appropriate. The pitch rate command structure of the longitudinal control system is shown to be a valid design for high-angle-of-attack control laws. Flight test results show that wing rock amplitude was overpredicted and aileron and rudder effectiveness were underpredicted. Flight tests show the X-29A airplane to be a good aircraft up to 40 deg angle of attack.

Wernher von Braun

NASA Image and Video Library

1968-10-01

Dr. von Braun inside the KC-135 in flight. The KC-135 provide NASA's Reduced-Gravity Program the unique weightlessness or zero-g environment of space flight for testing and training of human and hardware reactions. The recent version, KC-135A, is a specially modified turbojet transport which flies parabolic arcs to produce weightlessness periods of 20 to 25 seconds and its cargo bay test area is approximately 60 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 7 feet high.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-04-15

The Reduced-Gravity Program provides the unique weightless or zero-g environment of space flight for testing and training of human and hardware reactions. The reduced-gravity environment is obtained with a specially modified KC-135A turbojet transport which flies parabolic arcs to produce weightless periods of 20 to 25 seconds. KC-135A cargo bay test area is approximately 60 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 7 feet high. The image shows KC-135A in flight.

USAF Flight Surgeon Survey: Aircrew Mental Health Referrals and Satisfaction with Local Mental Health Providers Response

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-05-01

Autogenic training exercise; A treatment for airsickness in military pilots. International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 2005; 15(4): 395-412...flying during training , humanitarian, and operational missions can be extremely taxing. Flight surgeons often observe or hear of changes in the...health care is to ease and resolve the emotional or behavioral difficulties of an aviator while attempting to preserve a highly trained USAF asset

A comparison of traffic estimates of nocturnal flying animals using radar, thermal imaging, and acoustic recording.

PubMed

Horton, Kyle G; Shriver, W Gregory; Buler, Jeffrey J

2015-03-01

There are several remote-sensing tools readily available for the study of nocturnally flying animals (e.g., migrating birds), each possessing unique measurement biases. We used three tools (weather surveillance radar, thermal infrared camera, and acoustic recorder) to measure temporal and spatial patterns of nocturnal traffic estimates of flying animals during the spring and fall of 2011 and 2012 in Lewes, Delaware, USA. Our objective was to compare measures among different technologies to better understand their animal detection biases. For radar and thermal imaging, the greatest observed traffic rate tended to occur at, or shortly after, evening twilight, whereas for the acoustic recorder, peak bird flight-calling activity was observed just prior to morning twilight. Comparing traffic rates during the night for all seasons, we found that mean nightly correlations between acoustics and the other two tools were weakly correlated (thermal infrared camera and acoustics, r = 0.004 ± 0.04 SE, n = 100 nights; radar and acoustics, r = 0.14 ± 0.04 SE, n = 101 nights), but highly variable on an individual nightly basis (range = -0.84 to 0.92, range = -0.73 to 0.94). The mean nightly correlations between traffic rates estimated by radar and by thermal infrared camera during the night were more strongly positively correlated (r = 0.39 ± 0.04 SE, n = 125 nights), but also were highly variable for individual nights (range = -0.76 to 0.98). Through comparison with radar data among numerous height intervals, we determined that flying animal height above the ground influenced thermal imaging positively and flight call detections negatively. Moreover, thermal imaging detections decreased with the presence of cloud cover and increased with mean ground flight speed of animals, whereas acoustic detections showed no relationship with cloud cover presence but did decrease with increased flight speed. We found sampling methods to be positively correlated when comparing mean nightly traffic rates across nights. The strength of these correlations generally increased throughout the night, peaking 2-3 hours before morning twilight. Given the convergence of measures by different tools at this time, we suggest that researchers consider sampling flight activity in the hours before morning twilight when differences due to detection biases among sampling tools appear to be minimized.

Flying high-altitude balloon-borne telescopes 50 years ago

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fazio, Giovanni G.

Based on theoretical predictions of cosmic gamma-ray fluxes by P. Morrison (1958) and M. Savedoff (1959), we started, at the University of Rochester, a program in high-energy gammaray astronomy to search for these sources using high-altitude balloon-borne telescopes. The first flight occurred in 1959 from Sioux Falls, SD, using scintillator/Cerenkov detectors. In 1962 I initiated a gamma-ray astronomy program at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) using vidicon spark chambers. Later Henry Helmken (SAO) developed a program in low-energy gamma-ray astronomy based on a gas Cerenkov detector. During the 1960's more flights followed from San Angelo, TX; Holloman AFB, NM; Hyderabad, India, and finally, Palestine, TX. All of these flights just produced upper limits to the cosmic gamma-ray flux. We also entered a collaboration with the Cornell Group (K. Greisen) to fly a large gas-Cerenkov telescope to search for ˜ 100 MeV gamma-rays. In the early 1970's, using this telescope, gammarays from the Crab Nebula pulsar were detected (McBreen et al. 1973). It soon became evident that gamma-ray astronomy, to be successful, had to be performed from space telescopes. In 1970, somewhat frustrated, I changed fields and started at SAO/Harvard the construction of a 1-meter balloon-borne telescope for far-infrared astronomy. This was a collaborative program with the University of Arizona (F. Low). This program was extremely successful, resulting in 19 flights over 20 years, and produced the first far-infrared high-resolution maps of many new galactic regions and detection of solar system sources. Experience gained from these programs later led to the development and flight of space gamma-ray and infrared telescopes and many of the participants were, and some still are, active in numerous space programs.

A Flying Summer Camp

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mercurio, Frank X.

1975-01-01

Describes a five-day summer camp which provided 12 children, ages 9-14, with a complete flying experience. The training consisted of ground school and one hour actual flying time, including the basics of aircraft control and a flight prepared and executed by the students. (MLH)

Flight experience with a fail-operational digital fly-by-wire control system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, S. R.; Szalai, K. J.

1977-01-01

The NASA Dryden Flight Research Center is flight testing a triply redundant digital fly-by-wire (DFBW) control system installed in an F-8 aircraft. The full-time, full-authority system performs three-axis flight control computations, including stability and command augmentation, autopilot functions, failure detection and isolation, and self-test functions. Advanced control law experiments include an active flap mode for ride smoothing and maneuver drag reduction. This paper discusses research being conducted on computer synchronization, fault detection, fault isolation, and recovery from transient faults. The F-8 DFBW system has demonstrated immunity from nuisance fault declarations while quickly identifying truly faulty components.

Comparison of in-flight and ground-based simulator derived flying qualities and pilot performance for approach and landing tasks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grantham, William D.; Williams, Robert H.

1987-01-01

For the case of an approach-and-landing piloting task emphasizing response to the landing flare, pilot opinion and performance parameters derived from jet transport aircraft six-degree-of-freedom ground-based and in-flight simulators were compared in order to derive data for the flight-controls/flying-qualities engineers. The data thus obtained indicate that ground simulation results tend to be conservative, and that the effect of control sensitivity is more pronounced for ground simulation. The pilot also has a greater tendency to generate pilot-induced oscillation in ground-based simulation than in flight.

Strategies for the stabilization of longitudinal forward flapping flight revealed using a dynamically-scaled robotic fly.

PubMed

Elzinga, Michael J; van Breugel, Floris; Dickinson, Michael H

2014-06-01

The ability to regulate forward speed is an essential requirement for flying animals. Here, we use a dynamically-scaled robot to study how flapping insects adjust their wing kinematics to regulate and stabilize forward flight. The results suggest that the steady-state lift and thrust requirements at different speeds may be accomplished with quite subtle changes in hovering kinematics, and that these adjustments act primarily by altering the pitch moment. This finding is consistent with prior hypotheses regarding the relationship between body pitch and flight speed in fruit flies. Adjusting the mean stroke position of the wings is a likely mechanism for trimming the pitch moment at all speeds, whereas changes in the mean angle of attack may be required at higher speeds. To ensure stability, the flapping system requires additional pitch damping that increases in magnitude with flight speed. A compensatory reflex driven by fast feedback of pitch rate from the halteres could provide such damping, and would automatically exhibit gain scheduling with flight speed if pitch torque was regulated via changes in stroke deviation. Such a control scheme would provide an elegant solution for stabilization across a wide range of forward flight speeds.

Vista/F-16 Multi-Axis Thrust Vectoring (MATV) control law design and evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zwerneman, W. D.; Eller, B. G.

1994-01-01

For the Multi-Axis Thrust Vectoring (MATV) program, a new control law was developed using multi-axis thrust vectoring to augment the aircraft's aerodynamic control power to provide maneuverability above the normal F-16 angle of attack limit. The control law architecture was developed using Lockheed Fort Worth's offline and piloted simulation capabilities. The final flight control laws were used in flight test to demonstrate tactical benefits gained by using thrust vectoring in air-to-air combat. Differences between the simulator aerodynamics data base and the actual aircraft aerodynamics led to significantly different lateral-directional flying qualities during the flight test program than those identified during piloted simulation. A 'dial-a-gain' flight test control law update was performed in the middle of the flight test program. This approach allowed for inflight optimization of the aircraft's flying qualities. While this approach is not preferred over updating the simulator aerodynamic data base and then updating the control laws, the final selected gain set did provide adequate lateral-directional flying qualities over the MATV flight envelope. The resulting handling qualities and the departure resistance of the aircraft allowed the 422nd_squadron pilots to focus entirely on evaluating the aircraft's tactical utility.

On-board fault diagnostics for fly-by-light flight control systems using neural network flight processors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Urnes, James M., Sr.; Cushing, John; Bond, William E.; Nunes, Steve

1996-10-01

Fly-by-Light control systems offer higher performance for fighter and transport aircraft, with efficient fiber optic data transmission, electric control surface actuation, and multi-channel high capacity centralized processing combining to provide maximum aircraft flight control system handling qualities and safety. The key to efficient support for these vehicles is timely and accurate fault diagnostics of all control system components. These diagnostic tests are best conducted during flight when all facts relating to the failure are present. The resulting data can be used by the ground crew for efficient repair and turnaround of the aircraft, saving time and money in support costs. These difficult to diagnose (Cannot Duplicate) fault indications average 40 - 50% of maintenance activities on today's fighter and transport aircraft, adding significantly to fleet support cost. Fiber optic data transmission can support a wealth of data for fault monitoring; the most efficient method of fault diagnostics is accurate modeling of the component response under normal and failed conditions for use in comparison with the actual component flight data. Neural Network hardware processors offer an efficient and cost-effective method to install fault diagnostics in flight systems, permitting on-board diagnostic modeling of very complex subsystems. Task 2C of the ARPA FLASH program is a design demonstration of this diagnostics approach, using the very high speed computation of the Adaptive Solutions Neural Network processor to monitor an advanced Electrohydrostatic control surface actuator linked through a AS-1773A fiber optic bus. This paper describes the design approach and projected performance of this on-line diagnostics system.

Coupled nonlinear aeroelasticity and flight dynamics of fully flexible aircraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Weihua

This dissertation introduces an approach to effectively model and analyze the coupled nonlinear aeroelasticity and flight dynamics of highly flexible aircraft. A reduced-order, nonlinear, strain-based finite element framework is used, which is capable of assessing the fundamental impact of structural nonlinear effects in preliminary vehicle design and control synthesis. The cross-sectional stiffness and inertia properties of the wings are calculated along the wing span, and then incorporated into the one-dimensional nonlinear beam formulation. Finite-state unsteady subsonic aerodynamics is used to compute airloads along lifting surfaces. Flight dynamic equations are then introduced to complete the aeroelastic/flight dynamic system equations of motion. Instead of merely considering the flexibility of the wings, the current work allows all members of the vehicle to be flexible. Due to their characteristics of being slender structures, the wings, tail, and fuselage of highly flexible aircraft can be modeled as beams undergoing three dimensional displacements and rotations. New kinematic relationships are developed to handle the split beam systems, such that fully flexible vehicles can be effectively modeled within the existing framework. Different aircraft configurations are modeled and studied, including Single-Wing, Joined-Wing, Blended-Wing-Body, and Flying-Wing configurations. The Lagrange Multiplier Method is applied to model the nodal displacement constraints at the joint locations. Based on the proposed models, roll response and stability studies are conducted on fully flexible and rigidized models. The impacts of the flexibility of different vehicle members on flutter with rigid body motion constraints, flutter in free flight condition, and roll maneuver performance are presented. Also, the static stability of the compressive member of the Joined-Wing configuration is studied. A spatially-distributed discrete gust model is incorporated into the time simulation of the framework. Gust responses of the Flying-Wing configuration subject to stall effects are investigated. A bilinear torsional stiffness model is introduced to study the skin wrinkling due to large bending curvature of the Flying-Wing. The numerical studies illustrate the improvements of the existing reduced-order formulation with new capabilities of both structural modeling and coupled aeroelastic and flight dynamic analysis of fully flexible aircraft.

Avian Cerebellar Floccular Fossa Size Is Not a Proxy for Flying Ability in Birds

PubMed Central

Walsh, Stig A.; Iwaniuk, Andrew N.; Knoll, Monja A.; Bourdon, Estelle; Barrett, Paul M.; Milner, Angela C.; Nudds, Robert L.; Abel, Richard L.; Sterpaio, Patricia Dello

2013-01-01

Extinct animal behavior has often been inferred from qualitative assessments of relative brain region size in fossil endocranial casts. For instance, flight capability in pterosaurs and early birds has been inferred from the relative size of the cerebellar flocculus, which in life protrudes from the lateral surface of the cerebellum. A primary role of the flocculus is to integrate sensory information about head rotation and translation to stabilize visual gaze via the vestibulo-occular reflex (VOR). Because gaze stabilization is a critical aspect of flight, some authors have suggested that the flocculus is enlarged in flying species. Whether this can be further extended to a floccular expansion in highly maneuverable flying species or floccular reduction in flightless species is unknown. Here, we used micro computed-tomography to reconstruct “virtual” endocranial casts of 60 extant bird species, to extract the same level of anatomical information offered by fossils. Volumes of the floccular fossa and entire brain cavity were measured and these values correlated with four indices of flying behavior. Although a weak positive relationship was found between floccular fossa size and brachial index, no significant relationship was found between floccular fossa size and any other flight mode classification. These findings could be the result of the bony endocranium inaccurately reflecting the size of the neural flocculus, but might also reflect the importance of the flocculus for all modes of locomotion in birds. We therefore conclude that the relative size of the flocculus of endocranial casts is an unreliable predictor of locomotor behavior in extinct birds, and probably also pterosaurs and non-avian dinosaurs. PMID:23825638

Biomechanics and biomimetics in insect-inspired flight systems

PubMed Central

Liu, Hao; Ravi, Sridhar; Kolomenskiy, Dmitry; Tanaka, Hiroto

2016-01-01

Insect- and bird-size drones—micro air vehicles (MAV) that can perform autonomous flight in natural and man-made environments are now an active and well-integrated research area. MAVs normally operate at a low speed in a Reynolds number regime of 104–105 or lower, in which most flying animals of insects, birds and bats fly, and encounter unconventional challenges in generating sufficient aerodynamic forces to stay airborne and in controlling flight autonomy to achieve complex manoeuvres. Flying insects that power and control flight by flapping wings are capable of sophisticated aerodynamic force production and precise, agile manoeuvring, through an integrated system consisting of wings to generate aerodynamic force, muscles to move the wings and a control system to modulate power output from the muscles. In this article, we give a selective review on the state of the art of biomechanics in bioinspired flight systems in terms of flapping and flexible wing aerodynamics, flight dynamics and stability, passive and active mechanisms in stabilization and control, as well as flapping flight in unsteady environments. We further highlight recent advances in biomimetics of flapping-wing MAVs with a specific focus on insect-inspired wing design and fabrication, as well as sensing systems. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Moving in a moving medium: new perspectives on flight’. PMID:27528780

Ontogeny of flight initiation in the fly Drosophila melanogaster: implications for the giant fibre system.

PubMed

Hammond, Sarah; O'Shea, Michael

2007-11-01

There are two modes of flight initiation in Drosophila melanogaster-escape and voluntary. Although the circuitry underlying escape is accounted for by the Giant fibre (GF) system, the system underlying voluntary flight initiation is unknown. The GF system is functionally complete before the adult fly ecloses, but immature adults initially fail to react to a stimulus known to reliably evoke escape in mature adults. This suggests that escape in early adulthood, approximately 2-h post-eclosion, is not automatically triggered by the hard-wired GF system. Indeed, we reveal that escape behaviour displays a staged emergence during the first hour post-eclosion, suggesting that the GF system is subject to declining levels of suppression. Voluntary flight initiations are not observed at all during the period when the GF system is released from its suppression, nor indeed for some time after. We addressed the question whether voluntary flight initiation requires the GF system by observing take-off in Shak-B ( 2 ) mutant flies, in which the GF system is defunct. While the escape response is severely impaired in these mutants, they displayed normal voluntary flight initiation. Thus, the escape mechanism is subject to developmental modulation following eclosion and the GF system does not underlie voluntary flight.

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gehrz, Robert; Becklin, Eric; Young, Erick; Krabbe, Alfred; Marcum, Pamela; Roellig, Thomas

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a joint U.S./German Project to develop and operate a 2.5-meter infrared airborne telescope in a Boeing 747-SP that flies in the stratosphere at altitudes as high as 45,000 and is capable of observations from 0.3 microns to 1.6 mm with an average transmission greater than 80 percent. SOFIA will be staged out of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center aircraft operations facility at Palmdale, CA and the SOFIA Science Mission Operations Center (SSMOC) will be located at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. First science flights will begin in 2010, and the number of flights will ramp up annually with a flight rate of over 100 8 to 10 hour flights per year expected by 2014. The observatory is expected to operate until the mid 2030's. SOFIA will initially fly with eight focal plane instruments that include broadband imagers, moderate resolution spectrographs that will resolve broad features due to dust and large molecules, and high resolution spectrometers capable of studying the kinematics of molecular and atomic gas lines at km/s resolution. We describe the SOFIA facility and outline the opportunities for observations by the general scientific community and future instrumentation developments. The operational characteristics of the SOFIA first-generation instruments are summarized and we give several specific examples of the types of scientific studies to which these instruments are expected to make fundamental scientific contributions.

Autogenic-feedback training improves pilot performance during emergency flying conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kellar, Michael A.; Folen, Raymond A.; Cowings, Patricia S.; Toscano, William B.; Hisert, Glen L.

1994-01-01

Studies have shown that autonomous mode behavior is one cause of aircraft fatalities due to pilot error. In such cases, the pilot is in a high state of psychological and physiological arousal and tends to focus on one problem, while ignoring more critical information. This study examined the effect of training in physiological self-recognition and regulation, as a means of improving crew cockpit performance. Seventeen pilots were assigned to the treatment and control groups matched for accumulated flight hours. The treatment group comprised three pilots of HC-130 Hercules aircraft and four HH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilots; the control group comprised three pilots of HC-130's and six Dolphin helicopter pilots. During an initial flight, physiological data were recorded for each crew member and individual crew performance was rated by an instructor pilot. Eight crewmembers were then taught to regulate their own physiological response levels using Autogenic-Feedback Training (AFT). The remaining subjects received no training. During a second flight, treatment subjects showed significant improvement in performance, while controls did not improve. The results indicate that AFT management of high states of physiological arousal may improve pilot performance during emergency flying conditions.

Unsteady bio-fluid dynamics in flying and swimming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Hao; Kolomenskiy, Dmitry; Nakata, Toshiyuki; Li, Gen

2017-08-01

Flying and swimming in nature present sophisticated and exciting ventures in biomimetics, which seeks sustainable solutions and solves practical problems by emulating nature's time-tested patterns, functions, and strategies. Bio-fluids in insect and bird flight, as well as in fish swimming are highly dynamic and unsteady; however, they have been studied mostly with a focus on the phenomena associated with a body or wings moving in a steady flow. Characterized by unsteady wing flapping and body undulation, fluid-structure interactions, flexible wings and bodies, turbulent environments, and complex maneuver, bio-fluid dynamics normally have challenges associated with low Reynolds number regime and high unsteadiness in modeling and analysis of flow physics. In this article, we review and highlight recent advances in unsteady bio-fluid dynamics in terms of leading-edge vortices, passive mechanisms in flexible wings and hinges, flapping flight in unsteady environments, and micro-structured aerodynamics in flapping flight, as well as undulatory swimming, flapping-fin hydrodynamics, body-fin interaction, C-start and maneuvering, swimming in turbulence, collective swimming, and micro-structured hydrodynamics in swimming. We further give a perspective outlook on future challenges and tasks of several key issues of the field.

Autogenic-feedback training improves pilot performance during emergency flying conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kellar, Michael A.; Folen, Raymond A.; Cowings, Patricia S.; Toscano, William B.; Hisert, Glen L.

1993-01-01

Studies have shown that autonomous mode behavior is one cause of aircraft fatalities due to pilot error. In such cases, the pilot is in a high state of psychological and physiological arousal and tends to focus on one problem, while ignoring more critical information. The effect of training in physiological self-recognition and regulation, as a means of improving crew cockpit performance was examined. Seventeen pilots were assigned to the treatment and control groups matched for accumulated flight hours. The treatment group comprised four pilots of HC-130 Hercules aircraft and four HH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilots; the control group comprised three pilots of HC-130's and six Dolphin helicopter pilots. During an initial flight physiological data were recorded for each crewmember and individual crew performance and rated by an instructor pilot. Eight crewmembers were then taught to regulate their own physiological response levels using Autogenic-Feedback Training (AFT). The remaining subjects received no training. During a second flight, treatment subjects showed significant improvement in performance, while controls did not improve. The results indicate that AFT management of high states of physiological arousal may improve pilot performance during emergency flying conditions.

Autogenic Feedback Training Exercise and pilot performance: enhanced functioning under search-and-rescue flying conditions.

PubMed

Cowings, P S; Kellar, M A; Folen, R A; Toscano, W B; Burge, J D

2001-01-01

Studies have shown that autonomous mode behavior is one cause of aircraft fatalities due to pilot error. In such cases, the pilot is in a high state of psychological and physiological arousal and tends to focus on one problem, while ignoring more critical information. This study examined the effect of training in physiological self-recognition and regulation, as a means of improving crew cockpit performance. Seventeen pilots were assigned to the treatment and control groups matched for accumulated flight hours. The treatment group contained 4 pilots from HC-130 Hercules aircraft and 4 HH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilots; the control group contained 3 pilots of HC-130s and 6 helicopter pilots. During an initial flight, physiological data were recorded on each crewmember and an instructor pilot rated individual crew performance. Eight crewmembers were then taught to regulate their own physiological response levels using Autogenic-Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE). The remaining participants received no training. During a second flight, treatment participants showed significant improvement in performance (rated by the same instructor pilot as in pretests) while controls did not improve. The results indicate that AFTE management of high states of physiological arousal may improve pilot performance during emergency flying conditions.

Autogenic Feedback Training Exercise and pilot performance: enhanced functioning under search-and-rescue flying conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cowings, P. S.; Kellar, M. A.; Folen, R. A.; Toscano, W. B.; Burge, J. D.

2001-01-01

Studies have shown that autonomous mode behavior is one cause of aircraft fatalities due to pilot error. In such cases, the pilot is in a high state of psychological and physiological arousal and tends to focus on one problem, while ignoring more critical information. This study examined the effect of training in physiological self-recognition and regulation, as a means of improving crew cockpit performance. Seventeen pilots were assigned to the treatment and control groups matched for accumulated flight hours. The treatment group contained 4 pilots from HC-130 Hercules aircraft and 4 HH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilots; the control group contained 3 pilots of HC-130s and 6 helicopter pilots. During an initial flight, physiological data were recorded on each crewmember and an instructor pilot rated individual crew performance. Eight crewmembers were then taught to regulate their own physiological response levels using Autogenic-Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE). The remaining participants received no training. During a second flight, treatment participants showed significant improvement in performance (rated by the same instructor pilot as in pretests) while controls did not improve. The results indicate that AFTE management of high states of physiological arousal may improve pilot performance during emergency flying conditions.

An Alternative Flight Software Trigger Paradigm: Applying Multivariate Logistic Regression to Sense Trigger Conditions Using Inaccurate or Scarce Information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Kelly M.; Gay, Robert S.; Stachowiak, Susan J.

2013-01-01

In late 2014, NASA will fly the Orion capsule on a Delta IV-Heavy rocket for the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission. For EFT-1, the Orion capsule will be flying with a new GPS receiver and new navigation software. Given the experimental nature of the flight, the flight software must be robust to the loss of GPS measurements. Once the high-speed entry is complete, the drogue parachutes must be deployed within the proper conditions to stabilize the vehicle prior to deploying the main parachutes. When GPS is available in nominal operations, the vehicle will deploy the drogue parachutes based on an altitude trigger. However, when GPS is unavailable, the navigated altitude errors become excessively large, driving the need for a backup barometric altimeter to improve altitude knowledge. In order to increase overall robustness, the vehicle also has an alternate method of triggering the parachute deployment sequence based on planet-relative velocity if both the GPS and the barometric altimeter fail. However, this backup trigger results in large altitude errors relative to the targeted altitude. Motivated by this challenge, this paper demonstrates how logistic regression may be employed to semi-automatically generate robust triggers based on statistical analysis. Logistic regression is used as a ground processor pre-flight to develop a statistical classifier. The classifier would then be implemented in flight software and executed in real-time. This technique offers improved performance even in the face of highly inaccurate measurements. Although the logistic regression-based trigger approach will not be implemented within EFT-1 flight software, the methodology can be carried forward for future missions and vehicles.

An Alternative Flight Software Paradigm: Applying Multivariate Logistic Regression to Sense Trigger Conditions using Inaccurate or Scarce Information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Kelly; Gay, Robert; Stachowiak, Susan

2013-01-01

In late 2014, NASA will fly the Orion capsule on a Delta IV-Heavy rocket for the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission. For EFT-1, the Orion capsule will be flying with a new GPS receiver and new navigation software. Given the experimental nature of the flight, the flight software must be robust to the loss of GPS measurements. Once the high-speed entry is complete, the drogue parachutes must be deployed within the proper conditions to stabilize the vehicle prior to deploying the main parachutes. When GPS is available in nominal operations, the vehicle will deploy the drogue parachutes based on an altitude trigger. However, when GPS is unavailable, the navigated altitude errors become excessively large, driving the need for a backup barometric altimeter to improve altitude knowledge. In order to increase overall robustness, the vehicle also has an alternate method of triggering the parachute deployment sequence based on planet-relative velocity if both the GPS and the barometric altimeter fail. However, this backup trigger results in large altitude errors relative to the targeted altitude. Motivated by this challenge, this paper demonstrates how logistic regression may be employed to semi-automatically generate robust triggers based on statistical analysis. Logistic regression is used as a ground processor pre-flight to develop a statistical classifier. The classifier would then be implemented in flight software and executed in real-time. This technique offers improved performance even in the face of highly inaccurate measurements. Although the logistic regression-based trigger approach will not be implemented within EFT-1 flight software, the methodology can be carried forward for future missions and vehicles

An Alternative Flight Software Trigger Paradigm: Applying Multivariate Logistic Regression to Sense Trigger Conditions using Inaccurate or Scarce Information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Kelly M.; Gay, Robert S.; Stachowiak, Susan J.

2013-01-01

In late 2014, NASA will fly the Orion capsule on a Delta IV-Heavy rocket for the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission. For EFT-1, the Orion capsule will be flying with a new GPS receiver and new navigation software. Given the experimental nature of the flight, the flight software must be robust to the loss of GPS measurements. Once the high-speed entry is complete, the drogue parachutes must be deployed within the proper conditions to stabilize the vehicle prior to deploying the main parachutes. When GPS is available in nominal operations, the vehicle will deploy the drogue parachutes based on an altitude trigger. However, when GPS is unavailable, the navigated altitude errors become excessively large, driving the need for a backup barometric altimeter. In order to increase overall robustness, the vehicle also has an alternate method of triggering the drogue parachute deployment based on planet-relative velocity if both the GPS and the barometric altimeter fail. However, this velocity-based trigger results in large altitude errors relative to the targeted altitude. Motivated by this challenge, this paper demonstrates how logistic regression may be employed to automatically generate robust triggers based on statistical analysis. Logistic regression is used as a ground processor pre-flight to develop a classifier. The classifier would then be implemented in flight software and executed in real-time. This technique offers excellent performance even in the face of highly inaccurate measurements. Although the logistic regression-based trigger approach will not be implemented within EFT-1 flight software, the methodology can be carried forward for future missions and vehicles.

Operational Evaluatioin of Dynamic Weather Routes at American Airlines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McNally, David; Sheth, Kapil; Gong, Chester; Borchers, Paul; Osborne, Jeff; Keany, Desmond; Scott, Brennan; Smith, Steve; Sahlman, Scott; Lee, Chuhan;

X-29 Research Pilot Rogers Smith

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

Rogers Smith, a NASA research pilot, is seen here at the cockpit of the X-29 forward-swept-wing technology demonstrator at NASA's Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (later the Dryden Flight Research Center), Edwards, California, in 1988. The X-29 explored the use of advanced composites in aircraft construction; variable camber wing surfaces; the unique forward-swept-wing and its thin supercritical airfoil; strake flaps; and a computerized fly-by-wire flight control system that overcame the aircraft's instability. Grumman Aircraft Corporation built two X-29s. They were flight tested at Dryden from 1984 to 1992 in a joint NASA, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and U.S. Air Force program. Two X-29 aircraft, featuring one of the most unusual designs in aviation history, flew at the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (now the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California) from 1984 to 1992. The fighter-sized X-29 technology demonstrators explored several concepts and technologies including: the use of advanced composites in aircraft construction; variable-camber wing surfaces; a unique forward- swept wing and its thin supercritical airfoil; strakes; close-coupled canards; and a computerized fly-by-wire flight control system used to maintain control of the otherwise unstable aircraft. Research results showed that the configuration of forward-swept wings, coupled with movable canards, gave pilots excellent control response at angles of attack of up to 45 degrees. During its flight history, the X-29 aircraft flew 422 research missions and a total of 436 missions. Sixty of the research flights were part of the X-29 follow-on 'vortex control' phase. The forward-swept wing of the X-29 resulted in reverse airflow, toward the fuselage rather than away from it, as occurs on the usual aft-swept wing. Consequently, on the forward-swept wing, the ailerons remained unstalled at high angles of attack. This provided better airflow over the ailerons and prevented stalling (loss of lift) at high angles of attack. Introduction of composite materials in the 1970s opened a new field of aircraft construction. It also made possible the construction of the X-29's thin supercritical wing. State-of-the-art composites allowed aeroelastic tailoring which, in turn, allowed the wing some bending but limited twisting and eliminated structural divergence within the flight envelope (i.e. deformation of the wing or the wing breaking off in flight). Additionally, composite materials allowed the wing to be sufficiently rigid for safe flight without adding an unacceptable weight penalty. The X-29 project consisted of two phases plus the follow-on vortex-control phase. Phase 1 demonstrated that the forward sweep of the X-29 wings kept the wing tips unstalled at the moderate angles of attack flown in that phase (a maximum of 21 degrees). Phase I also demonstrated that the aeroelastic tailored wing prevented structural divergence of the wing within the flight envelope, and that the control laws and control-surface effectiveness were adequate to provide artificial stability for an otherwise unstable aircraft. Phase 1 further demonstrated that the X-29 configuration could fly safely and reliably, even in tight turns. During Phase 2 of the project, the X-29, flying at an angle of attack of up to 67 degrees, demonstrated much better control and maneuvering qualities than computational methods and simulation models had predicted . During 120 research flights in this phase, NASA, Air Force, and Grumman project pilots reported the X-29 aircraft had excellent control response to an angle of attack of 45 degrees and still had limited controllability at a 67-degree angle of attack. This controllability at high angles of attack can be attributed to the aircraft's unique forward-swept wing- canard design. The NASA/Air Force-designed high-gain flight control laws also contributed to the good flying qualities. During the Air Force-initiated vortex-control phase, the X-29 successfully demonstrated vortex flow control (VFC). This VFC was more effective than expected in generating yaw forces, especially in high angles of attack where the rudder is less effective. VFC was less effective in providing control when sideslip (wind pushing on the side of the aircraft) was present, and it did little to decrease rocking oscillation of the aircraft. The X-29 vehicle was a single-engine aircraft, 48.1 feet long with a wing span of 27.2 feet. Each aircraft was powered by a General Electric F404-GE-400 engine producing 16,000 pounds of thrust. The program was a joint effort of the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Air Force, the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility, the Air Force Flight Test Center, and the Grumman Corporation. The program was managed by the Air Force's Wright Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Flying over decades

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoeller, Judith; Issler, Mena; Imamoglu, Atac

Levy flights haven been extensively used in the past three decades to describe non-Brownian motion of particles. In this presentation I give an overview on how Levy flights have been used across several disciplines, ranging from biology to finance to physics. In our publication we describe how a single electron spin 'flies' when captured in quantum dot using the central spin model. At last I motivate the use of Levy flights for the description of anomalous diffusion in modern experiments, concretely to describe the lifetimes of quasi-particles in Josephson junctions. Finished PhD at ETH in Spring 2015.

Student's experiment to fly on third Shuttle mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

A spaceborne student experiment on insect motion during weightlessness scheduled to fly on the third flight of the space shuttle is described. The experiment will focus on the flight behavior in zero gravity of two species of flying insects with differing ratios of body mass to wing area, the velvetbean caterpillar moth and the honeybee drone. Ten insects of each species will be carried in separate canisters. The crew will remove the canisters from the storage locker and attach them to the mid-deck wall, where the insects will be observed and filmed by a data acquisition camera.

Applications of a Forward-Looking Interferometer for the On-board Detection of Aviation Weather Hazards

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

West, Leanne; Gimmestad, Gary; Smith, William; Kireev, Stanislav; Cornman, Larry B.; Schaffner, Philip R.; Tsoucalas, George

2008-01-01

The Forward-Looking Interferometer (FLI) is a new instrument concept for obtaining measurements of potential weather hazards to alert flight crews. The FLI concept is based on high-resolution Infrared (IR) Fourier Transform Spectrometry (FTS) technologies that have been developed for satellite remote sensing, and which have also been applied to the detection of aerosols and gases for other purposes. It is being evaluated for multiple hazards including clear air turbulence (CAT), volcanic ash, wake vortices, low slant range visibility, dry wind shear, and icing, during all phases of flight. Previous sensitivity and characterization studies addressed the phenomenology that supports detection and mitigation by the FLI. Techniques for determining the range, and hence warning time, were demonstrated for several of the hazards, and a table of research instrument parameters was developed for investigating all of the hazards discussed above. This work supports the feasibility of detecting multiple hazards with an FLI multi-hazard airborne sensor, and for producing enhanced IR images in reduced visibility conditions; however, further research must be performed to develop a means to estimate the intensities of the hazards posed to an aircraft and to develop robust algorithms to relate sensor measurables to hazard levels. In addition, validation tests need to be performed with a prototype system.

Falling Victim to Wasps in the Air: A Fate Driven by Prey Flight Morphology?

PubMed Central

Ballesteros, Yolanda; Polidori, Carlo; Tormos, José; Baños-Picón, Laura; Asís, Josep D.

2016-01-01

In prey-predator systems where the interacting individuals are both fliers, the flight performance of both participants heavily influences the probability of success of the predator (the prey is captured) and of the prey (the predator is avoided). While the flight morphology (an estimate of flight performance) of predatory wasps has rarely been addressed as a factor that may contribute to explain prey use, how the flight morphology of potential prey influences the output of predator-prey encounters has not been studied. Here, we hypothesized that flight morphology associated with flight ability (flight muscle mass to body mass ratio (FMR) and body mass to wing area ratio (wing loading, WL)) of Diptera affect their probability of being captured by specialized Diptera-hunting wasps (Bembix merceti and B. zonata), predicting a better manoeuvrability and acceleration capacity achieved by higher FMR and lower WL, and flight speed achieved by higher WL. In addition, wasp species with better flight morphology should be less limited by an advantageous Diptera flight morphology. Overall, the abundance of dipterans in the environment explained an important part of the observed variance in prey capture rate. However, it was not the only factor shaping prey capture. First, higher prey abundance was associated with greater capture rate for one species (B. merceti), although not for the other one. Second, the interaction observed between the environmental dipteran availability and dipteran WL for B. zonata suggests that greater dipteran WL (this probably meaning high cruising speed) decreased the probability of being captured, as long as fly abundance was high in the environment. Third, greater dipteran FMR (which likely means high manoeuvrability and acceleration capacity) helped to reduce predation by B. merceti if, again, dipterans were abundant in the environment. Wasp WL only varied with body mass but not between species, thereby hardly accounting for inter-specific differences in the wasps’ predatory patterns. However, the greater FMR of B. zonata, which implies better flight performance and greater load-lifting capacity, may explain why the capture rate in the two wasp species is affected by different factor interactions. In conclusion, although prey availability remains the primary factor shaping prey use, prey flight morphology seems to gain an additional role under conditions of abundant prey, when wasps can avoid flies with better flight ability. PMID:27046238

Pilot response to peripheral vision cues during instrument flying tasks.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1968-02-01

In an attempt to more closely associate the visual aspects of instrument flying with that of contact flight, a study was made of human response to peripheral vision cues relating to aircraft roll attitude. Pilots, ranging from 52 to 12,000 flying hou...

Operant learning of Drosophila at the torque meter.

PubMed

Brembs, Bjoern

2008-06-16

For experiments at the torque meter, flies are kept on standard fly medium at 25 degrees C and 60% humidity with a 12hr light/12hr dark regime. A standardized breeding regime assures proper larval density and age-matched cohorts. Cold-anesthetized flies are glued with head and thorax to a triangle-shaped hook the day before the experiment. Attached to the torque meter via a clamp, the fly's intended flight maneuvers are measured as the angular momentum around its vertical body axis. The fly is placed in the center of a cylindrical panorama to accomplish stationary flight. An analog to digital converter card feeds the yaw torque signal into a computer which stores the trace for later analysis. The computer also controls a variety of stimuli which can be brought under the fly's control by closing the feedback loop between these stimuli and the yaw torque trace. Punishment is achieved by applying heat from an adjustable infrared laser.

AeroVironment Technician Marshall MacCready carefully lays a panel of solar cells into place on a wi

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

Technician Marshall MacCready carefully lays a panel of solar cells into place on a wing section of the Helios Prototype flying wing at AeroVironment's Design Development Center in Simi Valley, California. More than 1,800 panels containing some 64,000 bi-facial cells, fabricated by SunPower, Inc., of Sunnyvale, California, have been installed on the solar-powered aircraft to provide electricity to its 14 motors and operating systems. Developed by AeroVironment under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project, the Helios Prototype is the forerunner of a planned fleet of slow-flying, long duration, high-altitude aircraft which can perform atmospheric science missions and serve as telecommunications relay platforms in the stratosphere. Target goals set by NASA for the giant 246-foot span flying wing include reaching and sustaining subsonic horizontal flight at 100,000 feet altitude in 2001, and sustained continuous flight for at least four days and nights above 50,000 feet altitude 2003 with the aid of a regenerative fuel cell-based energy storage system now being developed.

Technician Marshall MacCready installs solar cells on the Helios Prototype

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

Technician Marshall MacCready carefully lays a panel of solar cells into place on a wing section of the Helios Prototype flying wing at AeroVironment's Design Development Center in Simi Valley, California. The bi-facial cells, manufactured by SunPower, Inc., of Sunnyvale, California, are among 64,000 solar cells which have been installed on the solar-powered aircraft to provide electricity to its 14 motors and operating systems. Developed by AeroVironment under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project, the Helios Prototype is the forerunner of a planned fleet of slow-flying, long duration, high-altitude aircraft which can perform atmospheric science missions and serve as telecommunications relay platforms in the stratosphere. Target goals set by NASA for the giant 246-foot span flying wing include reaching and sustaining subsonic horizontal flight at 100,000 feet altitude in 2001, and sustained continuous flight for at least four days and nights above 50,000 feet altitude 2003 with the aid of a regenerative fuel cell-based energy storage system now being developed.

APOLLO 17 PRELAUNCH ASTRONAUT TRAINING

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

Apollo Command Module Pilot Evans, left, and Mission Commander Cernan, right, discuss their flight plans as each prepares to fly a T-38 jet aircraft at Patrick Air Force Base just south of the Spaceport. Astronauts Cernan and Evans flew the T-38 aircraft today on training flights over the Kennedy Space Center area to practice flying skills in preparation for upcoming launch to the Moon scheduled 12/06/72.

Skip trajectory flight of a ramjet-powered hypersonic vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fomin, V. M.; Aulchenko, S. M.; Zvegintsev, V. I.

2010-07-01

Possible skip trajectories of a flying vehicle with a periodically actuated ramjet are numerically simulated. An optimal choice of ramjet actuation areas and duration is demonstrated to ensure the maximum flight range with a given amount of the fuel. The main advantage of skip trajectories is found to be a significant (by an order of magnitude) decrease in thermal loads on the flying vehicle.

Biomechanics and biomimetics in insect-inspired flight systems.

PubMed

Liu, Hao; Ravi, Sridhar; Kolomenskiy, Dmitry; Tanaka, Hiroto

2016-09-26

Insect- and bird-size drones-micro air vehicles (MAV) that can perform autonomous flight in natural and man-made environments are now an active and well-integrated research area. MAVs normally operate at a low speed in a Reynolds number regime of 10(4)-10(5) or lower, in which most flying animals of insects, birds and bats fly, and encounter unconventional challenges in generating sufficient aerodynamic forces to stay airborne and in controlling flight autonomy to achieve complex manoeuvres. Flying insects that power and control flight by flapping wings are capable of sophisticated aerodynamic force production and precise, agile manoeuvring, through an integrated system consisting of wings to generate aerodynamic force, muscles to move the wings and a control system to modulate power output from the muscles. In this article, we give a selective review on the state of the art of biomechanics in bioinspired flight systems in terms of flapping and flexible wing aerodynamics, flight dynamics and stability, passive and active mechanisms in stabilization and control, as well as flapping flight in unsteady environments. We further highlight recent advances in biomimetics of flapping-wing MAVs with a specific focus on insect-inspired wing design and fabrication, as well as sensing systems.This article is part of the themed issue 'Moving in a moving medium: new perspectives on flight'. © 2016 The Author(s).

Mission-oriented requirements for updating MIL-H-8501: Calspan proposed structure and rationale

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chalk, C. R.; Radford, R. C.

1985-01-01

This report documents the effort by Arvin/Calspan Corporation to formulate a revision of MIL-H-8501A in terms of Mission-Oriented Flying Qualities Requirements for Military Rotorcraft. Emphasis is placed on development of a specification structure which will permit addressing Operational Missions and Flight Phases, Flight Regions, Classification of Required Operational Capability, Categorization of Flight Phases, and Levels of Flying Qualities. A number of definitions is established to permit addressing the rotorcraft state, flight envelopes, environments, and the conditions under which degraded flying qualities are permitted. Tentative requirements are drafted for Required Operational Capability Class 1. Also included is a Background Information and Users Guide for the draft specification structure proposed for the MIL-H-8501A revision. The report also contains a discussion of critical data gaps and attempts to prioritize these data gaps and to suggest experiments that should be performed to generate data needed to support formulation of quantitative design criteria for the additional Operational Capability Classes 2, 3, and 4.

DC-8 Airborne Laboratory in flight during research mission - view from above

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

The DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratroy is shown flying above a solid layer of clouds. The aircraft was transferred from the Ames Research Center to the Dryden Flight Research Center in late 1997. Over the past several years, it has undertaken a wide range of research in such fields as archeology, ecology, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, volcanology, atmospheric chemistry, and other fields. In this photo, it is shown flying over a bank of clouds. NASA is using a DC-8 aircraft as a flying science laboratory. The platform aircraft, based at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., collects data for many experiments in support of scientific projects serving the world scientific community. Included in this community are NASA, federal, state, academic and foreign investigators. Data gathered by the DC-8 at flight altitude and by remote sensing have been used for scientific studies in archeology, ecology, geography, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, volcanology, atmospheric chemistry, soil science and biology.

Role of outstretched forelegs of flying beetles revealed and demonstrated by remote leg stimulation in free flight.

PubMed

Li, Yao; Cao, Feng; Vo Doan, Tat Thang; Sato, Hirotaka

2017-10-01

In flight, many insects fold their forelegs tightly close to the body, which naturally decreases drag or air resistance. However, flying beetles stretch out their forelegs for some reason. Why do they adopt this posture in flight? Here, we show the role of the stretched forelegs in flight of the beetle Mecynorrhina torquata Using leg motion tracking and electromyography in flight, we found that the forelegs were voluntarily swung clockwise in yaw to induce counter-clockwise rotation of the body for turning left, and vice versa. Furthermore, we demonstrated remote control of left-right turnings in flight by swinging the forelegs via a remote electrical stimulator for the leg muscles. The results and demonstration reveal that the beetle's forelegs play a supplemental role in directional steering during flight. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Estimating short-period dynamics using an extended Kalman filter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bauer, Jeffrey E.; Andrisani, Dominick

1990-01-01

An extended Kalman filter (EKF) is used to estimate the parameters of a low-order model from aircraft transient response data. The low-order model is a state space model derived from the short-period approximation of the longitudinal aircraft dynamics. The model corresponds to the pitch rate to stick force transfer function currently used in flying qualities analysis. Because of the model chosen, handling qualities information is also obtained. The parameters are estimated from flight data as well as from a six-degree-of-freedom, nonlinear simulation of the aircraft. These two estimates are then compared and the discrepancies noted. The low-order model is able to satisfactorily match both flight data and simulation data from a high-order computer simulation. The parameters obtained from the EKF analysis of flight data are compared to those obtained using frequency response analysis of the flight data. Time delays and damping ratios are compared and are in agreement. This technique demonstrates the potential to determine, in near real time, the extent of differences between computer models and the actual aircraft. Precise knowledge of these differences can help to determine the flying qualities of a test aircraft and lead to more efficient envelope expansion.

Fast and fuel efficient? Optimal use of wind by flying albatrosses.

PubMed

Weimerskirch, H; Guionnet, T; Martin, J; Shaffer, S A; Costa, D P

2000-09-22

The influence of wind patterns on behaviour and effort of free-ranging male wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) was studied with miniaturized external heart-rate recorders in conjunction with satellite transmitters and activity recorders. Heart rate was used as an instantaneous index of energy expenditure. When cruising with favourable tail or side winds, wandering albatrosses can achieve high flight speeds while expending little more energy than birds resting on land. In contrast, heart rate increases concomitantly with increasing head winds, and flight speeds decrease. Our results show that effort is greatest when albatrosses take off from or land on the water. On a larger scale, we show that in order for birds to have the highest probability of experiencing favourable winds, wandering albatrosses use predictable weather systems to engage in a stereotypical flight pattern of large looping tracks. When heading north, albatrosses fly in anticlockwise loops, and to the south, movements are in a clockwise direction. Thus, the capacity to integrate instantaneous eco-physiological measures with records of large-scale flight and wind patterns allows us to understand better the complex interplay between the evolution of morphological, physiological and behavioural adaptations of albatrosses in the windiest place on earth.

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaii

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus flying over the Hawaiian Islands in 1998 with Ni'ihau Island in the background. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4 days above 50,000 feet. Major activities of Pathfinder Plus' Hawaiian flights included detection of forest nutrient status, forest regrowth after damage caused by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, sediment/algal concentrations in coastal waters, and assessment of coral reef health. Pathfinder science activities were coordinated by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, and included researchers from the University of Hawaii and the University of California. Pathfinder is part of NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program managed by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Pathfinder and Pathfinder Plus were designed, built, and operated by AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California. Pathfinder had a 98.4-foot wing span and weighed 560 pounds. Pathfinder Plus has a 121-foot wing span and weighs about 700 pounds. Pathfinder was powered by six electric motors while Pathfinder Plus has eight. Pathfinder's solar arrays produced approximately 8,000 watts of power while Pathfinder Plus' solar arrays produce about 12,500 watts of power. Both Pathfinder aircraft were built primarily of composites, plastic, and foam.

Neurophysiology of Flight in Wild-Type and a Mutant Drosophila

PubMed Central

Levine, Jon D.; Wyman, Robert J.

1973-01-01

We report the flight motor output pattern in Drosophila melanogaster and the neural network responsible for it, and describe the bursting motor output pattern in a mutant. There are 26 singly-innervated muscle fibers. There are two basic firing patterns: phase progression, shown by units that receive a common input but have no cross-connections, and phase stability, in which synergic units, receiving a common input and inhibiting each other, fire in a repeating sequence. Flies carrying the mutation stripe cannot fly. Their motor output is reduced to a short duration, high-frequency burst, but the patterning within bursts shows many of the characteristics of the wild type. The mutation is restricted in its effect, as the nervous system has normal morphology by light microscopy and other behaviors of the mutant are normal. Images PMID:4197927

Toxicity of flavor enhancers to the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Zheng, Chunyan; Yang, Dongyu; Li, Zhiqiang; Xu, Yijuan

2018-04-11

The objective of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of flavor enhancers to the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). The flavor enhancers glycine, disodium guanylate, succinic acid disodium salt, monosodium glutamate (MSG), disodium inosinate, and L-alanine significantly increased the mortality of B. dorsalis flies. The mortality of flies that fed on glycine, disodium guanylate, succinic acid disodium salt, and MSG was greater than 90%. Additionally, fruit fly mortality increased with increases in both time and concentration. Glycine not only reduced the climbing ability of B. dorsalis but also affected the duration and frequency of its behavioral patterns (flight, walking, grooming and inactivity). Compared with adult flies in the control group, adult B. dorsalis flies that fed on glycine exhibited a significantly increased duration and frequency of inactivity and a decreased duration and frequency of both flight and walking. However, the effect of glycine on grooming activity was not significant. These findings demonstrate the toxic effects of flavor enhancers on B. dorsalis. Glycine also affected the behavior of adult flies at a low dose. Therefore, glycine has potentially toxic to insects and also likely to have a negative impact at sublethal concentrations.

Digital Fly-By-Wire Flight Control Validation Experience

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szalai, K. J.; Jarvis, C. R.; Krier, G. E.; Megna, V. A.; Brock, L. D.; Odonnell, R. N.

1978-01-01

The experience gained in digital fly-by-wire technology through a flight test program being conducted by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in an F-8C aircraft is described. The system requirements are outlined, along with the requirements for flight qualification. The system is described, including the hardware components, the aircraft installation, and the system operation. The flight qualification experience is emphasized. The qualification process included the theoretical validation of the basic design, laboratory testing of the hardware and software elements, systems level testing, and flight testing. The most productive testing was performed on an iron bird aircraft, which used the actual electronic and hydraulic hardware and a simulation of the F-8 characteristics to provide the flight environment. The iron bird was used for sensor and system redundancy management testing, failure modes and effects testing, and stress testing in many cases with the pilot in the loop. The flight test program confirmed the quality of the validation process by achieving 50 flights without a known undetected failure and with no false alarms.

Simulation Results for Airborne Precision Spacing along Continuous Descent Arrivals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barmore, Bryan E.; Abbott, Terence S.; Capron, William R.; Baxley, Brian T.

2008-01-01

This paper describes the results of a fast-time simulation experiment and a high-fidelity simulator validation with merging streams of aircraft flying Continuous Descent Arrivals through generic airspace to a runway at Dallas-Ft Worth. Aircraft made small speed adjustments based on an airborne-based spacing algorithm, so as to arrive at the threshold exactly at the assigned time interval behind their Traffic-To-Follow. The 40 aircraft were initialized at different altitudes and speeds on one of four different routes, and then merged at different points and altitudes while flying Continuous Descent Arrivals. This merging and spacing using flight deck equipment and procedures to augment or implement Air Traffic Management directives is called Flight Deck-based Merging and Spacing, an important subset of a larger Airborne Precision Spacing functionality. This research indicates that Flight Deck-based Merging and Spacing initiated while at cruise altitude and well prior to the Terminal Radar Approach Control entry can significantly contribute to the delivery of aircraft at a specified interval to the runway threshold with a high degree of accuracy and at a reduced pilot workload. Furthermore, previously documented work has shown that using a Continuous Descent Arrival instead of a traditional step-down descent can save fuel, reduce noise, and reduce emissions. Research into Flight Deck-based Merging and Spacing is a cooperative effort between government and industry partners.

Identification of host fruit volatiles from three mayhaw species (Crataegus series Aestivales) attractive to mayhaw-origin Rhagoletis pomonella flies in the southern United States.

PubMed

Cha, Dong H; Powell, Thomas H Q; Feder, Jeffrey L; Linn, Charles E

2011-09-01

The apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella, infests several hawthorn species in the southern USA. Here, we tested the hypothesis that these populations could serve as reservoirs for fruit odor discrimination behaviors facilitating sympatric host race formation and speciation, specifically the recent shift from downy hawthorn (Crataegus mollis) to domestic apple (Malus domestica) in the northern USA. Coupled gas chromatography and electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD), gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and flight tunnel bioassays were used to identify the behaviorally active natal fruit volatile blends for three of the five major southern hawthorns: C. opaca (western mayhaw), C. aestivalis (eastern mayhaw), and C. rufula (a possible hybrid between C. opaca and C. aestivalis). A 6-component blend was developed for C. opaca (3-methylbutan-1-ol [44%], pentyl acetate [6%], butyl butanoate [6%], propyl hexanoate [6%], butyl hexanoate [26%], and hexyl butanoate [12%]); an 8-component blend for C. aestivalis (3-methylbutan-1-ol [2%], butyl acetate [47%], pentyl acetate [2%], butyl butanoate [12%], propyl hexanoate [1%], butyl hexanoate [25%], hexyl butanoate [9%], and pentyl hexanoate [2%]); and a 9-component blend for C. rufula (3-methylbutan-1-ol [1%], butyl acetate [57%], 3-methylbutyl acetate [3%], butyl butanoate [5%], propyl hexanoate [1%], hexyl propionate [1%], butyl hexanoate [23%], hexyl butanoate [6%], and pentyl hexanoate [3%]). Crataegus aestivalis and C. opaca-origin flies showed significantly higher levels of upwind directed flight to their natal blend in flight tunnel assays compared to the non-natal blend and previously developed apple, northern downy hawthorn, and flowering dogwood blends. Eastern and western mayhaw flies also were tested to the C. rufula blend, with eastern flies displaying higher levels of upwind flight compared with the western flies, likely due to the presence of butyl acetate in the C. aestivalis and C. rufula blends, an agonist compound for eastern mayhaw-origin flies, but a behavioral antagonist for western flies. The results discount the possibility that the apple fly was "pre-assembled" and originated via a recent introduction of southern mayhaw flies predisposed to accepting apple. Instead, the findings are consistent with the possibility of southern mayhaw-infesting fly host races. However, mayhaw fruits do emit several volatiles found in apple. It is, therefore, possible that the ability of the fly to evolve a preference for apple volatiles, although not the entire blend, stemmed, in part, from standing variation related to the presence of these compounds in southern mayhaw fruit.

Role of research aircraft in technology development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szalai, K. J.

1984-01-01

The United States's aeronautical research program has been rich in the use of research aircraft to explore new flight regimes, develop individual aeronautical concepts, and investigate new vehicle classes and configurations. This paper reviews the NASA supercritical wing, digital fly-by-wire, HiMAT, and AD-1 oblique-wing flight research programs, and draws from these examples general conclusions regarding the role and impact of research aircraft in technology development. The impact of a flight program on spinoff technology is also addressed. The secondary, serendipitous results are often highly significant. Finally, future research aircraft programs are examined for technology trends and expected results.

Paddling Mode of Forward Flight in Insects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ristroph, Leif; Bergou, Attila J.; Guckenheimer, John; Wang, Z. Jane; Cohen, Itai

2011-04-01

By analyzing high-speed video of the fruit fly, we discover a swimminglike mode of forward flight characterized by paddling wing motions. We develop a new aerodynamic analysis procedure to show that these insects generate drag-based thrust by slicing their wings forward at low angle of attack and pushing backwards at a higher angle. Reduced-order models and simulations reveal that the law for flight speed is determined by these wing motions but is insensitive to material properties of the fluid. Thus, paddling is as effective in air as in water and represents a common strategy for propulsion through aquatic and aerial environments.

Flight of the Chinese white pine beetle (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) in relation to sex, body weight and energy reserve.

PubMed

Chen, H; Li, Z; Bu, S H; Tian, Z Q

2011-02-01

The flight distance, flight time and individual flight activities of males and females of Dendroctonus armandi were recorded during 96-h flight trials using a flight mill system. The body weight, glucose, glycogen and lipid content of four treatments (naturally emerged, starved, phloem-fed and water-fed) were compared among pre-flight, post-flight and unflown controls. There was no significant difference between males and females in total flight distance and flight time in a given 24-h period. The flight distance and flight time of females showed a significant linear decline as the tethered flying continued, but the sustained flight ability of females was better than that of males. The females had higher glycogen and lipid content than the males; however, there was no significant difference between both sexes in glucose content. Water-feeding and phloem-feeding had significant effects on longevity, survival days and flight potential of D. armandi, which resulted in longer feeding days, poorer flight potential and lower energy substrate content. Our results demonstrate that flight distances in general do not differ between water-fed and starved individuals, whereas phloem-fed females and males fly better than water-fed and starved individuals.

Helicopter pilot estimation of self-altitude in a degraded visual environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crowley, John S.; Haworth, Loran A.; Szoboszlay, Zoltan P.; Lee, Alan G.

2000-06-01

The effect of night vision devices and degraded visual imagery on self-attitude perception is unknown. Thirteen Army aviators with normal vision flew five flights under various visual conditions in a modified AH-1 (Cobra) helicopter. Subjects estimated their altitude or flew to specified altitudes while flying a series of maneuvers. The results showed that subjects were better at detecting and controlling changes in altitude than they were at flying to or naming a specific altitude. In cruise flight and descent, the subjects tended to fly above the desired altitude, an error in the safe direction. While hovering, the direction of error was less predictable. In the low-level cruise flight scenario tested in this study, altitude perception was affected more by changes in image resolution than by changes in FOV or ocularity.

Do you hear what I see? Vocalization relative to visual detection rates of Hawaiian hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus semotus)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gorresen, Paulo Marcos; Cryan, Paul; Montoya-Aiona, Kristina; Bonaccorso, Frank

2017-01-01

Bats vocalize during flight as part of the sensory modality called echolocation, but very little is known about whether flying bats consistently call. Occasional vocal silence during flight when bats approach prey or conspecifics has been documented for relatively few species and situations. Bats flying alone in clutter-free airspace are not known to forgo vocalization, yet prior observations suggested possible silent behavior in certain, unexpected situations. Determining when, why, and where silent behavior occurs in bats will help evaluate major assumptions of a primary monitoring method for bats used in ecological research, management, and conservation. In this study, we recorded flight activity of Hawaiian hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus semotus) under seminatural conditions using both thermal video cameras and acoustic detectors. Simultaneous video and audio recordings from 20 nights of observation at 10 sites were analyzed for correspondence between detection methods, with a focus on video observations in three distance categories for which accompanying vocalizations were detected. Comparison of video and audio detections revealed that a high proportion of Hawaiian hoary bats “seen” on video were not simultaneously “heard.” On average, only about one in three visual detections within a night had an accompanying call detection, but this varied greatly among nights. Bats flying on curved flight paths and individuals nearer the cameras were more likely to be detected by both methods. Feeding and social calls were detected, but no clear pattern emerged from the small number of observations involving closely interacting bats. These results may indicate that flying Hawaiian hoary bats often forgo echolocation, or do not always vocalize in a way that is detectable with common sampling and monitoring methods. Possible reasons for the low correspondence between visual and acoustic detections range from methodological to biological and include a number of biases associated with the propagation and detection of sound, cryptic foraging strategies, or conspecific presence. Silent flight behavior may be more prevalent in echolocating bats than previously appreciated, has profound implications for ecological research, and deserves further characterization and study.

Research pilot John Griffith leaning out of the hatch on the X-1 #2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1950-01-01

In this photo, NACA research pilot John Griffith is leaning out the hatch of the X-1 #2. Surrounding him (left to right) are Dick Payne, Eddie Edwards, and maintenance chief Clyde Bailey. John Griffith became a research pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics's Muroc Flight Test Unit in August of 1949, shortly before the NACA unit became the High-Speed Flight Research Station (now, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California). He flew the early experimental airplanes-the X-1, X-4, and D-558-1 and -2-flying the X-1 nine times, the X-4 three times, the D-558-1 fifteen times, and the D-558-2 nine times. He reached his top speed in the X-1 on 26 May 1950 when he achieved a speed of Mach 1.20. He was the first NACA pilot to fly the X-4. He left the NACA in 1950 to fly for Chance Vought in the F7U Cutlass. He then flew for United Airlines and for Westinghouse, where he became the Chief Engineering Test Pilot. He went on to work for the Federal Aviation Administration, assisting in the development of a supersonic transport before funding for that project ended. He then returned to United Airlines and worked as a flight instructor. John grew up in Homewood, Illinois, and attended Thornton Township Junior College in Harvey, Illinois, where he graduated as valedictorian in pre-engineering. He entered the Army Air Corps in November 1941, serving in the South Pacific during the Second World War that started soon after he joined. In 1942 and 1943 he flew 189 missions in the P-40 in New Guinea and was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses and four air medals. In October 1946, he left the service and studied aeronautical engineering at Purdue University, graduating with honors. He then joined the NACA at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio (today's Glenn Research Center), where he participated in ramjet testing and icing research until moving to Muroc. Following his distinguished career, he retired to Penn Valley, California.

European shags optimize their flight behavior according to wind conditions.

PubMed

Kogure, Yukihisa; Sato, Katsufumi; Watanuki, Yutaka; Wanless, Sarah; Daunt, Francis

2016-02-01

Aerodynamics results in two characteristic speeds of flying birds: the minimum power speed and the maximum range speed. The minimum power speed requires the lowest rate of energy expenditure per unit time to stay airborne and the maximum range speed maximizes air distance traveled per unit of energy consumed. Therefore, if birds aim to minimize the cost of transport under a range of wind conditions, they are predicted to fly at the maximum range speed. Furthermore, take-off is predicted to be strongly affected by wind speed and direction. To investigate the effect of wind conditions on take-off and cruising flight behavior, we equipped 14 European shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis with a back-mounted GPS logger to measure position and hence ground speed, and a neck-mounted accelerometer to record wing beat frequency and strength. Local wind conditions were recorded during the deployment period. Shags always took off into the wind regardless of their intended destination and take-off duration was correlated negatively with wind speed. We combined ground speed and direction during the cruising phase with wind speed and direction to estimate air speed and direction. Whilst ground speed was highly variable, air speed was comparatively stable, although it increased significantly during strong head winds, because of stronger wing beats. The increased air speeds in head winds suggest that birds fly at the maximum range speed, not at the minimum power speed. Our study demonstrates that European shags actively adjust their flight behavior to utilize wind power to minimize the costs of take-off and cruising flight. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

F-8C digital CCV flight control laws

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hartmann, G. L.; Hauge, J. A.; Hendrick, R. C.

1976-01-01

A set of digital flight control laws were designed for the NASA F-8C digital fly-by-wire aircraft. The control laws emphasize Control Configured Vehicle (CCV) benefits. Specific pitch axis objectives were improved handling qualities, angle-of-attack limiting, gust alleviation, drag reduction in steady and maneuvering flight, and a capability to fly with reduced static stability. The lateral-directional design objectives were improved Dutch roll damping and turn coordination over a wide range in angle-of-attack. An overall program objective was to explore the use of modern control design methodilogy to achieve these specific CCV benefits. Tests for verifying system integrity, an experimental design for handling qualities evaluation, and recommended flight test investigations were specified.

Matching times of leading and following suggest cooperation through direct reciprocity during V-formation flight in ibis

PubMed Central

Voelkl, Bernhard; Portugal, Steven J.; Unsöld, Markus; Usherwood, James R.; Wilson, Alan M.; Fritz, Johannes

2015-01-01

One conspicuous feature of several larger bird species is their annual migration in V-shaped or echelon formation. When birds are flying in these formations, energy savings can be achieved by using the aerodynamic up-wash produced by the preceding bird. As the leading bird in a formation cannot profit from this up-wash, a social dilemma arises around the question of who is going to fly in front? To investigate how this dilemma is solved, we studied the flight behavior of a flock of juvenile Northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) during a human-guided autumn migration. We could show that the amount of time a bird is leading a formation is strongly correlated with the time it can itself profit from flying in the wake of another bird. On the dyadic level, birds match the time they spend in the wake of each other by frequent pairwise switches of the leading position. Taken together, these results suggest that bald ibis cooperate by directly taking turns in leading a formation. On the proximate level, we propose that it is mainly the high number of iterations and the immediacy of reciprocation opportunities that favor direct reciprocation. Finally, we found evidence that the animals' propensity to reciprocate in leading has a substantial influence on the size and cohesion of the flight formations. PMID:25646487

Matching times of leading and following suggest cooperation through direct reciprocity during V-formation flight in ibis.

PubMed

Voelkl, Bernhard; Portugal, Steven J; Unsöld, Markus; Usherwood, James R; Wilson, Alan M; Fritz, Johannes

2015-02-17

One conspicuous feature of several larger bird species is their annual migration in V-shaped or echelon formation. When birds are flying in these formations, energy savings can be achieved by using the aerodynamic up-wash produced by the preceding bird. As the leading bird in a formation cannot profit from this up-wash, a social dilemma arises around the question of who is going to fly in front? To investigate how this dilemma is solved, we studied the flight behavior of a flock of juvenile Northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) during a human-guided autumn migration. We could show that the amount of time a bird is leading a formation is strongly correlated with the time it can itself profit from flying in the wake of another bird. On the dyadic level, birds match the time they spend in the wake of each other by frequent pairwise switches of the leading position. Taken together, these results suggest that bald ibis cooperate by directly taking turns in leading a formation. On the proximate level, we propose that it is mainly the high number of iterations and the immediacy of reciprocation opportunities that favor direct reciprocation. Finally, we found evidence that the animals' propensity to reciprocate in leading has a substantial influence on the size and cohesion of the flight formations.

High manoeuvring costs force narrow-winged molossid bats to forage in open space.

PubMed

Voigt, Christian C; Holderied, Marc W

2012-04-01

Molossid bats are specialised aerial-hawkers that, like their diurnal ecological counterparts, swallows and swifts, hunt for insects in open spaces. The long and narrow wings of molossids are considered energetically adapted to fast flight between resource patches, but less suited for manoeuvring in more confined spaces, such as between tree-tops or in forest gaps. To understand whether a potential increase in metabolic costs of manoeuvring excludes molossids from foraging in more confined spaces, we measured energy costs and speed of manoeuvring flight in two tropical molossids, 18 g Molossus currentium and 23 g Molossus sinaloae, when flying in a ~500 m(3) hexagonal enclosure (~120 m(2) area), which is of similar dimensions as typical forest gaps. Flight metabolism averaged 10.21 ± 3.00 and 11.32 ± 3.54 ml CO(2) min(-1), and flight speeds 5.65 ± 0.47 and 6.27 ± 0.68 m s(-1) for M. currentium and M. sinaloae respectively. Metabolic rate during flight was higher for the M. currentium than for the similar-sized, but broader-winged frugivore Carollia sowelli, corroborating that broad-winged bats are better adapted to flying in confined spaces. These higher metabolic costs of manoeuvring flight may be caused by having to fly slower than the optimal foraging speed, and by the additional metabolic costs for centripetal acceleration in curves. This may preclude molossids from foraging efficiently between canopy trees or in forest gaps. The surprisingly brief burst of foraging activity at dusk of many molossids might be related to the cooling of the air column after sunset, which drives airborne insects to lower strata. Accordingly, foraging activity of molossids may quickly turn unprofitable when the abundance of insects decreases above the canopy.

Cooperative Physics of Fly Swarms: An Emergent Behavior.

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-12-01

Report, volume 6, pages 161-178, Berlin, 1977. Dahlem Konferenzen. [10] M. F. Land and T.S. Collett. Chasing behaviour of houseflies (Fannia...Flight control and visual control of flight of the free-flying housefly (Musca domestica). Part III. Philosoph. Trans. Royal Soc. London, B(312):581-595...1986. 󈧗] C. Wehrhahn. Sex specific differences in the ori- entation behaviour of houseflies . Biol. Cybernetics, 29:237-247, 1978. [20] C

Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) locomotion during a sounding rocket flight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, Mark S.; Keller, Tony S.

2008-05-01

The locomotor activity of young Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) was studied during a Nike-Orion sounding rocket flight, which included a short-duration microgravity exposure. An infrared monitoring system was used to determine the activity level, instantaneous velocity, and continuous velocity of 240 (120 male, 120 female) fruit flies. Individual flies were placed in chambers that limit their motion to walking. Chambers were oriented both vertically and horizontally with respect to the rocket's longitudinal axis. Significant changes in Drosophila locomotion patterns were observed throughout the sounding rocket flight, including launch, microgravity exposure, payload re-entry, and after ocean impact. During the microgravity portion of the flight (3.8 min), large increases in all locomotion measurements for both sexes were observed, with some measurements doubling compared to pad (1 G) data. Initial effects of microgravity were probably delayed due to large accelerations from the payload despining immediately before entering microgravity. The results indicate that short-duration microgravity exposure has a large effect on locomotor activity for both males and females, at least for a short period of time. The locomotion increases may explain the increased male aging observed during long-duration exposure to microgravity. Studies focusing on long-duration microgravity exposure are needed to confirm these findings, and the relationship of increased aging and locomotion.

A pilot's assessment of helicopter handling-quality factors common to both agility and instrument flying tasks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gerdes, R. M.

1980-01-01

A series of simulation and flight investigations were undertaken to evaluate helicopter flying qualities and the effects of control system augmentation for nap-of-the-Earth (NOE) agility and instrument flying tasks. Handling quality factors common to both tasks were identified. Precise attitude control was determined to be a key requirement for successful accomplishment of both tasks. Factors that degraded attitude controllability were improper levels of control sensitivity and damping, and rotor system cross coupling due to helicopter angular rate and collective pitch input. Application of rate command, attitude command, and control input decouple augmentation schemes enhanced attitude control and significantly improved handling qualities for both tasks. The NOE agility and instrument flying handling quality considerations, pilot rating philosophy, and supplemental flight evaluations are also discussed.

X-31 in flight, Herbst maneuver

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

Two X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability (EFM) demonstrators were flown at the Rockwell International Palmdale, California, facility and the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, to obtain data that may apply to the design of highly-maneuverable next-generation fighters. The program had its first flight on October 11, 1990, in Palmdale; it ended in June 1995. The X-31 program demonstrated the value of thrust vectoring (directing engine exhaust flow) coupled with advanced flight control systems, to provide controlled flight during close-in air combat at very high angles of attack. The result of this increased maneuverability is an aircraft with a significant advantage over conventional fighters. 'Angle-of-attack' (alpha) is an engineering term to describe the angle of an aircraft body and wings relative to its actual flight path. During maneuvers, pilots often fly at extreme angles of attack--with the nose pitched up while the aircraft continues in its original direction. This can lead to loss of control and result in the loss of the aircraft, or both. Three thrust-vectoring paddles made of graphite epoxy mounted on the X-31 aircraft exhaust nozzle directed the exhaust flow to provide control in pitch (up and down) and yaw (right and left) to improve control. The paddles can sustain heat of up to 1,500 degrees centigrade for extended periods of time. In addition the X-31 aircraft were configured with movable forward canards and fixed aft strakes. The canards were small wing-like structures set on the wing line between the nose and the leading edge of the wing. The strakes were set on the same line between the trailing edge of the wing and the engine exhaust. Both supplied additional control in tight maneuvering situations. The X-31 research program produced technical data at high angles of attack. This information is giving engineers and aircraft designers a better understanding of aerodynamics, effectiveness of flight controls and thrust vectoring, and airflow phenomena at high angles of attack. This is expected to lead to design methods that provide better maneuverability in future high performance aircraft and make them safer to fly. An international test organization of about 110 people, managed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), conducted the flight operations at NASA Dryden. The ARPA had requested flight research for the X-31 aircraft be moved there in February 1992. In addition to ARPA and NASA, the International Test Organization (ITO) included the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force, Rockwell International, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Daimler-Benz Aerospace (formerly Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm and Deutsche Aerospace). NASA was responsible for flight research operations, aircraft maintenance, and research engineering once the program moved to Dryden. The No. 1 X-31 aircraft was lost in an accident Jan. 19, 1995. The pilot, Karl Heinz-Lang, of the Federal Republic of Germany, ejected safely before the aircraft crashed in an unpopulated desert area just north of Edwards. The X-31 program logged an X-plane record of 580 flights during the program, including 555 research missions and 21 in Europe for the 1995 Paris Air Show. A total of 14 pilots representing all agencies of the ITO flew the aircraft. In this 40-second movie clip the X-31 aircraft is shown performing the 'Herbst maneuver,' which is a rapid, minimum-180-degree turn using a post-stall maneuver flying well beyond the aerodynamic limits of any conventional aircraft. Named after Wolfgang Herbst a proponent of using post-stall flight in air-to-air combat.

X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft on lakebed during high-speed taxi tests

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

The NASA/McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MDC) X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft undergoes high-speed taxi tests on Rogers Dry Lake at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, on October 17, 1996. The aircraft was tested at speeds up to 85 knots. Normal takeoff speed would be 110 knots. More taxi and radio frequency tests were slated before it's first flight would be made. This took place on May 17, 1997. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

High angle of attack flying qualities criteria for longitudinal rate command systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, David J.; Citurs, Kevin D.; Davidson, John B.

1994-01-01

This study was designed to investigate flying qualities requirements of alternate pitch command systems for fighter aircraft at high angle of attack. Flying qualities design guidelines have already been developed for angle of attack command systems at 30, 45, and 60 degrees angle of attack, so this research fills a similar need for rate command systems. Flying qualities tasks that require post-stall maneuvering were tested during piloted simulations in the McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Manned Air Combat Simulation facility. A generic fighter aircraft model was used to test angle of attack rate and pitch rate command systems for longitudinal gross acquisition and tracking tasks at high angle of attack. A wide range of longitudinal dynamic variations were tested at 30, 45, and 60 degrees angle of attack. Pilot comments, Cooper-Harper ratings, and pilot induced oscillation ratings were taken from five pilots from NASA, USN, CAF, and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace. This data was used to form longitudinal design guidelines for rate command systems at high angle of attack. These criteria provide control law design guidance for fighter aircraft at high angle of attack, low speed flight conditions. Additional time history analyses were conducted using the longitudinal gross acquisition data to look at potential agility measures of merit and correlate agility usage to flying qualities boundaries. This paper presents an overview of this research.

Physiological studies on air tanker pilots flying forest fire retardant missions.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1968-10-01

Pre-flight and post-flight studies were carried out on five air tanker pilots; in-flight studies were carried out on four of these five pilots. Pre- and post-flight studies consisted of a questionnaire and determinations of blood pressure, psychomoto...

X-36 Taking off during First Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

The remotely-piloted X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft lifts off from Rogers Dry Lake at the Dryden Flight Research Center on its first flight on May 17, 1997. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

Abolishment of Spontaneous Flight Turns in Visually Responsive Drosophila.

PubMed

Ferris, Bennett Drew; Green, Jonathan; Maimon, Gaby

2018-01-22

Animals react rapidly to external stimuli, such as an approaching predator, but in other circumstances, they seem to act spontaneously, without any obvious external trigger. How do the neural processes mediating the execution of reflexive and spontaneous actions differ? We studied this question in tethered, flying Drosophila. We found that silencing a large but genetically defined set of non-motor neurons virtually eliminates spontaneous flight turns while preserving the tethered flies' ability to perform two types of visually evoked turns, demonstrating that, at least in flies, these two modes of action are almost completely dissociable. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

From wheels to wings with evolutionary spiking circuits.

PubMed

Floreano, Dario; Zufferey, Jean-Christophe; Nicoud, Jean-Daniel

2005-01-01

We give an overview of the EPFL indoor flying project, whose goal is to evolve neural controllers for autonomous, adaptive, indoor micro-flyers. Indoor flight is still a challenge because it requires miniaturization, energy efficiency, and control of nonlinear flight dynamics. This ongoing project consists of developing a flying, vision-based micro-robot, a bio-inspired controller composed of adaptive spiking neurons directly mapped into digital microcontrollers, and a method to evolve such a neural controller without human intervention. This article describes the motivation and methodology used to reach our goal as well as the results of a number of preliminary experiments on vision-based wheeled and flying robots.

Coevolution between flight morphology, vertical stratification and sexual dimorphism: what can we learn from tropical butterflies?

PubMed

Graça, M B; Pequeno, P A C L; Franklin, E; Morais, J W

2017-10-01

Occurrence patterns are partly shaped by the affinity of species with habitat conditions. For winged organisms, flight-related attributes are vital for ecological performance. However, due to the different reproductive roles of each sex, we expect divergence in flight energy budget, and consequently different selection responses between sexes. We used tropical frugivorous butterflies as models to investigate coevolution between flight morphology, sex dimorphism and vertical stratification. We studied 94 species of Amazonian fruit-feeding butterflies sampled in seven sites across 3341 ha. We used wing-thorax ratio as a proxy for flight capacity and hierarchical Bayesian modelling to estimate stratum preference. We detected a strong phylogenetic signal in wing-thorax ratio in both sexes. Stouter fast-flying species preferred the canopy, whereas more slender slow-flying species preferred the understorey. However, this relationship was stronger in females than in males, suggesting that female phenotype associates more intimately with habitat conditions. Within species, males were stouter than females and sexual dimorphism was sharper in understorey species. Because trait-habitat relationships were independent from phylogeny, the matching between flight morphology and stratum preference is more likely to reflect adaptive radiation than shared ancestry. This study sheds light on the impact of flight and sexual dimorphism on the evolution and ecological adaptation of flying organisms. © 2017 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2017 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Aging Enhances Indirect Flight Muscle Fiber Performance yet Decreases Flight Ability in Drosophila

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, Mark S.; Lekkas, Panagiotis; Braddock, Joan M.

2008-10-02

We investigated the effects of aging on Drosophila melanogaster indirect flight muscle from the whole organism to the actomyosin cross-bridge. Median-aged (49-day-old) flies were flight impaired, had normal myofilament number and packing, barely longer sarcomeres, and slight mitochondrial deterioration compared with young (3-day-old) flies. Old (56-day-old) flies were unable to beat their wings, had deteriorated ultrastructure with severe mitochondrial damage, and their skinned fibers failed to activate with calcium. Small-amplitude sinusoidal length perturbation analysis showed median-aged indirect flight muscle fibers developed greater than twice the isometric force and power output of young fibers, yet cross-bridge kinetics were similar. Large increasesmore » in elastic and viscous moduli amplitude under active, passive, and rigor conditions suggest that median-aged fibers become stiffer longitudinally. Small-angle x-ray diffraction indicates that myosin heads move increasingly toward the thin filament with age, accounting for the increased transverse stiffness via cross-bridge formation. We propose that the observed protein composition changes in the connecting filaments, which anchor the thick filaments to the Z-disk, produce compensatory increases in longitudinal stiffness, isometric tension, power and actomyosin interaction in aging indirect flight muscle. We also speculate that a lack of MgATP due to damaged mitochondria accounts for the decreased flight performance.« less

Optic flow cues guide flight in birds.

PubMed

Bhagavatula, Partha S; Claudianos, Charles; Ibbotson, Michael R; Srinivasan, Mandyam V

2011-11-08

Although considerable effort has been devoted to investigating how birds migrate over large distances, surprisingly little is known about how they tackle so successfully the moment-to-moment challenges of rapid flight through cluttered environments [1]. It has been suggested that birds detect and avoid obstacles [2] and control landing maneuvers [3-5] by using cues derived from the image motion that is generated in the eyes during flight. Here we investigate the ability of budgerigars to fly through narrow passages in a collision-free manner, by filming their trajectories during flight in a corridor where the walls are decorated with various visual patterns. The results demonstrate, unequivocally and for the first time, that birds negotiate narrow gaps safely by balancing the speeds of image motion that are experienced by the two eyes and that the speed of flight is regulated by monitoring the speed of image motion that is experienced by the two eyes. These findings have close parallels with those previously reported for flying insects [6-13], suggesting that some principles of visual guidance may be shared by all diurnal, flying animals. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nocturnal hypothermia impairs flight ability in birds: a cost of being cool

PubMed Central

Carr, Jennie M.; Lima, Steven L.

2013-01-01

Many birds use regulated drops in night-time body temperature (Tb) to conserve energy critical to winter survival. However, a significant degree of hypothermia may limit a bird's ability to respond to predatory attack. Despite this likely energy–predation trade-off, the behavioural costs of avian hypothermia have yet to be examined. We thus monitored the nocturnal hypothermia of mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) in a laboratory setting in response to food deprivation. Nocturnal flight tests were used to quantify the flight ability of hypothermic doves. Many hypothermic doves (39% of tests) could not fly while carrying a small weight, but could do so after quickly warming up to typical daytime Tb. Doves that were unable to fly during their first test were more hypothermic than those that could fly, with average Tb reductions of 5.3°C and 3.3°C, respectively, but there was no overall indication of a threshold Tb reduction beyond which doves were consistently incapable of flight. These results suggest that energy-saving hypothermia interferes with avian antipredator behaviour via a reduction in flight ability, likely leading to a trade-off between energy-saving hypothermia and the risk of predation. PMID:24107528

Toy Gliders

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Toy designers at Hasbro, Inc. wanted to create a foam glider that a child could fly with little knowledge of aeronautics. But early in its development, the Areo Nerf gliders had one critical problem: they didn't fly so well. Through NASA's Northeast Regional Technology Transfer Center, Hasbro was linked with aeronautical experts at Langley Research Center. The engineers provided information about how wing design and shape are integral to a glider's performance. The Hasbro designers received from NASA not only technical guidance but a hands-on tutorial on the physics of designing and flying gliders. Several versions of the Nerf glider were realized from the collaboration. For instance, the Super Soaring Glider can make long-range, high performance flights while the Ultra-Stunt Glider is ideal for performing aerial acrobatics.

CLASP2: High-Precision Spectro-Polarimetery in Mg II h & k

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ishikawa, R.; McKenzie, D.; Trujillo Bueno, J.; Auchere, F.; Rachmeler, L.; Okamoto, T. J.; Kano, R.; Song, D.; Kubo, M.; Narukage, N.;

Nocturnal Visual Orientation in Flying Insects: A Benchmark for the Design of Vision-based Sensors in Micro-Aerial Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-12

determine (1) the ability of Megalopta to approach and land on its nest entrance at night (using high-speed filming in bright infrared light), (2...lined with black-and-white patterns and filming their flight trajectories from below in infrared light), and (3) whether Megalopta uses...at the end of a flight tunnel so that we could record both the approach and the final landing phase (Figure 1). The approach was filmed over a

M2-F3 on lakebed

NASA Image and Video Library

1970-06-19

The M2-F3 Lifting Body is seen here on the lakebed next to the NASA Flight Research Center (later the Dryden Flight Research Center), Edwards, California. Redesigned and rebuilt from the M2-F2, the M2-F3 featured as its most visible change a center fin for greater stability. While the M2-F3 was still demanding to fly, the center fin eliminated the high risk of pilot induced oscillation (PIO) that was characteristic of the M2-F2.

Impulse Response Shaping for Ultra Wide Band SAR in a Circular Flight Path

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jin, Michael Y.

1996-01-01

An ultra wide band SAR (synthetic aperture radar) has potential applications on imaging underground objects. Flying this SAR in a circular flight path is an efficient way to acquire high resolution images from a localized area. This paper characterizes the impulse response of sucha system. The results indicate that to achieve an image with a more uniformed resolution over the entire imaged area, proper weighting coeficients should be applied to both the principle aperture and the complimentary aperture.

Upwash exploitation and downwash avoidance by flap phasing in ibis formation flight.

PubMed

Portugal, Steven J; Hubel, Tatjana Y; Fritz, Johannes; Heese, Stefanie; Trobe, Daniela; Voelkl, Bernhard; Hailes, Stephen; Wilson, Alan M; Usherwood, James R

2014-01-16

Many species travel in highly organized groups. The most quoted function of these configurations is to reduce energy expenditure and enhance locomotor performance of individuals in the assemblage. The distinctive V formation of bird flocks has long intrigued researchers and continues to attract both scientific and popular attention. The well-held belief is that such aggregations give an energetic benefit for those birds that are flying behind and to one side of another bird through using the regions of upwash generated by the wings of the preceding bird, although a definitive account of the aerodynamic implications of these formations has remained elusive. Here we show that individuals of northern bald ibises (Geronticus eremita) flying in a V flock position themselves in aerodynamically optimum positions, in that they agree with theoretical aerodynamic predictions. Furthermore, we demonstrate that birds show wingtip path coherence when flying in V positions, flapping spatially in phase and thus enabling upwash capture to be maximized throughout the entire flap cycle. In contrast, when birds fly immediately behind another bird--in a streamwise position--there is no wingtip path coherence; the wing-beats are in spatial anti-phase. This could potentially reduce the adverse effects of downwash for the following bird. These aerodynamic accomplishments were previously not thought possible for birds because of the complex flight dynamics and sensory feedback that would be required to perform such a feat. We conclude that the intricate mechanisms involved in V formation flight indicate awareness of the spatial wake structures of nearby flock-mates, and remarkable ability either to sense or predict it. We suggest that birds in V formation have phasing strategies to cope with the dynamic wakes produced by flapping wings.

Aircraft Configuration and Flight Crew Compliance with Procedures While Conducting Flight Deck Based Interval Management (FIM) Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shay, Rick; Swieringa, Kurt A.; Baxley, Brian T.

2012-01-01

Flight deck based Interval Management (FIM) applications using ADS-B are being developed to improve both the safety and capacity of the National Airspace System (NAS). FIM is expected to improve the safety and efficiency of the NAS by giving pilots the technology and procedures to precisely achieve an interval behind the preceding aircraft by a specific point. Concurrently but independently, Optimized Profile Descents (OPD) are being developed to help reduce fuel consumption and noise, however, the range of speeds available when flying an OPD results in a decrease in the delivery precision of aircraft to the runway. This requires the addition of a spacing buffer between aircraft, reducing system throughput. FIM addresses this problem by providing pilots with speed guidance to achieve a precise interval behind another aircraft, even while flying optimized descents. The Interval Management with Spacing to Parallel Dependent Runways (IMSPiDR) human-in-the-loop experiment employed 24 commercial pilots to explore the use of FIM equipment to conduct spacing operations behind two aircraft arriving to parallel runways, while flying an OPD during high-density operations. This paper describes the impact of variations in pilot operations; in particular configuring the aircraft, their compliance with FIM operating procedures, and their response to changes of the FIM speed. An example of the displayed FIM speeds used incorrectly by a pilot is also discussed. Finally, this paper examines the relationship between achieving airline operational goals for individual aircraft and the need for ATC to deliver aircraft to the runway with greater precision. The results show that aircraft can fly an OPD and conduct FIM operations to dependent parallel runways, enabling operational goals to be achieved efficiently while maintaining system throughput.

Entry, Descent, and Landing Mission Design for the Crew Exploration Vehicle Thermal Protection System Qualification Flight Test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ivanov, Mark; Strauss, William; Maddock, Robert

2007-01-01

The TORCH team was challenged to generate the lowest cost mission design solution that meets the CEV aerothermal test objectives on a sub-scale flight article. The test objectives resulted from producing representative lunar return missions and observing the aerothermal envelopes of select surface locations on the CEV. From these aerothermal envelopes, two test boxes were established: one for high shear and one for high radiation. The unique and challenging trajectory design objective for the flight test was to fly through these aerothermal boxes in shear, pressure, heat flux, and radiation while also not over testing. These test boxes, and the max aerothermal limits, became the driving requirements for defining the mission design.

Experimental Validation of a Forward Looking Interferometer for Detection of Clear Air Turbulence due to Mountain Waves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schaffner, Philip R.; Daniels, Taumi S.; West, Leanne L.; Gimmestad, Gary G.; Lane, Sarah E.; Burdette, Edward M.; Smith, William L.; Kireev, Stanislav; Cornman, Larry; Sharman, Robert D.

2012-01-01

The Forward-Looking Interferometer (FLI) is an airborne sensor concept for detection and estimation of potential atmospheric hazards to aircraft. The FLI concept is based on high-resolution Infrared Fourier Transform Spectrometry technologies that have been developed for satellite remote sensing. The FLI is being evaluated for its potential to address multiple hazards, during all phases of flight, including clear air turbulence, volcanic ash, wake vortices, low slant range visibility, dry wind shear, and icing. In addition, the FLI is being evaluated for its potential to detect hazardous runway conditions during landing, such as wet or icy asphalt or concrete. The validation of model-based instrument and hazard simulation results is accomplished by comparing predicted performance against empirical data. In the mountain lee wave data collected in the previous FLI project, the data showed a damped, periodic mountain wave structure. The wave data itself will be of use in forecast and nowcast turbulence products such as the Graphical Turbulence Guidance and Graphical Turbulence Guidance Nowcast products. Determining how turbulence hazard estimates can be derived from FLI measurements will require further investigation.

Comparing the aerodynamic forces produced by dragonfly forewings during inverted and non-inverted flight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shumway, Nathan; Gabryszuk, Mateusz; Laurence, Stuart

2017-11-01

Experiments were conducted with live dragonflies to determine their wing kinematics during free flight. The motion of one forewing in two different tests, one where the dragonfly is inverted, is described using piecewise functions and simulated using the OVERTURNS Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solver that has been used in previous work to determine trim conditions for a fruit fly model. For the inverted dragonfly the upstrokes were significantly longer than the downstrokes, pitching amplitude is lower than that for the right-side up flight and the flap amplitude is larger. Simulations of dragonfly kinematics of a single forewing are presented to determine how the forces differ for a dragonfly flying inverted and a dragonfly flying right-side up. This work was supported by the United States Army Research Laboratory's Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology Collaborative Technology Alliance Project MCE-16-17 1.2.

Moving in a moving medium: new perspectives on flight

PubMed Central

Shepard, Emily L. C.; Portugal, Steven J.

2016-01-01

One of the defining features of the aerial environment is its variability; air is almost never still. This has profound consequences for flying animals, affecting their flight stability, speed selection, energy expenditure and choice of flight path. All these factors have important implications for the ecology of flying animals, and the ecosystems they interact with, as well as providing bio-inspiration for the development of unmanned aerial vehicles. In this introduction, we touch on the factors that drive the variability in airflows, the scales of variability and the degree to which given airflows may be predictable. We then summarize how papers in this volume advance our understanding of the sensory, biomechanical, physiological and behavioural responses of animals to air flows. Overall, this provides insight into how flying animals can be so successful in this most fickle of environments. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Moving in a moving medium: new perspectives on flight’. PMID:27528772

The three-dimensional flight of red-footed boobies: adaptations to foraging in a tropical environment?

PubMed Central

Weimerskirch, H.; Le Corre, M.; Ropert-Coudert, Y.; Kato, A.; Marsac, F.

2005-01-01

In seabirds a broad variety of morphologies, flight styles and feeding methods exist as an adaptation to optimal foraging in contrasted marine environments for a wide variety of prey types. Because of the low productivity of tropical waters it is expected that specific flight and foraging techniques have been selected there, but very few data are available. By using five different types of high-precision miniaturized logger (global positioning systems, accelerometers, time depth recorders, activity recorders, altimeters) we studied the way a seabird is foraging over tropical waters. Red-footed boobies are foraging in the day, never foraging at night, probably as a result of predation risks. They make extensive use of wind conditions, flying preferentially with crosswinds at median speed of 38 km h−1, reaching highest speeds with tail winds. They spent 66% of the foraging trip in flight, using a flap–glide flight, and gliding 68% of the flight. Travelling at low costs was regularly interrupted by extremely active foraging periods where birds are very frequently touching water for landing, plunge diving or surface diving (30 landings h−1). Dives were shallow (maximum 2.4 m) but frequent (4.5 dives h−1), most being plunge dives. While chasing for very mobile prey like flying fishes, boobies have adopted a very active and specific hunting behaviour, but the use of wind allows them to reduce travelling cost by their extensive use of gliding. During the foraging and travelling phases birds climb regularly to altitudes of 20–50 m to spot prey or congeners. During the final phase of the flight, they climb to high altitudes, up to 500 m, probably to avoid attacks by frigatebirds along the coasts. This study demonstrates the use by boobies of a series of very specific flight and activity patterns that have probably been selected as adaptations to the conditions of tropical waters. PMID:15875570

The three-dimensional flight of red-footed boobies: adaptations to foraging in a tropical environment?

PubMed

Weimerskirch, H; Le Corre, M; Ropert-Coudert, Y; Kato, A; Marsac, F

2005-01-07

In seabirds a broad variety of morphologies, flight styles and feeding methods exist as an adaptation to optimal foraging in contrasted marine environments for a wide variety of prey types. Because of the low productivity of tropical waters it is expected that specific flight and foraging techniques have been selected there, but very few data are available. By using five different types of high-precision miniaturized logger (global positioning systems, accelerometers, time depth recorders, activity recorders, altimeters) we studied the way a seabird is foraging over tropical waters. Red-footed boobies are foraging in the day, never foraging at night, probably as a result of predation risks. They make extensive use of wind conditions, flying preferentially with crosswinds at median speed of 38 km h(-1), reaching highest speeds with tail winds. They spent 66% of the foraging trip in flight, using a flap-glide flight, and gliding 68% of the flight. Travelling at low costs was regularly interrupted by extremely active foraging periods where birds are very frequently touching water for landing, plunge diving or surface diving (30 landings h(-1)). Dives were shallow (maximum 2.4 m) but frequent (4.5 dives h(-1)), most being plunge dives. While chasing for very mobile prey like flying fishes, boobies have adopted a very active and specific hunting behaviour, but the use of wind allows them to reduce travelling cost by their extensive use of gliding. During the foraging and travelling phases birds climb regularly to altitudes of 20-50 m to spot prey or congeners. During the final phase of the flight, they climb to high altitudes, up to 500 m, probably to avoid attacks by frigatebirds along the coasts. This study demonstrates the use by boobies of a series of very specific flight and activity patterns that have probably been selected as adaptations to the conditions of tropical waters.

Understanding the Sun-Earth Libration Point Orbit Formation Flying Challenges For WFIRST and Starshade

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Webster, Cassandra M.; Folta, David C.

2017-01-01

In order to fly an occulter in formation with a telescope at the Sun-Earth L2 (SEL2) Libration Point, one must have a detailed understanding of the dy-namics that govern the restricted three body system. For initial purposes, a linear approximation is satisfactory, but operations will require a high-fidelity modeling tool along with strategic targeting methods in order to be successful. This paper focuses on the challenging dynamics of the transfer trajectories to achieve the relative positioning of two spacecraft to fly in formation at SEL2, in our case, the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) and a proposed Starshade. By modeling the formation transfers using a high fidelity tool, an accurate V approximation can be made to as-sist with the development of the subsystem design required for a WFIRST and Starshade formation flight mission.

X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft on lakebed during high-speed taxi tests

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

The NASA/McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MDC) X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft undergoes high-speed taxi tests on Rogers Dry Lake at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, on October 17, 1996. The aircraft was tested at speeds up to 85 knots. Normal takeoff speed would be 110 knots. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

Impact of erosion testing aspects on current and future flight conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gohardani, Omid

2011-05-01

High speed of aero vehicles including commercial and military aircraft, missiles, unmanned air vehicles, as well as conceptual aircraft of the future are imposing larger restrictions on the materials of these vehicles and highlight the importance of adequate quantification of material behavior and performance during different flight conditions. Erosion due to weather conditions and other present particles such as hydrometeors; rain, hail and ice, as well as sand, volcanic ash and dust resulting from residues in the atmosphere are eminent as hazardous on the structure of a flying vehicle and may adversely influence the lifecycle of the structure. This study outlines an extensive review of research efforts on erosion in aviation and provides a basis for comparison between different apparatus simulating rain erosion and their usage within the aerospace industry. The significant aspects of erosion testing and future prospects for erosion impact are further addressed for forthcoming generations of flying vehicles.

Hummingbird flight stability and control in freestream turbulent winds.

PubMed

Ravi, Sridhar; Crall, James D; McNeilly, Lucas; Gagliardi, Susan F; Biewener, Andrew A; Combes, Stacey A

2015-05-01

Airflow conditions close to the Earth's surface are often complex, posing challenges to flight stability and control for volant taxa. Relatively little is known about how well flying animals can contend with complex, adverse air flows, or about the flight control mechanisms used by animals to mitigate wind disturbances. Several recent studies have examined flight in the unsteady von Kármán vortex streets that form behind cylinders, generating flow disturbances that are predictable in space and time; these structures are relatively rare in nature, because they occur only the immediate, downstream vicinity of an object. In contrast, freestream turbulence is characterized by rapid, unpredictable flow disturbances across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, and is nearly ubiquitous in natural habitats. Hummingbirds are ideal organisms for studying the influence of freestream turbulence on flight, as they forage in a variety of aerial conditions and are powerful flyers. We filmed ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) maintaining position at a feeder in laminar and strongly turbulent (intensity ∼15%) airflow environments within a wind tunnel and compared their mean kinematics of the head, body, tail and wing, as well as variability in these parameters. Hummingbirds exhibited remarkably stable head position and orientation in both smooth and turbulent flow while maintaining position at the feeder. However, the hummingbird's body was less stable in turbulent flow and appeared to be most sensitive to disturbances along the mediolateral axis, displaying large lateral accelerations, translations and rolling motions during flight. The hummingbirds mitigated these disturbances by increasing mean wing stroke amplitude and stroke plane angle, and by varying these parameters asymmetrically between the wings and from one stroke to the next. They also actively varied the orientation and fan angle of the tail, maintaining a larger mean fan angle when flying in turbulent flow; this may improve their passive stability, but probably incurs an energetic cost as a result of increased drag. Overall, we observed many of the same kinematic changes noted previously for hummingbirds flying in a von Kármán vortex street, but we also observed kinematic changes associated with high force production, similar to those seen during load-lifting or high-speed flight. These findings suggest that flight may be particularly costly in fully mixed, freestream turbulence, which is the flow condition that hummingbirds are likely to encounter most frequently in natural habitats. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Ed Schneider gives a "thumbs-up" after his last flight at the Dryden Flight Research Center

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-09-19

In a lighter mood, Ed Schneider gives a "thumbs-up" after his last flight at the Dryden Flight Research Center on September 19, 2000. Schneider arrived at the NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility on July 5, 1982, as a Navy Liaison Officer, becoming a NASA research pilot one year later. He has been project pilot for the F-18 High Angle-of-Attack program (HARV), the F-15 aeronautical research aircraft, the NASA B-52 launch aircraft, and the SR-71 "Blackbird" aircraft. He also participated in such programs as the F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire, the FAA/NASA 720 Controlled Impact Demonstration, the F-14 Automatic Rudder Interconnect and Laminar Flow, and the F-104 Aeronautical Research and Microgravity projects.

Testing the Gossamer Albatross II

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

The Gossamer Albatross II is seen here during a test flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The original Gossamer Albatross is best known for completing the first completely human powered flight across the English Channel on June 12, 1979. The Albatross II was the backup craft for the Channel flight. It was fitted with a small battery-powered electric motor and flight instruments for the NASA research program in low-speed flight. NASA completed its flight testing of the Gossamer Albatross II and began analysis of the results in April, 1980. During the six week program, 17 actual data gathering flights and 10 other flights were flown here as part of the joint NASA Langley/Dryden flight research program. The lightweight craft, carrying a miniaturized instrumentation system, was flown in three configurations; using human power, with a small electric motor, and towed with the propeller removed. Results from the program contributed to data on the unusual aerodynamic, performance, stability, and control characteristics of large, lightweight aircraft that fly at slow speeds for application to future high altitude aircraft. The Albatross' design and research data contributed to numerous later high altitude projects, including the Pathfinder.

Generation of Simulated Tracking Data for LADEE Operational Readiness Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woodburn, James; Policastri, Lisa; Owens, Brandon

2015-01-01

Operational Readiness Tests were an important part of the pre-launch preparation for the LADEE mission. The generation of simulated tracking data to stress the Flight Dynamics System and the Flight Dynamics Team was important for satisfying the testing goal of demonstrating that the software and the team were ready to fly the operational mission. The simulated tracking was generated in a manner to incorporate the effects of errors in the baseline dynamical model, errors in maneuver execution and phenomenology associated with various tracking system based components. The ability of the mission team to overcome these challenges in a realistic flight dynamics scenario indicated that the team and flight dynamics system were ready to fly the LADEE mission. Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment.

Damping in flapping flight and its implications for manoeuvring, scaling and evolution.

PubMed

Hedrick, Tyson L

2011-12-15

Flying animals exhibit remarkable degrees of both stability and manoeuvrability. Our understanding of these capabilities has recently been improved by the identification of a source of passive damping specific to flapping flight. Examining how this damping effect scales among different species and how it affects active manoeuvres as well as recovery from perturbations provides general insights into the flight of insects, birds and bats. These new damping models offer a means to predict manoeuvrability and stability for a wide variety of flying animals using prior reports of the morphology and flapping motions of these species. Furthermore, the presence of passive damping is likely to have facilitated the evolution of powered flight in animals by providing a stability benefit associated with flapping.

A pilot's assessment of helicopter handling-quality factors common to both agility and instrument flying tasks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gerdes, R. M.

1980-01-01

Results from a series of simulation and flight investigations undertaken to evaluate helicopter flying qualities and the effects of control system augmentation for nap-of-the-earth (NOE) agility and instrument flying tasks were analyzed to assess handling-quality factors common to both tasks. Precise attitude control was determined to be a key requirement for successful accomplishment of both tasks. Factors that degraded attitude controllability were improper levels of control sensitivity and damping and rotor-system cross-coupling due to helicopter angular rate and collective pitch input. Application of rate-command, attitude-command, and control-input decouple augmentation schemes enhanced attitude control and significantly improved handling qualities for both tasks. NOE agility and instrument flying handling-quality considerations, pilot rating philosophy, and supplemental flight evaluations are also discussed.

X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft in flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

The tailless X-36 technology demonstrator research aircraft cruises over the California desert at low altitude during a 1997 research flight. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

Distress Calls of a Fast-Flying Bat (Molossus molossus) Provoke Inspection Flights but Not Cooperative Mobbing

PubMed Central

Carter, Gerald; Schoeppler, Diana; Manthey, Marie; Knörnschild, Mirjam; Denzinger, Annette

2015-01-01

Many birds and mammals produce distress calls when captured. Bats often approach speakers playing conspecific distress calls, which has led to the hypothesis that bat distress calls promote cooperative mobbing. An alternative explanation is that approaching bats are selfishly assessing predation risk. Previous playback studies on bat distress calls involved species with highly maneuverable flight, capable of making close passes and tight circles around speakers, which can look like mobbing. We broadcast distress calls recorded from the velvety free-tailed bat, Molossus molossus, a fast-flying aerial-hawker with relatively poor maneuverability. Based on their flight behavior, we predicted that, in response to distress call playbacks, M. molossus would make individual passing inspection flights but would not approach in groups or approach within a meter of the distress call source. By recording responses via ultrasonic recording and infrared video, we found that M. molossus, and to a lesser extent Saccopteryx bilineata, made more flight passes during distress call playbacks compared to noise. However, only the more maneuverable S. bilineata made close approaches to the speaker, and we found no evidence of mobbing in groups. Instead, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that single bats approached distress calls simply to investigate the situation. These results suggest that approaches by bats to distress calls should not suffice as clear evidence for mobbing. PMID:26353118

Distress Calls of a Fast-Flying Bat (Molossus molossus) Provoke Inspection Flights but Not Cooperative Mobbing.

PubMed

Carter, Gerald; Schoeppler, Diana; Manthey, Marie; Knörnschild, Mirjam; Denzinger, Annette

2015-01-01

Many birds and mammals produce distress calls when captured. Bats often approach speakers playing conspecific distress calls, which has led to the hypothesis that bat distress calls promote cooperative mobbing. An alternative explanation is that approaching bats are selfishly assessing predation risk. Previous playback studies on bat distress calls involved species with highly maneuverable flight, capable of making close passes and tight circles around speakers, which can look like mobbing. We broadcast distress calls recorded from the velvety free-tailed bat, Molossus molossus, a fast-flying aerial-hawker with relatively poor maneuverability. Based on their flight behavior, we predicted that, in response to distress call playbacks, M. molossus would make individual passing inspection flights but would not approach in groups or approach within a meter of the distress call source. By recording responses via ultrasonic recording and infrared video, we found that M. molossus, and to a lesser extent Saccopteryx bilineata, made more flight passes during distress call playbacks compared to noise. However, only the more maneuverable S. bilineata made close approaches to the speaker, and we found no evidence of mobbing in groups. Instead, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that single bats approached distress calls simply to investigate the situation. These results suggest that approaches by bats to distress calls should not suffice as clear evidence for mobbing.

The Simple Science of Flight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tennekes, Henk

1997-05-01

From the smallest gnat to the largest aircraft, all things that fly obey the same aerodynamic principles. The Simple Science of Flight offers a leisurely introduction to the mechanics of flight and, beyond that, to the scientific attitude that finds wonder in simple calculations, forging connections between, say, the energy efficiency of a peanut butter sandwich and that of the kerosene that fuels a jumbo jet. It is the product of a lifetime of watching and investigating the way flight happens. The hero of the book is the Boeing 747, which Tennekes sees as the current pinnacle of human ingenuity in mastering the science of flight. Also covered are paper airplanes, kites, gliders, and human-powered flying machines as well as birds and insects. Tennekes explains concepts like lift, drag, wing loading, and cruising speed through many fascinating comparisons, anecdotes, and examples.

Assessment of Muscular Fitness as a Predictor of Flight Duty Limitation.

PubMed

Honkanen, Tuomas; Mäntysaari, Matti; Avela, Janne; Kyröläinen, Heikki; Leino, Tuomo

2018-05-08

The high acceleration (Gz) exposure among military pilots flying fighter aircraft has been associated with an increased risk for cervical and lumbar disorders. It has been suggested that an adequate level of physical performance could reduce the risk of experiencing these disorders. The Finnish Air Force has for several years used aerobic (bicycle ergometer) and muscular fitness tests (battery of five tests) in the selection process of military pilot candidates in order to evaluate their physical fitness level. The aim of the study was to determine if these selection phase tests and anthropometry measures can predispose those individuals who might be at risk of developing severe spinal disorders leading to permanent flight duty limitations later during their military pilots' career. The study population consisted of 23 pilots flying with Gz limitation (+2 Gz, +4 Gz or +5 Gz) due to spinal disorders and 50 experienced (+1,000 flight hours) symptomless controls flying actively in operative missions. Data obtained retrospectively for all subjects included anthropometry, physical (aerobic and muscular fitness) test results and self-reported physical activity levels at a pilot selection phase. Aerobic fitness was measured with a maximal ergometer test and muscular endurance was evaluated with a test battery (standing long jump, pull-ups, sit-ups, back extensions, and push-up tests). Fighter pilots flying without Gz limitation had significantly better mean (±SE) results in pull-up (14.4 ± 4.2 vs. 11.5 ± 2.0, p < 0.05) and back extension (71.1 ± 14.1 vs. 60.0 ± 12.2, p < 0.05) tests during the pilot selection when compared with the limited pilots. Similarly, the non-limited pilots had a better total muscular fitness test score (13.7 ± 1.7 vs. 12.4 ± 1.6, p < 0.05) during the pilot selection. They had also participated in significantly more competitive sports (54% vs. 22%, p < 0.05) at the time of selection when compared with pilots flying with Gz limitation due to spinal disorders. The aerobic fitness test results and anthropometric measures were not statistically different among the groups. Higher levels of muscular fitness, particularly axial strength in military pilot selection may have a protective role for reducing spinal disorders which if developed, can often lead to limiting the availability of pilots for flight duty. The present findings also do not support the assumption that aerobic fitness above the required minimum level would protect pilots from developing spinal disorders and, therefore, from limiting flight duty.

The physiological basis of bird flight

PubMed Central

Butler, Patrick J.

2016-01-01

Flapping flight is energetically more costly than running, although it is less costly to fly a given body mass a given distance per unit time than it is for a similar mass to run the same distance per unit time. This is mainly because birds can fly faster than they can run. Oxygen transfer and transport are enhanced in migrating birds compared with those in non-migrators: at the gas-exchange regions of the lungs the effective area is greater and the diffusion distance smaller. Also, migrating birds have larger hearts and haemoglobin concentrations in the blood, and capillary density in the flight muscles tends to be higher. Species like bar-headed geese migrate at high altitudes, where the availability of oxygen is reduced and the energy cost of flapping flight increased compared with those at sea level. Physiological adaptations to these conditions include haemoglobin with a higher affinity for oxygen than that in lowland birds, a greater effective ventilation of the gas-exchange surface of the lungs and a greater capillary-to-muscle fibre ratio. Migrating birds use fatty acids as their source of energy, so they have to be transported at a sufficient rate to meet the high demand. Since fatty acids are insoluble in water, birds maintain high concentrations of fatty acid–binding proteins to transport fatty acids across the cell membrane and within the cytoplasm. The concentrations of these proteins, together with that of a key enzyme in the β-oxidation of fatty acids, increase before migration. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Moving in a moving medium: new perspectives on flight’. PMID:27528774

Diurnal and Nocturnal Flight Activity of Blow Flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in a Rainforest Fragment in Brazil: Implications for the Colonization of Homicide Victims.

PubMed

Soares, Thiago F; Vasconcelos, Simao D

2016-11-01

Nocturnal flight of blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) is a controversial issue in forensic entomology. We performed two field experiments to investigate the diurnal and nocturnal activity of six blow fly species in a rainforest fragment in Brazil. Initially, nocturnal (17:30-05:30) versus diurnal (05:30-17:30) flight activity was investigated. Only 3.9% of adults were collected at night, mostly the native species Mesembrinella bicolor, and nocturnal oviposition did not occur. In the second experiment, collection of adults took place at the following intervals: 05:30-08:30, 08:30-11:30, 11:30-14:30, and 14:30-17:30. The proportions of adults did not differ significantly among the four diurnal intervals, except for Hemilucilia segmentaria, which was captured more frequently in the early morning. Calliphoridae has predominantly diurnal behavior, not laying eggs in darkness. The association of the native species M. bicolor, Hemilucilia semidiaphana, and H. segmentaria to forested areas reinforces the forensic relevance of data on their flight pattern. © 2016 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Late Carboniferous paleoichnology reveals the oldest full-body impression of a flying insect.

PubMed

Knecht, Richard J; Engel, Michael S; Benner, Jacob S

2011-04-19

Insects were the first animals to evolve powered flight and did so perhaps 90 million years before the first flight among vertebrates. However, the earliest fossil record of flying insect lineages (Pterygota) is poor, with scant indirect evidence from the Devonian and a nearly complete dearth of material from the Early Carboniferous. By the Late Carboniferous a diversity of flying lineages is known, mostly from isolated wings but without true insights into the paleoethology of these taxa. Here, we report evidence of a full-body impression of a flying insect from the Late Carboniferous Wamsutta Formation of Massachusetts, representing the oldest trace fossil of Pterygota. Through ethological and morphological analysis, the trace fossil provides evidence that its maker was a flying insect and probably was representative of a stem-group lineage of mayflies. The nature of this current full-body impression somewhat blurs distinctions between the systematics of traces and trace makers, thus adding to the debate surrounding ichnotaxonomy for traces with well-associated trace makers.

14 CFR 91.1089 - Qualifications: Check pilots (aircraft) and check pilots (simulator).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... simulator, or in a flight training device for a particular type aircraft. (2) A check pilot (simulator) is a person who is qualified to conduct flight checks, but only in a flight simulator, in a flight training... (simulator) must accomplish the following— (1) Fly at least two flight segments as a required crewmember for...

14 CFR 91.1089 - Qualifications: Check pilots (aircraft) and check pilots (simulator).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... simulator, or in a flight training device for a particular type aircraft. (2) A check pilot (simulator) is a person who is qualified to conduct flight checks, but only in a flight simulator, in a flight training... (simulator) must accomplish the following— (1) Fly at least two flight segments as a required crewmember for...

14 CFR 91.1089 - Qualifications: Check pilots (aircraft) and check pilots (simulator).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... simulator, or in a flight training device for a particular type aircraft. (2) A check pilot (simulator) is a person who is qualified to conduct flight checks, but only in a flight simulator, in a flight training... (simulator) must accomplish the following— (1) Fly at least two flight segments as a required crewmember for...

Morphological and morphometric specializations of the lung of the Andean goose, Chloephaga melanoptera: A lifelong high-altitude resident.

PubMed

Maina, John N; McCracken, Kevin G; Chua, Beverly; York, Julia M; Milsom, William K

2017-01-01

High altitude flight in rarefied, extremely cold and hypoxic air is a very challenging activity. Only a few species of birds can achieve it. Hitherto, the structure of the lungs of such birds has not been studied. This is because of the rarity of such species and the challenges of preparing well-fixed lung tissue. Here, it was posited that in addition to the now proven physiological adaptations, high altitude flying birds will also have acquired pulmonary structural adaptations that enable them to obtain the large amounts of oxygen (O2) needed for flight at high elevation, an environment where O2 levels are very low. The Andean goose (Chloephaga melanoptera) normally resides at altitudes above 3000 meters and flies to elevations as high as 6000 meters where O2 becomes limiting. In this study, its lung was morphologically- and morphometrically investigated. It was found that structurally the lungs are exceptionally specialized for gas exchange. Atypically, the infundibulae are well-vascularized. The mass-specific volume of the lung (42.8 cm3.kg-1), the mass-specific respiratory surface area of the blood-gas (tissue) barrier (96.5 cm2.g-1) and the mass-specific volume of the pulmonary capillary blood (7.44 cm3.kg-1) were some of the highest values so far reported in birds. The pulmonary structural specializations have generated a mass-specific total (overall) pulmonary morphometric diffusing capacity of the lung for oxygen (DLo2) of 0.119 mlO2.sec-1.mbar-1.kg-1, a value that is among some of the highest ones in birds that have been studied. The adaptations of the lung of the Andean goose possibly produce the high O2 conductance needed to live and fly at high altitude.

Comparison of flying qualities derived from in-flight and ground-based simulators for a jet-transport airplane for the approach and landing pilot tasks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grantham, William D.

1989-01-01

The primary objective was to provide information to the flight controls/flying qualities engineer that will assist him in determining the incremental flying qualities and/or pilot-performance differences that may be expected between results obtained via ground-based simulation (and, in particular, the six-degree-of-freedom Langley Visual/Motion Simulator (VMS)) and flight tests. Pilot opinion and performance parameters derived from a ground-based simulator and an in-flight simulator are compared for a jet-transport airplane having 32 different longitudinal dynamic response characteristics. The primary pilot tasks were the approach and landing tasks with emphasis on the landing-flare task. The results indicate that, in general, flying qualities results obtained from the ground-based simulator may be considered conservative-especially when the pilot task requires tight pilot control as during the landing flare. The one exception to this, according to the present study, was that the pilots were more tolerant of large time delays in the airplane response on the ground-based simulator. The results also indicated that the ground-based simulator (particularly the Langley VMS) is not adequate for assessing pilot/vehicle performance capabilities (i.e., the sink rate performance for the landing-flare task when the pilot has little depth/height perception from the outside scene presentation).

Observation of sandhill cranes' (Grus canadensis) flight behavior in heavy fog

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kirsch, Eileen M.; Wellik, Mike J.; Suarez, Manuel J.; Diehl, Robert H.; Lutes, Jim; Woyczik, Wendy; Krapfl, Jon; Sojda, Richard S.

2015-01-01

The behaviors of birds flying in low visibility conditions remain poorly understood. We had the opportunity to monitor Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) flying in heavy fog with very low visibility during a comprehensive landscape use study of refuging cranes in the Horicon Marsh in southeastern Wisconsin. As part of the study, we recorded flight patterns of cranes with a portable marine radar at various locations and times of day, and visually counted cranes as they departed the roost in the morning. We compared flight patterns during a fog event with those recorded during clear conditions. In good visibility, cranes usually departed the night roost shortly after sunrise and flew in relatively straight paths toward foraging areas. In fog, cranes departed the roost later in the day, did not venture far from the roost, engaged in significantly more circling flight, and returned to the roost site rather than proceeding to foraging areas. We also noted that compared to mornings with good visibility, cranes flying in fog called more frequently than usual. The only time in this 2-year study that observers heard young of the year calling was during the fog event. The observed behavior of cranes circling and lingering in an area while flying in poor visibility conditions suggests that such situations may increase chances of colliding with natural or anthropogenic obstacles in the vicinity.

Reduced-risk management of Rhagoletis cerasi flies (host race Prunus) in combination with a preliminary phenological model.

PubMed

Kovanci, O B; Kovanci, B

2006-01-01

Seasonal flight activity of Rhagoletis cerasi (L.) (Diptera: Tephritidae) adults was monitored using yellow sticky traps at sweet cherry orchards under different management regimes in Bursa, northwestern Turkey, during 1997-1998. In the reduced-risk backyard orchards, soil ploughing in the fall or spring to destroy the pupae was combined with a single application of an insecticide, while conventionally managed orchards received six to seven insecticide applications for controlling adults. Traps in commercial orchards caught significantly fewer adults than those in reduced-risk backyard orchards. Levels of cherry fruit fly fruit damage were very low (0.1%) in commercial orchards, whereas infestation rates averaged 2.2% in reduced-risk orchards. A preliminary phenology model was developed for optimal timing of insecticide applications based on air temperature summations since 1 February. In the reduced-risk backyard orchards, the first flies were captured between 25 May and 2 June, corresponding to an average degree-day (DD) accumulation of 582.50 +/- 10.50 DD at an altitude of 150 m. However, first adult emergence at 1170 m was recorded between 6 and 14 June, averaging 667.50 +/- 14.50 DD. Adult emergence exhibited bimodal peaks in a single flight at low altitude but there was a single peak at high altitude sites. Total adult flight period averaged 459 +/- 29.50 and 649 +/- 25.50 DD at low and high altitude sites, respectively. Our prediction model suggests that the optimum spray-window for a single insecticide application occurs between 577.70 and 639.40 DD at 150 m and between 780.90 and 848.60 DD at 1170 m.

Reduced-Risk Management of Rhagoletis cerasi Flies (Host Race Prunus) in Combination with a Preliminary Phenological Model

PubMed Central

Kovanci, O. B.; Kovanci, B.

2006-01-01

Seasonal flight activity of Rhagoletis cerasi (L.) (Diptera: Tephritidae) adults was monitored using yellow sticky traps at sweet cherry orchards under different management regimes in Bursa, northwestern Turkey, during 1997–1998. In the reduced-risk backyard orchards, soil ploughing in the fall or spring to destroy the pupae was combined with a single application of an insecticide, while conventionally managed orchards received six to seven insecticide applications for controlling adults. Traps in commercial orchards caught significantly fewer adults than those in reduced-risk backyard orchards. Levels of cherry fruit fly fruit damage were very low (0.1%) in commercial orchards, whereas infestation rates averaged 2.2% in reduced-risk orchards. A preliminary phenology model was developed for optimal timing of insecticide applications based on air temperature summations since 1 February. In the reduced-risk backyard orchards, the first flies were captured between 25 May and 2 June, corresponding to an average degree-day (DD) accumulation of 582.50 ± 10.50 DD at an altitude of 150 m. However, first adult emergence at 1170 m was recorded between 6 and 14 June, averaging 667.50 ± 14.50 DD. Adult emergence exhibited bimodal peaks in a single flight at low altitude but there was a single peak at high altitude sites. Total adult flight period averaged 459 ± 29.50 and 649 ± 25.50 DD at low and high altitude sites, respectively. Our prediction model suggests that the optimum spray-window for a single insecticide application occurs between 577.70 and 639.40 DD at 150 m and between 780.90 and 848.60 DD at 1170 m. PMID:20298111

Utilization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Rangeland Resources Monitoring in a Changing Regulatory Environment (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rango, A.; Vivoni, E. R.; Browning, D. M.; Anderson, C.; Laliberte, A. S.

2013-12-01

It is taking longer than expected to realize the immense potential of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)for civil applications due to the complexity of regulations being developed by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) that can be applied to both manned and unmanned flight in the National Airspace System (NAS). As a result, FAA has required that for all UAV flights in the NAS, an external pilot must maintain line-of-sight contact with the UAV. Properly trained observers must also be present to assist the external pilot in collision avoidance. Additionally, in order to fly in the NAS, formal approval must be requested from FAA through application for a Certificate of Authorization (COA for government applicants or a Special Airworthiness Certificate (SAC) in the experimental category for non-government applicants. Flight crews of UAVs must pass exams also required for manned airplane pilots. Although flight crews for UAVs are not required to become manned airplane pilots, UAV flight missions are much more efficient if one or two of the UAV flight crew are also manned aircraft pilots so they can serve as the UAV mission commander. Our group has performed numerous UAV flights within the Jornada Experimental Range in southern New Mexico. Two developments with Jornada UAVs can be recommended to other UAV operators that would increase flight time experience and study areas covered by UAV images. First, do not overlook the possibility of obtaining permission to fly in Restricted Military Airspace (RMA). At the Jornada, our airspace is approximately 50% NAS and 50% RMA. With experiments ongoing in both types of airspace, we can fly in both areas and continue to increase UAV flights. Second, we have developed an air- and-ground vehicle approach for long distance, continuous pilot transport that always maintains line-of-sight requirements. This allows flying several target areas on a single mission and increasing the number of acquired UAV images - over 90,000 UAV images have now been acquired at Jornada. Most of our UAV flights have taken place over rangelands or watersheds in the western U.S. These flights have been successful used for classification of vegetation cover and type, measuring gaps between vegetation patches, identifing locations of potentially erosive soil, deriving digital elevation models, and monitoring plant phenology.. These measurements can be directly compared to more costly and time-intensive traditional techniques used in rangeland health determinations. New UAVs are becoming available with increased sensor payload capacity. At Jornada we have concentrated on flying at low altitudes (~215 m) to acquire hyperspatial resolutions with digital cameras of about 5-6 cm. We also fly a six band multispectral camera with spatial resolution of ~ 13 cm. We have recently acquired a larger Bat-4 UAV to go with the Bat-3 UAV. The major improvement associated with this upgrade is an increase in sensor payload from 1.4 kg to 14 kg. We are surveying the type of sensors that we could add to best increase our information content.

Field evaluation of flight deck procedures for flying CTAS descents

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

Flight deck descent procedures were developed for a field evaluation of the CTAS Descent Advisor conducted in the fall of 1995. During this study, CTAS descent clearances were issued to 185 commercial flights at Denver International Airport. Data col...

Comparative Transcriptome Analyses Uncover Key Candidate Genes Mediating Flight Capacity in Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and Bactrocera correcta (Bezzi) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Guo, Shaokun; Zhao, Zihua; Liu, Lijun; Li, Zhihong; Shen, Jie

2018-01-30

Flight capacity is important for invasive pests during entry, establishment and spreading. Both Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel and Bactrocera correcta Bezzi are invasive fruit flies but their flight capacities differ. Here, a tethered flight mill test demonstrated that B. dorsalis exhibits a greater flight capacity than B. correcta . RNA-Seq was used to determine the transcriptomic differences associated with the flight capacity of two Bactrocera species. Transcriptome data showed that 6392 unigenes were differentially expressed between the two species in the larval stage, whereas in the adult stage, 4104 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in females, and 3445 DEGs were observed in males. The flight capacity appeared to be correlated with changes in the transcriptional levels of genes involved in wing formation, flight muscle structure, energy metabolism, and hormonal control. Using RNA interference (RNAi) to verify the function of one DEG, the epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR ), we confirmed the role of this gene in regulating wing development, and thereby flight capacity, in both species. This work reveals the flight mechanism of fruit flies and provides insight into fundamental transcriptomics for further studies on the flight performance of insects.

Comparative Transcriptome Analyses Uncover Key Candidate Genes Mediating Flight Capacity in Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and Bactrocera correcta (Bezzi) (Diptera: Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Zhao, Zihua; Liu, Lijun; Li, Zhihong; Shen, Jie

2018-01-01

Flight capacity is important for invasive pests during entry, establishment and spreading. Both Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel and Bactrocera correcta Bezzi are invasive fruit flies but their flight capacities differ. Here, a tethered flight mill test demonstrated that B. dorsalis exhibits a greater flight capacity than B. correcta. RNA-Seq was used to determine the transcriptomic differences associated with the flight capacity of two Bactrocera species. Transcriptome data showed that 6392 unigenes were differentially expressed between the two species in the larval stage, whereas in the adult stage, 4104 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in females, and 3445 DEGs were observed in males. The flight capacity appeared to be correlated with changes in the transcriptional levels of genes involved in wing formation, flight muscle structure, energy metabolism, and hormonal control. Using RNA interference (RNAi) to verify the function of one DEG, the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), we confirmed the role of this gene in regulating wing development, and thereby flight capacity, in both species. This work reveals the flight mechanism of fruit flies and provides insight into fundamental transcriptomics for further studies on the flight performance of insects. PMID:29385681

Personal Flying Accident Rates of Selected Light Sport Aircraft Compared with General Aviation Aircraft.

PubMed

Mills, William D; DeJohn, Charles A

2016-07-01

The issue of expanding flight privileges that do not require medical oversight is currently an important topic, especially in the United States. We compared personal flying accident rates in aircraft with special light sport aircraft (SLSA) and experimental light sport aircraft (ELSA) airworthiness certificates to accident rates for personal flying in other general aviation (GA) aircraft. To calculate accident rates, personal flying hours were obtained from the annual FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Surveys, and numbers of personal flying accidents were obtained from the NTSB accident database. Overall and fatal personal flying accident rates for the SLSA and ELSA groups and other GA aircraft were calculated and accident rates were compared. The overall personal flying accident rate for SLSA and ELSA was found to be 29.8 per 100,000 flight hours and the fatal accident rate was 5.2 per 100,000 flying hours. These are both significantly greater than the overall personal flying rate of 12.7 per 100,000 h and fatal rate of 2.6 per 100,000 h for other GA aircraft. Although this study has several limitations, the significantly higher accident rates in the sport pilot aircraft suggests caution when expanding sport pilot privileges to include larger, more complex aircraft. Mills WD, DeJohn CA. Personal flying accident rates of selected light sport aircraft compared with general aviation aircraft. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2016; 87(7):652-654.

NASA's SR-71B and F-18 HARV aircraft left Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on March 24, 2003

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-03-24

Dryden Flight Research Center's SR-71B Blackbird aircraft, NASA tail number 831, is destined for the Kalamazoo Air Zoo museum in Kalamazoo, Mich., and the F-18 High Angle-of-Attack Research Vehicle (HARV) aircraft, NASA tail number 840, is going to the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, Va. NASA's SR-71B was one of only two SR-71 trainer aircraft built, and served NASA in that role, as well as for some high-speed research, from 1991 to 1999. The F-18 HARV provided some of the most comprehensive data on the high-angle-of-attack flight regime, flying at angles of up to 70 degrees from the horizontal. The HARV flew 385 research flights at Dryden from 1987 through 1996.

NASA Beechcraft KingAir #801 in flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

NASA 801 Beechcraft Beech Super KingAir in flight. The Beechcraft Beech 200 Super KingAir aircraft N7NA, known as NASA 7, has been a support aircraft for many years, flying 'shuttle' missions to Ames Research Center. It once flew from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and back each day but now (2001) flies between the Dryden Flight Research Center and Ames. A second Beechcraft Beech 200 Super King Air, N701NA, redesignated N801NA, transferred to Dryden on 3 Oct. 1997 and is used for research missions but substitutes for NASA 7 on shuttle missions when NASA 7 is not available.

The aerodynamics and control of free flight manoeuvres in Drosophila.

PubMed

Dickinson, Michael H; Muijres, Florian T

2016-09-26

A firm understanding of how fruit flies hover has emerged over the past two decades, and recent work has focused on the aerodynamic, biomechanical and neurobiological mechanisms that enable them to manoeuvre and resist perturbations. In this review, we describe how flies manipulate wing movement to control their body motion during active manoeuvres, and how these actions are regulated by sensory feedback. We also discuss how the application of control theory is providing new insight into the logic and structure of the circuitry that underlies flight stability.This article is part of the themed issue 'Moving in a moving medium: new perspectives on flight'. © 2016 The Author(s).

Mission-oriented requirements for updating MIL-H-8501. Volume 1: STI proposed structure. [military rotorcraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clement, W. F.; Hoh, R. H.; Ferguson, S. W., III; Mitchell, D. G.; Ashkenas, I. L.; Mcruer, D. T.

1985-01-01

The structure of a new flying and ground handling qualities specification for military rotorcraft is presented. This preliminary specification structure is intended to evolve into a replacement for specification MIL-H-8501A. The new structure is designed to accommodate a variety of rotorcraft types, mission flight phases, flight envelopes, and flight environmental characteristics and to provide criteria for three levels of flying qualities, a systematic treatment of failures and reliability, both conventional and multiaxis controllers, and external vision aids which may also incorporate synthetic display content. Existing and new criteria were incorporated into the new structure wherever they could be substantiated.

Pathfinder-Plus takes off on flight in Hawaii

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight over Hawaii in 1998. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4 days above 50,000 feet. Major activities of Pathfinder Plus' Hawaiian flights included detection of forest nutrient status, forest regrowth after damage caused by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, sediment/algal concentrations in coastal waters, and assessment of coral reef health. Pathfinder science activities were coordinated by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, and included researchers from the University of Hawaii and the University of California. Pathfinder is part of NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program managed by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Pathfinder and Pathfinder Plus were designed, built, and operated by AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California. Pathfinder had a 98.4-foot wing span and weighed 560 pounds. Pathfinder Plus has a 121-foot wing span and weighs about 700 pounds. Pathfinder was powered by six electric motors while Pathfinder Plus has eight. Pathfinder's solar arrays produced approximately 8,000 watts of power while Pathfinder Plus' solar arrays produce about 12,500 watts of power. Both Pathfinder aircraft were built primarily of composites, plastic, and foam.

Pathfinder-Plus on flight in Hawaii

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight over Hawaii in 1998. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4 days above 50,000 feet. Major activities of Pathfinder Plus' Hawaiian flights included detection of forest nutrient status, forest regrowth after damage caused by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, sediment/algal concentrations in coastal waters, and assessment of coral reef health. Pathfinder science activities were coordinated by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, and included researchers from the University of Hawaii and the University of California. Pathfinder is part of NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program managed by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Pathfinder and Pathfinder Plus were designed, built, and operated by AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California. Pathfinder had a 98.4-foot wing span and weighed 560 pounds. Pathfinder Plus has a 121-foot wing span and weighs about 700 pounds. Pathfinder was powered by six electric motors while Pathfinder Plus has eight. Pathfinder's solar arrays produced approximately 8,000 watts of power while Pathfinder Plus' solar arrays produce about 12,500 watts of power. Both Pathfinder aircraft were built primarily of composites, plastic, and foam.

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight over Hawaiian island N'ihau

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight over the Hawaiian island of N'ihau in 1998. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4 days above 50,000 feet. Major activities of Pathfinder Plus' Hawaiian flights included detection of forest nutrient status, forest regrowth after damage caused by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, sediment/algal concentrations in coastal waters, and assessment of coral reef health. Pathfinder science activities were coordinated by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, and included researchers from the University of Hawaii and the University of California. Pathfinder is part of NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program managed by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Pathfinder and Pathfinder Plus were designed, built, and operated by AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California. Pathfinder had a 98.4-foot wing span and weighed 560 pounds. Pathfinder Plus has a 121-foot wing span and weighs about 700 pounds. Pathfinder was powered by six electric motors while Pathfinder Plus has eight. Pathfinder's solar arrays produced approximately 8,000 watts of power while Pathfinder Plus' solar arrays produce about 12,500 watts of power. Both Pathfinder aircraft were built primarily of composites, plastic, and foam.

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaiian island N'ihau

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight over the Hawaiian island of N'ihau in 1998. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4 days above 50,000 feet. Major activities of Pathfinder Plus' Hawaiian flights included detection of forest nutrient status, forest regrowth after damage caused by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, sediment/algal concentrations in coastal waters, and assessment of coral reef health. Pathfinder science activities were coordinated by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, and included researchers from the University of Hawaii and the University of California. Pathfinder is part of NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program managed by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Pathfinder and Pathfinder Plus were designed, built, and operated by AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California. Pathfinder had a 98.4-foot wing span and weighed 560 pounds. Pathfinder Plus has a 121-foot wing span and weighs about 700 pounds. Pathfinder was powered by six electric motors while Pathfinder Plus has eight. Pathfinder's solar arrays produced approximately 8,000 watts of power while Pathfinder Plus' solar arrays produce about 12,500 watts of power. Both Pathfinder aircraft were built primarily of composites, plastic, and foam.

Pathfinder-Plus on flight near Hawaiian island N'ihau

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight with the Hawaiian island of N'ihau in the background. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4 days above 50,000 feet. Major activities of Pathfinder Plus' Hawaiian flights included detection of forest nutrient status, forest regrowth after damage caused by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, sediment/algal concentrations in coastal waters, and assessment of coral reef health. Pathfinder science activities were coordinated by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, and included researchers from the University of Hawaii and the University of California. Pathfinder is part of NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program managed by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Pathfinder and Pathfinder Plus were designed, built, and operated by AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California. Pathfinder had a 98.4-foot wing span and weighed 560 pounds. Pathfinder Plus has a 121-foot wing span and weighs about 700 pounds. Pathfinder was powered by six electric motors while Pathfinder Plus has eight. Pathfinder's solar arrays produced approximately 8,000 watts of power while Pathfinder Plus' solar arrays produce about 12,500 watts of power. Both Pathfinder aircraft were built primarily of composites, plastic, and foam.

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaii

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaii. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4 days above 50,000 feet. Major activities of Pathfinder Plus' Hawaiian flights included detection of forest nutrient status, forest regrowth after damage caused by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, sediment/algal concentrations in coastal waters, and assessment of coral reef health. Pathfinder science activities were coordinated by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, and included researchers from the University of Hawaii and the University of California. Pathfinder is part of NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program managed by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Pathfinder and Pathfinder Plus were designed, built, and operated by AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California. Pathfinder had a 98.4-foot wing span and weighed 560 pounds. Pathfinder Plus has a 121-foot wing span and weighs about 700 pounds. Pathfinder was powered by six electric motors while Pathfinder Plus has eight. Pathfinder's solar arrays produced approximately 8,000 watts of power while Pathfinder Plus' solar arrays produce about 12,500 watts of power. Both Pathfinder aircraft were built primarily of composites, plastic, and foam.

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight in Hawaii

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight in 1998 over Hawaiian waters. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4 days above 50,000 feet. Major activities of Pathfinder Plus' Hawaiian flights included detection of forest nutrient status, forest regrowth after damage caused by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, sediment/algal concentrations in coastal waters, and assessment of coral reef health. Pathfinder science activities were coordinated by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, and included researchers from the University of Hawaii and the University of California. Pathfinder is part of NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program managed by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Pathfinder and Pathfinder Plus were designed, built, and operated by AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California. Pathfinder had a 98.4-foot wing span and weighed 560 pounds. Pathfinder Plus has a 121-foot wing span and weighs about 700 pounds. Pathfinder was powered by six electric motors while Pathfinder Plus has eight. Pathfinder's solar arrays produced approximately 8,000 watts of power while Pathfinder Plus' solar arrays produce about 12,500 watts of power. Both Pathfinder aircraft were built primarily of composites, plastic, and foam.

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaiian Islands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaiian Islands in 1998. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4 days above 50,000 feet. Major activities of Pathfinder Plus' Hawaiian flights included detection of forest nutrient status, forest regrowth after damage caused by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, sediment/algal concentrations in coastal waters, and assessment of coral reef health. Pathfinder science activities were coordinated by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, and included researchers from the University of Hawaii and the University of California. Pathfinder is part of NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program managed by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Pathfinder and Pathfinder Plus were designed, built, and operated by AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California. Pathfinder had a 98.4-foot wing span and weighed 560 pounds. Pathfinder Plus has a 121-foot wing span and weighs about 700 pounds. Pathfinder was powered by six electric motors while Pathfinder Plus has eight. Pathfinder's solar arrays produced approximately 8,000 watts of power while Pathfinder Plus' solar arrays produce about 12,500 watts of power. Both Pathfinder aircraft were built primarily of composites, plastic, and foam.

Wake Development behind Paired Wings with Tip and Root Trailing Vortices: Consequences for Animal Flight Force Estimates

PubMed Central

Horstmann, Jan T.; Henningsson, Per; Thomas, Adrian L. R.; Bomphrey, Richard J.

2014-01-01

Recent experiments on flapping flight in animals have shown that a variety of unrelated species shed a wake behind left and right wings consisting of both tip and root vortices. Here we present an investigation using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) of the behaviour and interaction of trailing vortices shed by paired, fixed wings that simplify and mimic the wake of a flying animal with a non-lifting body. We measured flow velocities at five positions downstream of two adjacent NACA 0012 aerofoils and systematically varied aspect ratio, the gap between the wings (corresponding to the width of a non-lifting body), angle of attack, and the Reynolds number. The range of aspect ratios and Reynolds number where chosen to be relevant to natural fliers and swimmers, and insect flight in particular. We show that the wake behind the paired wings deformed as a consequence of the induced flow distribution such that the wingtip vortices convected downwards while the root vortices twist around each other. Vortex interaction and wake deformation became more pronounced further downstream of the wing, so the positioning of PIV measurement planes in experiments on flying animals has an important effect on subsequent force estimates due to rotating induced flow vectors. Wake deformation was most severe behind wings with lower aspect ratios and when the distance between the wings was small, suggesting that animals that match this description constitute high-risk groups in terms of measurement error. Our results, therefore, have significant implications for experimental design where wake measurements are used to estimate forces generated in animal flight. In particular, the downstream distance of the measurement plane should be minimised, notwithstanding the animal welfare constraints when measuring the wake behind flying animals. PMID:24632825

Wind and Wake Sensing with UAV Formation Flight: System Development and Flight Testing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larrabee, Trenton Jameson

Wind turbulence including atmospheric turbulence and wake turbulence have been widely investigated; however, only recently it become possible to use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as a validation tool for research in this area. Wind can be a major contributing factor of adverse weather for aircraft. More importantly, it is an even greater risk towards UAVs because of their small size and weight. Being able to estimate wind fields and gusts can potentially provide substantial benefits for both unmanned and manned aviation. Possible applications include gust suppression for improving handling qualities, a better warning system for high wind encounters, and enhanced control for small UAVs during flight. On the other hand, the existence of wind can be advantageous since it can lead to fuel savings and longer duration flights through dynamic soaring or thermal soaring. Wakes are an effect of the lift distribution across an aircraft's wing or tail. Wakes can cause substantial disturbances when multiple aircraft are moving through the same airspace. In fact, the perils from an aircraft flying through the wake of another aircraft is a leading cause of the delay between takeoff times at airports. Similar to wind, though, wakes can be useful for energy harvesting and increasing an aircraft's endurance when flying in formation which can be a great advantage to UAVs because they are often limited in flight time due to small payload capacity. Formation flight can most often be seen in manned aircraft but can be adopted for use with unmanned systems. Autonomous flight is needed for flying in the "sweet spot" of the generated wakes for energy harvesting as well as for thermal soaring during long duration flights. For the research presented here formation flight was implemented for the study of wake sensing and gust alleviation. The major contributions of this research are in the areas of a novel technique to estimate wind using an Unscented Kalman filter and experimental wake sensing data using UAVs in formation flight. This has been achieved and well documented before in manned aircraft but very little work has been done on UAV wake sensing especially during flight testing. This document describes the development and flight testing of small unmanned aerial system (UAS) for wind and wake sensing purpose including a Ground Control Station (GCS) and UAVs. This research can be stated in four major components. Firstly, formation flight was obtained by integrating a formation flight controller on the WVU Phastball Research UAV aircraft platform from the Flight Control Systems Laboratory (FCSL) at West Virginia University (WVU). Second, a new approach to wind estimation using an Unscented Kalman filter (UKF) is discussed along with results from flight data. Third, wake modeling within a simulator and wake sensing during formation flight is shown. Finally, experimental results are used to discuss the "sweet spot" for energy harvesting in formation flight, a novel approach to cooperative wind estimation, and gust suppression control for a follower aircraft in formation flight.

NASA Dryden research pilot Gordon Fullerton flies his final mission in NASA F/A-18B #852 in formation with NASA F/A-18A #850 on Dec. 21, 2007.

NASA Image and Video Library

2007-12-21

Long-time NASA Dryden research pilot and former astronaut C. Gordon Fullerton capped an almost 50-year flying career, including more than 38 years with NASA, with a final flight in a NASA F/A-18 on Dec. 21, 2007. Fullerton and Dryden research pilot Jim Smolka flew a 90-minute pilot proficiency formation aerobatics flight with another Dryden F/A-18 and a Dryden T-38 before concluding with two low-level formation flyovers of Dryden before landing. Fullerton was honored with a water-cannon spray arch provided by two fire trucks from the Edwards Air Force Base fire department as he taxied the F/A-18 up to the Dryden ramp, and was then greeted by his wife Marie and several hundred Dryden staff after his final flight. Fullerton began his flying career with the U.S. Air Force in 1958 after earning bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology. Initially trained as a fighter pilot, he later transitioned to multi-engine bombers and became a bomber operations test pilot after attending the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. He then was assigned to the flight crew for the planned Air Force Manned Orbital Laboratory in 1966. Upon cancellation of that program, the Air Force assigned Fullerton to NASA's astronaut corps in 1969. He served on the support crews for the Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17 lunar missions, and was later assigned to one of the two flight crews that piloted the space shuttle prototype Enterprise during the Approach and Landing Test program at Dryden. He then logged some 382 hours in space when he flew on two early space shuttle missions, STS-3 on Columbia in 1982 and STS-51F on Challenger in 1985. He joined the flight crew branch at NASA Dryden after leaving the astronaut corps in 1986. During his 21 years at Dryden, Fullerton was project pilot on a number of high-profile research efforts, including the Propulsion Controlled Aircraft, the high-speed landing tests of sp

Hypobaric Hypoxia Exacerbates the Neuroinflammatory Response to Traumatic Brain Injury

PubMed Central

Goodman, Michael D.; Makley, Amy T.; Huber, Nathan L.; Clarke, Callisia N.; Friend, Lou Ann W.; Schuster, Rebecca M.; Bailey, Stephanie R.; Barnes, Stephen L.; Dorlac, Warren C.; Johannigman, Jay A.; Lentsch, Alex B.; Pritts, Timothy A.

2015-01-01

Objective To determine the inflammatory effects of time-dependent exposure to the hypobaric environment of simulated aeromedical evacuation following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods Mice were subjected to a blunt TBI or sham injury. Righting reflex response (RRR) time was assessed as an indicator of neurologic recovery. Three or 24 h (Early and Delayed groups, respectively) after TBI, mice were exposed to hypobaric flight conditions (Fly) or ground-level control (No Fly) for 5 h. Arterial blood gas samples were obtained from all groups during simulated flight. Serum and cortical brain samples were analyzed for inflammatory cytokines after flight. Neuron specific enolase (NSE) was measured as a serum biomarker of TBI severity. Results TBI resulted in prolonged RRR time compared with sham injury. After TBI alone, serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and keratinocyte-derived chemokine (KC) were increased by 6 h post-injury. Simulated flight significantly reduced arterial oxygen saturation levels in the Fly group. Post-injury altitude exposure increased cerebral levels of IL-6 and macrophage inflammatory protein-1α (MIP-1α), as well as serum NSE in the Early but not Delayed Flight group compared to ground-level controls. Conclusions The hypobaric environment of aero-medical evacuation results in significant hypoxia. Early, but not delayed, exposure to a hypobaric environment following TBI increases the neuroinflammatory response to injury and the severity of secondary brain injury. Optimization of the post-injury time to fly using serum cytokine and biomarker levels may reduce the potential secondary cerebral injury induced by aeromedical evacuation. PMID:20850781

System Design and Nonlinear State-Dependent Riccati Equation Control of an Autonomous Y-4 Tilt-Rotor Aerobot for Martian Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins, Nathan Scott

Surrey Space Centre (SSC) has been working on an autonomous fixed-wing all-electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aerobot for the exploration of Mars for several years. SSC's previous designs have incorporated separate vertical lift and horizontal pusher rotors as well as a mono tilt-rotor configuration. The Martian aerobot's novel Y-4 tilt-rotor (Y4TR) design is a combination of two previous SSC designs and a step forward for planetary aerobots. The aerobot will fly as a Y4 multi-rotor during vertical flight and as a conventional flying wing during horizontal flight. The more robust Y4TR configuration utilizes two large fixed coaxial counter rotating rotors and two small tilt-rotors for vertical takeoff. The front tilt-rotors rotate during transition flight into the main horizontal flight configuration. The aerobot is a blended wing design with the wings using the "Zagi 10" airfoil blended to a center cover for the coaxial rotors. The open source design and analysis programs XROTOR, CROTOR, Q-BLADE, XFLR5, and OpenVSP were used to design and model the aerobot's four rotors and body. The baseline mission of the Y4TR remains the same as previously reported and will investigate the Isidis Planitia region on Mars over a month long period using optical sensors during flight and a surface science package when landed. During flight operations the aerobot will take off vertically, transition to horizontal flight, fly for around an hour, transition back to vertical flight, and land vertically. The flight missions will take place close to local noon to maximize power production via solar cells during flight. A nonlinear six degree of freedom (6DoF) dynamic model incorporating aerodynamic models of the aerobot's body and rotors has been developed to model the vertical, transition, and horizontal phases of flight. A nonlinear State-Dependent Riccati Equation (SDRE) controller has been developed for each of these flight phases. The nonlinear dynamic model was transformed into a pseudo-linear form based on the states and implemented in the SDRE controller. During transition flight the aerobot is over actuated and the weighted least squares (WLS) method is used for allocation of control effectors. Simulations of the aerobot flying in different configurations were performed to verify the performance of the SDRE controllers, including hover, transition, horizontal flight, altitude changes, and landing scenarios. Results from the simulations show the SDRE controller is a viable option for controlling the novel Y4TR Martian Aerobot.

Assembling the Gossamer Albatross II in hangar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

The Gossamer Albatross II is seen here being assembled in a hangar at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The original Gossamer Albatross is best known for completing the first completely human powered flight across the English Channel on June 12, 1979. The Albatross II was the backup craft for the Channel flight. The aircraft was fitted with a small battery-powered electric motor and flight instruments for the NASA research program in low-speed flight. NASA completed its flight testing of the Gossamer Albatross II and began analysis of the results in April, 1980. During the six week program, 17 actual data gathering flights and 10 other flights were flown here as part of the joint NASA Langley/Dryden flight research program. The lightweight craft, carrying a miniaturized instrumentation system, was flown in three configurations; using human power, with a small electric motor, and towed with the propeller removed. Results from the program contributed to data on the unusual aerodynamic, performance, stability, and control characteristics of large, lightweight aircraft that fly at slow speeds for application to future high altitude aircraft. The Albatross' design and research data contributed to numerous later high altitude projects, including the Pathfinder.

Major General Robert A. Rushworth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

Air Force test pilot Robert A. Rushworth is shown in an X-15. He was selected for the X-15 program in 1958, and made his first flight on November 4, 1960. Over the next six years, he made 34 flights in the X-15, the most of any pilot. This included a flight to an altitude of 285,000 feet, made on June 27, 1963. This flight above 50 miles qualified Rushworth for astronaut wings. On a later X-15 flight, he was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for successfully landing an X-15 after its nose wheel extended while flying at nearly Mach 5. He made his final X-15 flight on July 1, 1966, then returned to regular Air Force duties. These included a tour in Vietnam as an F-4 pilot, flying 189 combat missions. He also served as the Commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, and as the Commander of the Air Force Test and Evaluation Center at Kirtland AFB. At the time of his retirement as a major general, he was Vice Commander, Aeronautical Systems Division, Air Force Systems Command, at Wright-Patterson AFB. Rushworth flew C-47s and C-46s as a transport pilot in World War II, as well as F-80Cs, F-101s, TF-102s, F-104s, F-105s, F-106s, and F-4s. He died on March 17, 1993.

Initial Satellite Formation Flight Results from the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Trevor; Ottenstein, Neil; Palmer, Eric; Farahmand, Mitra

2016-01-01

This paper describes the underlying dynamics of formation flying in a high-eccentricity orbit such as that of the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. The GPS-based results used for MMS navigation is summarized, as well as the procedures that are used to design the maneuvers used to place the spacecraft into a tetrahedron formation and then maintain it. The details of how to carry out these maneuvers are then discussed. Finally, the numerical results that have been obtained concerning formation flying for the MMS mission to date (e.g. tetrahedron sizes flown, maneuver execution error, fuel usage, etc.) are presented in detail.

Quiet Spike(TradeMark) Build-up Ground Vibration Testing Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spivey, Natalie D.; Herrera, Claudia Y.; Truax, Roger; Pak, Chan-gi; Freund, Donald

2007-01-01

Flight tests of the Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation s Quiet Spike(TradeMark) hardware were recently completed on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Dryden Flight Research Center F-15B airplane. NASA Dryden uses a modified F-15B (836) airplane as a testbed aircraft to cost-effectively fly flight research experiments that are typically mounted underneath the airplane, along the fuselage centerline. For the Quiet Spike(TradeMark) experiment, instead of a centerline mounting, a forward-pointing boom was attached to the radar bulkhead of the airplane. The Quiet Spike(TradeMark) experiment is a stepping-stone to airframe structural morphing technologies designed to mitigate the sonic-boom strength of business jets flying over land. Prior to flying the Quiet Spike(TradeMark) experiment on the F-15B airplane several ground vibration tests were required to understand the Quiet Spike(TradeMark) modal characteristics and coupling effects with the F-15B airplane. Because of flight hardware availability and compressed schedule requirements, a "traditional" ground vibration test of the mated F-15B Quiet Spike(TradeMark) ready-for-flight configuration did not leave sufficient time available for the finite element model update and flutter analyses before flight-testing. Therefore, a "nontraditional" ground vibration testing approach was taken. This report provides an overview of each phase of the "nontraditional" ground vibration testing completed for the Quiet Spike(TradeMark) project.

Overview of the Scientific Balloon Activity in Sweden

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abrahamsson, Mattias; Kemi, Stig; Lockowandt, Christian; Andersson, Kent

SSC, formerly known as Swedish Space Corporation, is a Swedish state-owned company working in several different space related fields, including scientific stratospheric balloon launches. Esrange Space Centre (Esrange in short) located in the north of Sweden is the launch facility of SSC, where both sounding rocket launches and stratospheric balloon launches are conducted. At Esrange there are also facilities for satellite communication, including one of the largest civilian satellite data reception stations in the world. Stratospheric balloons have been launched from Esrange since 1974, when the first flights were performed together with the French space agency CNES. These balloon flights have normally flown eastward either only over Sweden or into Finland. Some flights have also had permission to fly into Russia, as far as the Ural Mountains. Normal flight times are from 4 to 12 hours. These eastward flights are conducted during the winter months (September to May). Long duration flights have been flown from ESC since 2005, when NASA flew the BLAST payload from Sweden to north Canada. The prevailing westerly wind pattern is very advantageous for trans-Atlantic flights during summer (late May to late July). The long flight times are very beneficial for astronomical payloads, such as telescopes that need long observation times. In 2013 two such payloads were flown, the first called SUNRISE was a German/US solar telescope, and the other called PoGOLite with a Swedish gamma-ray telescope. In 14 days PoGOLite, which had permission to fly over Russia, made an almost complete circumpolar flight. Typical scientific balloon payload fields include atmospheric research, including research on ozone depletion, astronomical and cosmological research, and research in technical fields such as aerodynamics. University students from all over Europe are involved in flights from Esrange under a Swedish/German programme called BEXUS. Two stratospheric balloons are flown with student payloads yearly, with the goal to introduce students in ballooning. Over the next couple of years the plan is to make a re-flight of the PoGOLite payload, fly two Japanese balloon payloads for planetary science missions, fly four student balloons, three balloons for technical studies of re-entry vehicles, and a balloon with a payload studying aerodynamic behaviour of a falling body.

X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft arrival at Dryden

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

The NASA/McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MDC) X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft in it's hangar at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, following its arrival on July 2, 1996. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

Life Cycle of a Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bothwell, Mary

2004-01-01

A viewgraph presentation describing the the six phases of a space mission is shown. The contents include: 1) What Does Planning Involve?; 2) Designing the Flight System; 3) Building the Flight System; 4) Testing the Flight System; 5) Flying the Mission; and 6) Analyzing the Data.

Optimum Guidance Law and Information Management for a Large Number of Formation Flying Spacecrafts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsuda, Yuichi; Nakasuka, Shinichi

In recent years, formation flying technique is recognized as one of the most important technologies for deep space and orbital missions that involve multiple spacecraft operations. Formation flying mission improves simultaneous observability over a wide area, redundancy and reconfigurability of the system with relatively small and low cost spacecrafts compared with the conventional single spacecraft mission. From the viewpoint of guidance and control, realizing formation flying mission usually requires tight maintenance and control of the relative distances, speeds and orientations between the member satellites. This paper studies a practical architecture for formation flight missions focusing mainly on guidance and control, and describes a new guidance algorithm for changing and keeping the relative positions and speeds of the satellites in formation. The resulting algorithm is suitable for onboard processing and gives the optimum impulsive trajectory for satellites flying closely around a certain reference orbit, that can be elliptic, parabolic or hyperbolic. Based on this guidance algorithm, this study introduces an information management methodology between the member spacecrafts which is suitable for a large formation flight architecture. Routing and multicast communication based on the wireless local area network technology are introduced. Some mathematical analyses and computer simulations will be shown in the presentation to reveal the feasibility of the proposed formation flight architecture, especially when a very large number of satellites join the formation.

An in-flight investigation of pilot-induced oscillation suppression filters during the fighter approach and landing task

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailey, R. E.; Smith, R. E.

1982-01-01

An investigation of pilot-induced oscillation suppression (PIOS) filters was performed using the USAF/Flight Dynamics Laboratory variable stability NT-33 aircraft, modified and operated by Calspan. This program examined the effects of PIOS filtering on the longitudinal flying qualities of fighter aircraft during the visual approach and landing task. Forty evaluations were flown to test the effects of different PIOS filters. Although detailed analyses were not undertaken, the results indicate that PIOS filtering can improve the flying qualities of an otherwise unacceptable aircraft configuration (Level 3 flying qualities). However, the ability of the filters to suppress pilot-induced oscillations appears to be dependent upon the aircraft configuration characteristics. Further, the data show that the filters can adversely affect landing flying qualities if improperly designed. The data provide an excellent foundation from which detail analyses can be performed.

Cross-Polar Aircraft Trajectory Optimization and the Potential Climate Impact

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ng, Hok K.; Sridhar, Banavar; Grabbe, Shon; Chen, Neil

2011-01-01

Cross-Polar routes offer new opportunities for air travel markets. Transpolar flights reduce travel times, fuel burns, and associated environmental emissions by flying direct paths between many North American and Asian cities. This study evaluates the potential benefits of flying wind-optimal polar routes and assessed their potential impact on climate change. An optimization algorithm is developed for transpolar flights to generate wind-optimal trajectories that minimize climate impact of aircraft, in terms of global warming potentials (relative to warming by one kg of CO2) of several types of emissions, while avoiding regions of airspace that facilitate persistent contrail formation. Estimations of global warming potential are incorporated into the objective function of the optimization algorithm to assess the climate impact of aircraft emissions discharged at a given location and altitude. The regions of airspace with very low ambient temperature and areas favorable to persistent contrail formation are modeled as undesirable regions that aircraft should avoid and are formulated as soft state constraints. The fuel burn and climate impact of cross-polar air traffic flying various types of trajectory including flight plan, great circle, wind-optimal, and contrail-avoidance are computed for 15 origin-destination pairs between major international airports in the U.S. and Asia. Wind-optimal routes reduce average fuel burn of flight plan routes by 4.4% on December 4, 2010 and 8.0% on August 7, 2010, respectively. The tradeoff between persistent contrail formation and additional global warming potential of aircraft emissions is investigated with and without altitude optimization. Without altitude optimization, the reduction in contrail travel times is gradual with increase in total fuel consumption. When altitude is optimized, a one percent increase in additional global warming potential, a climate impact equivalent to that of 4070kg and 4220kg CO2 emission, reduces 135 and 105 minutes persistent contrail formation per flight during a day with medium and high contrail formation, respectively.

DC-8 being pushed out of the Arena Arctica hangar in Kiruna, Sweden for the second flight of the SAG

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

This photo shows NASA's DC-8 being pushed out of the Arena Arctica hangar in Kiruna, Sweden for the second flight of the SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE). One of Dryden's high-flying ER-2 Airborne Science aircraft, a civilian variant of Lockheed's U-2, and another NASA flying laboratory, Dryden's DC-8, were based north of the Arctic Circle in Kiruna, Sweden during the winter of 2000 to study ozone depletion as part of SOLVE. A large hangar built especially for research, 'Arena Arctica' housed the instrumented aircraft and the scientists. Scientists observed unusually low levels of ozone over the Arctic during recent winters, raising concerns that ozone depletion there could become more widespread as in the Antarctic ozone hole. The NASA-sponsored international mission took place between November 1999 and March 2000 and was divided into three phases. The DC-8 was involved in all three phases returning to Dryden between each phase. The ER-2 flew science collection flights between January and March, remaining in Sweden from Jan. 9 through March 16. 'The collaborative campaign will provide an immense new body of information about the Arctic stratosphere,' said program scientist Dr. Michael Kurylo, NASA Headquarters. 'Our understanding of the Earth's ozone will be greatly enhanced by this research.' NASA is using a DC-8 aircraft as a flying science laboratory. The platform aircraft, based at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., collects data for many experiments in support of scientific projects serving the world scientific community. Included in this community are NASA, federal, state, academic and foreign investigators. Data gathered by the DC-8 at flight altitude and by remote sensing have been used for scientific studies in archeology, ecology, geography, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, volcanology, atmospheric chemistry, soil science and biology.

Direct Evidence for Vision-based Control of Flight Speed in Budgerigars.

PubMed

Schiffner, Ingo; Srinivasan, Mandyam V

2015-06-05

We have investigated whether, and, if so, how birds use vision to regulate the speed of their flight. Budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus, were filmed in 3-D using high-speed video cameras as they flew along a 25 m tunnel in which stationary or moving vertically oriented black and white stripes were projected on the side walls. We found that the birds increased their flight speed when the stripes were moved in the birds' flight direction, but decreased it only marginally when the stripes were moved in the opposite direction. The results provide the first direct evidence that Budgerigars use cues based on optic flow, to regulate their flight speed. However, unlike the situation in flying insects, it appears that the control of flight speed in Budgerigars is direction-specific. It does not rely solely on cues derived from optic flow, but may also be determined by energy constraints.

Direct Evidence for Vision-based Control of Flight Speed in Budgerigars

PubMed Central

Schiffner, Ingo; Srinivasan, Mandyam V.

2015-01-01

We have investigated whether, and, if so, how birds use vision to regulate the speed of their flight. Budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus, were filmed in 3-D using high-speed video cameras as they flew along a 25 m tunnel in which stationary or moving vertically oriented black and white stripes were projected on the side walls. We found that the birds increased their flight speed when the stripes were moved in the birds’ flight direction, but decreased it only marginally when the stripes were moved in the opposite direction. The results provide the first direct evidence that Budgerigars use cues based on optic flow, to regulate their flight speed. However, unlike the situation in flying insects, it appears that the control of flight speed in Budgerigars is direction-specific. It does not rely solely on cues derived from optic flow, but may also be determined by energy constraints. PMID:26046799

Clutter and conspecifics: a comparison of their influence on echolocation and flight behaviour in Daubenton's bat, Myotis daubentonii.

PubMed

Fawcett, Kayleigh; Ratcliffe, John M

2015-03-01

We compared the influence of conspecifics and clutter on echolocation and flight speed in the bat Myotis daubentonii. In a large room, actual pairs of bats exhibited greater disparity in peak frequency (PF), minimum frequency (F MIN) and call period compared to virtual pairs of bats, each flying alone. Greater inter-individual disparity in PF and F MIN may reduce acoustic interference and/or increase signal self-recognition in the presence of conspecifics. Bats flying alone in a smaller flight room, to simulate a more cluttered habitat as compared to the large flight room, produced calls of shorter duration and call period, lower intensity, and flew at lower speeds. In cluttered space, shorter call duration should reduce masking, while shorter call period equals more updates to the bat's auditory scene. Lower intensity likely reflects reduced range detection requirements, reduced speed the demands of flying in clutter. Our results show that some changes (e.g. PF separation) are associated with conspecifics, others with closed habitat (e.g. reduced call intensity). However, we demonstrate that call duration, period, and flight speed appear similarly influenced by conspecifics and clutter. We suggest that some changes reduce conspecific interference and/or improve self-recognition, while others demonstrate that bats experience each other like clutter.

EC95-43057-8

NASA Image and Video Library

1995-03-24

Outlined with gold stripes are the hinged nose strakes, modifications made to NASA's F-18 HARV (High Alpha Research Vehicle) at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Actuated Nose Strakes for Enhanced Rolling (ANSER) were installed to fly the third and final phase in the HARV flight test project. Normally folded flush, the units -- four feet long and six inches wide -- can be opened independently to interact with the nose vortices to produce large side forces for control. Early wind tunnel tests indicated that the strakes would be as effective in yaw control at high angles of attack as rudders are at lower angles. Testing involved evaluation of the strakes by themselves as well as combined with the aircraft's Thrust Vectoring System. The strakes were designed by NASA's Langley Research Center, then installed and flight tested at Dryden.

X-48B Flight Test Progress Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Risch, Timoth K.; Cosentino, Gary B.; Regan, Christopher D.; Kisska, Michael; Princen, Norman

2009-01-01

The results of a series of 39 flight tests of the X-48B Low Speed Vehicle (LSV) performed at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center from July 2007 through December 2008 are reported here. The goal of these tests is to evaluate the aerodynamic and controls and dynamics performance of the subscale LSV aircraft, eventually leading to the development of a control system for a full-scale vehicle. The X-48B LSV is an 8.5%-scale aircraft of a potential, full-scale Blended Wing Body (BWB) type aircraft and is flown remotely from a ground control station using a computerized flight control system located onboard the aircraft. The flight tests were the first two phases of a planned three-phase research program aimed at ascertaining the flying characteristics of this type of aircraft. The two test phases reported here are: 1) envelope expansion, during which the basic flying characteristics of the airplane were examined, and 2) parameter identification, stalls, and engine-out testing, during which further information on the aircraft performance was obtained and the airplane was tested to the limits of controlled flight. The third phase, departure limiter assaults, has yet to be performed. Flight tests in two different wing leading edge configurations (slats extended and slats retracted) as well as three weight and three center of gravity positions were conducted during each phase. Data gathered in the test program included measured airplane performance parameters such as speed, acceleration, and control surface deflections along with qualitative flying evaluations obtained from pilot and crew observations. Flight tests performed to-date indicate the aircraft exhibits good handling qualities and performance, consistent with pre-flight simulations.

Rand Symposium on Pilot Training and the Pilot Career; Recollections of the Chairman.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, W. A.

Topics discussed in this 1970 symposium included the economics of flight training, careers in flying, college versus high school graduates, defining the trained pilot, motivation and selection, innovation in pilot training, training goals, transfer of training, and the role of simulators. Conferees agreed that the present Air Force undergraduate…

AirMSPI Level 2 V001 New Data for NASA's ORACLES Campaign

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-05-07

AirMSPI Level 2 V001 New Data for NASA's ORACLES Campaign Friday, February 2, 2018 The NASA Langley Atmospheric Sciences Data Center (ASDC) and Jet Propulsion ... ) flight campaign.   AirMSPI flies in the nose of NASA's high-altitude ER-2 aircraft. The instrument was built by JPL and the ...

Autonomous formation flying based on GPS — PRISMA flight results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Amico, Simone; Ardaens, Jean-Sebastien; De Florio, Sergio

2013-01-01

This paper presents flight results from the early harvest of the Spaceborne Autonomous Formation Flying Experiment (SAFE) conducted in the frame of the Swedish PRISMA technology demonstration mission. SAFE represents one of the first demonstrations in low Earth orbit of an advanced guidance, navigation and control system for dual-spacecraft formations. Innovative techniques based on differential GPS-based navigation and relative orbital elements control are validated and tuned in orbit to fulfill the typical requirements of future distributed scientific instruments for remote sensing.

Lonely Skies: Air-to-Air Training for a 5th Generation Fighter Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-01

Missing Attitude Indicator….…………………14 4 Lt James Doolittle during Blind Flight Test…..……………………...15 5 An Early Link Trainer Cockpit...during visual flight because it deceived pilots about the actual aircraft attitude and acceleration. 1st Lt James Doolittle used Doctor David Meyers...flying pioneer and leader, Doolittle believed that pilots should learn to ignore their physical sense of motion while flying blind and to trust their

Probabilities of good, marginal, and poor flying conditions for space shuttle ferry flights

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whiting, D. M.; Guttman, N. B.

1977-01-01

Empirical probabilities are provided for good, marginal, and poor flying weather for ferrying the Space Shuttle Orbiter from Edwards AFB, California, to Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and from Edwards AFB to Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama. Results are given by month for each overall route plus segments of each route. The criteria for defining a day as good, marginal, or poor and the method of computing the relative frequencies and conditional probabilities for monthly reference periods are described.

X-36 Being Prepared on Lakebed for First Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Lit by the rays of the morning sunrise on Rogers Dry Lake, adjacent to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, technicians prepare the remotely-piloted X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft for its first flight in May 1997. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

X-36 during First Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

The remotely-piloted X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft climbs out from Rogers Dry Lake at the Dryden Flight Research Center on its first flight in May 1997. The aircraft flew for five minutes and reached an altitude of approximately 4,900 feet. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

X-36 Being Prepared on Lakebed for First Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Lit by the rays of the morning sunrise on Rogers Dry Lake, adjacent to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, a technician prepares the remotely-piloted X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft for its first flight on May 17, 1997. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

X-36 Being Prepared on Lakebed for First Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Lit by the rays of the morning sunrise on Rogers Dry Lake, adjacent to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, technicians prepares the remotely-piloted X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft for its first flight on May 17, 1997. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

X-36 Taking off During First Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

The X-36 remotely piloted aircraft lifts off on its first flight, May 17, 1997, at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The aircraft flew for five minutes and reached an altitude of approximately 4,900 feet. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

X-36 Being Prepared on Lakebed for First Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

As the sun creeps above the horizon of Rogers Dry Lake at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, technicians make final preparations for the first flight of the X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems and the risks associated with their inability to deal with unknown or unforeseen phenomena in flight. Fully fueled the X-36 prototype weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. It was 19 feet long and three feet high with a wingspan of just over 10 feet. A Williams International F112 turbofan engine provided close to 700 pounds of thrust. A typical research flight lasted 35 to 45 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. A total of 31 successful research flights were flown from May 17, 1997, to November 12, 1997, amassing 15 hours and 38 minutes of flight time. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees. In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, contracted with Boeing to fly AFRL's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, such as flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach. The X-36 aircraft flown at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1997 was a 28-percent scale representation of a theoretical advanced fighter aircraft. The Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in St. Louis, Missouri, built two of the vehicles in a cooperative agreement with the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

The mechanics and behavior of cliff swallows during tandem flights.

PubMed

Shelton, Ryan M; Jackson, Brandon E; Hedrick, Tyson L

2014-08-01

Cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) are highly maneuverable social birds that often forage and fly in large open spaces. Here we used multi-camera videography to measure the three-dimensional kinematics of their natural flight maneuvers in the field. Specifically, we collected data on tandem flights, defined as two birds maneuvering together. These data permit us to evaluate several hypotheses on the high-speed maneuvering flight performance of birds. We found that high-speed turns are roll-based, but that the magnitude of the centripetal force created in typical maneuvers varied only slightly with flight speed, typically reaching a peak of ~2 body weights. Turning maneuvers typically involved active flapping rather than gliding. In tandem flights the following bird copied the flight path and wingbeat frequency (~12.3 Hz) of the lead bird while maintaining position slightly above the leader. The lead bird turned in a direction away from the lateral position of the following bird 65% of the time on average. Tandem flights vary widely in instantaneous speed (1.0 to 15.6 m s(-1)) and duration (0.72 to 4.71 s), and no single tracking strategy appeared to explain the course taken by the following bird. © 2014. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

KSC-05PD-1030

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. An overhead crane lowers the External Tank that will be used to return the Space Shuttle program to flight into high bay 3 in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The tank, ET-121, and the Solid Rocket Boosters were originally scheduled to fly with orbiter Atlantis on mission STS-121 but will now be used to launch Discovery on mission STS-114. Once secure in the high bay, a new heater will be added to the feedline bellows to minimize the potential for ice and frost buildup. STS-114 is the first Return to Flight mission to the International Space Station. The launch window extends from July 13 through July 31.

Wing-kinematics measurement and aerodynamics in a small insect in hovering flight.

PubMed

Cheng, Xin; Sun, Mao

2016-05-11

Wing-motion of hovering small fly Liriomyza sativae was measured using high-speed video and flows of the wings calculated numerically. The fly used high wingbeat frequency (≈265 Hz) and large stroke amplitude (≈182°); therefore, even if its wing-length (R) was small (R ≈ 1.4 mm), the mean velocity of wing reached ≈1.5 m/s, the same as that of an average-size insect (R ≈ 3 mm). But the Reynolds number (Re) of wing was still low (≈40), owing to the small wing-size. In increasing the stroke amplitude, the outer parts of the wings had a "clap and fling" motion. The mean-lift coefficient was high, ≈1.85, several times larger than that of a cruising airplane. The partial "clap and fling" motion increased the lift by ≈7%, compared with the case of no aerodynamic interaction between the wings. The fly mainly used the delayed stall mechanism to generate the high-lift. The lift-to-drag ratio is only 0.7 (for larger insects, Re being about 100 or higher, the ratio is 1-1.2); that is, although the small fly can produce enough lift to support its weight, it needs to overcome a larger drag to do so.

Context-dependent olfactory enhancement of optomotor flight control in Drosophila.

PubMed

Chow, Dawnis M; Frye, Mark A

2008-08-01

Sensing and following the chemical plume of food odors is a fundamental challenge faced by many organisms. For flying insects, the task is complicated by wind that distorts the plume and buffets the fly. To maintain an upwind heading, and thus stabilize their orientation in a plume, insects such as flies and moths make use of strong context-specific visual equilibrium reflexes. For example, flying straight requires the regulation of image rotation across the eye, whereas minimizing side-slip and avoiding a collision require regulation of image expansion. In flies, visual rotation stabilizes plume tracking, but rotation and expansion optomotor responses are controlled by separate visual pathways. Are olfactory signals integrated with optomotor responses in a manner dependent upon visual context? We addressed this question by investigating the effect of an attractive food odor on active optomotor flight control. Odorant caused flies both to increase aerodynamic power output and to steer straighter. However, when challenged with wide-field optic flow, odor resulted in enhanced amplitude rotation responses but reduced amplitude expansion responses. For both visual conditions, flies tracked motion signals more closely in odor, an indication of increased saliency. These results suggest a simple search algorithm by which olfactory signals improve the salience of visual stimuli and modify optomotor control in a context-dependent manner, thereby enabling an animal to fly straight up a plume and approach odiferous objects.

FT 3 Flight Test Cards for Export

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marston, Michael L.

2015-01-01

These flight test cards will be made available to stakeholders who participated in FT3. NASA entered into the relationship with our stakeholders, including the FAA, to develop requirements that will lead to routine flights of unmanned aircraft systems flying in the national airspace system.

14 CFR § 1214.301 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... specialist will fly. The mission specialist, when designated for a flight, will participate in the planning....301 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SPACE FLIGHT Payload... in space to achieve program goals. A single mission might require more than one flight or more than...

Flight Control in Complex Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-10-24

that allow insects, with their miniature brains and limited sensory systems to fly safely through cluttered natural environments . The most significant...specialisations that allow insects, with their miniature brains and limited sensory systems to fly safely through cluttered natural environments . The most...bees have developed more accurate or effective methods for flying safely through gaps than species from less complex environments . Fig. 4: The

XB-70A during take-off

NASA Image and Video Library

1965-08-17

Viewed from the front the #1 XB-70A (62-0001) is shown climbing out during take-off. Most flights were scheduled during the morning hours to take advantage of the cooler ambient air temperatures for improved propulsion efficiencies. The wing tips are extended straight out to provide a maximum lifting wing surface. The XB-70A, capable of flying three times the speed of sound, was the world's largest experimental aircraft in the 1960s. Two XB-70A aircraft were built. Ship #1 was flown by NASA in a high speed flight research program.

A restored NACA P-51D Mustang in flight

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-09-15

A white plate on the top of the wing of a restored National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) P-51D Mustang mounts scale airfoil shapes as used by the NACA in the late 1940s for high-speed research. This former NACA testbed Mustang was rebuilt by John Muszala for Bill Allmon of Las Vegas, Nevada, who has been flying it since 1998. Allmon flew the vintage fighter to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California, Sept. 15, 2000 for a reunion of former NACA employees.

The F-18 systems research aircraft facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sitz, Joel R.

1992-01-01

To help ensure that new aerospace initiatives rapidly transition to competitive U.S. technologies, NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility has dedicated a systems research aircraft facility. The primary goal is to accelerate the transition of new aerospace technologies to commercial, military, and space vehicles. Key technologies include more-electric aircraft concepts, fly-by-light systems, flush airdata systems, and advanced computer architectures. Future aircraft that will benefit are the high-speed civil transport and the National AeroSpace Plane. This paper describes the systems research aircraft flight research vehicle and outlines near-term programs.

Aeromagnetic survey of Dillingham area in southwest Alaska, a website for the preliminary distribution of data

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2006-01-01

An airborne high-resolution magnetic survey was completed over the Dillingham and Nushagak Bay and Naknek area in southwestern Alaska. The flying was undertaken by McPhar Geosurveys Ltd. on behalf of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). First tests and calibration flights were completed by August 26th, 2005 and data acquisition was initiated on September 1st, 2005. The final data acquisition flight was completed on October 22nd, 2005. A total of 8,630 line-miles of data were acquired during the survey.

Learning to Fly.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weil, Patricia E.

1983-01-01

Presents information on where to learn to fly, which aircraft is best for this purpose, and approximate costs. Includes additional information on certificates, licenses, and ratings, and a description of the two phases of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association flight training program. (JN)

Butterflies' wings deformations using high speed digital holographic interferometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mendoza Santoyo, Fernando; Aguayo, Daniel D.; de La Torre-Ibarra, Manuel H.; Salas-Araiza, Manuel D.

2011-08-01

A variety of efforts in different scientific disciplines have tried to mimic the insect's in-flight complex system. The gained knowledge has been applied to improve the performance of different flying artifacts. In this research report it is presented a displacement measurement on butterflies' wings using the optical noninvasive Digital Holographic Interferometry technique with out of plane sensitivity, using a high power cw laser and a high speed CMOS camera to record the unrepeatable displacement movements on these organic tissues. A series of digital holographic interferograms were recorded and the experimental results for several butterflies during flapping events. The relative unwrapped phase maps micro-displacements over the whole wing surface are shown in a wire-mesh representation. The difference between flying modes is remarkably depicted among them.

Measuring pilot workload in a motion base simulator. III - Synchronous secondary task

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kantowitz, Barry H.; Bortolussi, Michael R.; Hart, Sandra G.

1987-01-01

This experiment continues earlier research of Kantowitz et al. (1983) conducted in a GAT-1 motion-base trainer to evaluate choice-reaction secondary tasks as measures of pilot work load. The earlier work used an asynchronous secondary task presented every 22 sec regardless of flying performance. The present experiment uses a synchronous task presented only when a critical event occurred on the flying task. Both two- and four-choice visual secondary tasks were investigated. Analysis of primary flying-task results showed no decrement in error for altitude, indicating that the key assumption necessary for using a choice secondary task was satisfied. Reaction times showed significant differences between 'easy' and 'hard' flight scenarios as well as the ability to discriminate among flight tasks.

Assessment of flying-quality criteria for air-breathing aerospacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcruer, Duane T.; Myers, Thomas T.; Hoh, Roger H.; Ashkenas, Irving L.; Johnston, Donald E.

1992-01-01

A study of flying quality requirements for air breathing aerospacecraft gives special emphasis to the unusual operational requirements and characteristics of these aircraft, including operation at hypersonic speed. The report considers distinguishing characteristics of these vehicles, including dynamic deficiencies and their implications for control. Particular emphasis is given to the interaction of the airframe and propulsion system, and the requirements for dynamic systems integration. Past operational missions are reviewed to define tasks and maneuvers to be considered for this class of aircraft. Areas of special concern with respect to vehicle dynamics and control are identified. Experience with the space shuttle orbiter is reviewed with respect to flight control system mechanization and flight experience in approach and landing flying qualities for the National Aerospace Plane (NASP).

High Altitude Balloon Flight Path Prediction and Site Selection Based On Computer Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linford, Joel

2010-10-01

Interested in the upper atmosphere, Weber State University Physics department has developed a High Altitude Reconnaissance Balloon for Outreach and Research team, also known as HARBOR. HARBOR enables Weber State University to take a variety of measurements from ground level to altitudes as high as 100,000 feet. The flight paths of these balloons can extend as long as 100 miles from the launch zone, making the choice of where and when to fly critical. To ensure the ability to recover the packages in a reasonable amount of time, days and times are carefully selected using computer simulations limiting flight tracks to approximately 40 miles from the launch zone. The computer simulations take atmospheric data collected by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to plot what flights might have looked like in the past, and to predict future flights. Using these simulations a launch zone has been selected in Duchesne Utah, which has hosted eight successful flights over the course of the last three years, all of which have been recovered. Several secondary launch zones in western Wyoming, Southern Idaho, and Northern Utah are also being considered.

In Flight, Online

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lucking, Robert A.; Wighting, Mervyn J.; Christmann, Edwin P.

2005-01-01

The concept of flight for human beings has always been closely tied to imagination. To fly like a bird requires a mind that also soars. Therefore, good teachers who want to teach the scientific principles of flight recognize that it is helpful to share stories of their search for the keys to flight. The authors share some of these with the reader,…

Intelligent agents: adaptation of autonomous bimodal microsystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Patrice; Terry, Theodore B.

2014-03-01

Autonomous bimodal microsystems exhibiting survivability behaviors and characteristics are able to adapt dynamically in any given environment. Equipped with a background blending exoskeleton it will have the capability to stealthily detect and observe a self-chosen viewing area while exercising some measurable form of selfpreservation by either flying or crawling away from a potential adversary. The robotic agent in this capacity activates a walk-fly algorithm, which uses a built in multi-sensor processing and navigation subsystem or algorithm for visual guidance and best walk-fly path trajectory to evade capture or annihilation. The research detailed in this paper describes the theoretical walk-fly algorithm, which broadens the scope of spatial and temporal learning, locomotion, and navigational performances based on optical flow signals necessary for flight dynamics and walking stabilities. By observing a fly's travel and avoidance behaviors; and, understanding the reverse bioengineering research efforts of others, we were able to conceptualize an algorithm, which works in conjunction with decisionmaking functions, sensory processing, and sensorimotor integration. Our findings suggest that this highly complex decentralized algorithm promotes inflight or terrain travel mobile stability which is highly suitable for nonaggressive micro platforms supporting search and rescue (SAR), and chemical and explosive detection (CED) purposes; a necessity in turbulent, non-violent structured or unstructured environments.

SonicBAT Testing

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-08-24

Teams from NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, and Langley Research Center in Virginia, are conducting supersonic flight tests to study the ways sonic booms travel. The Sonic Booms in Atmospheric Turbulence flight series, or SonicBAT, features a F/A-18 research aircraft to create sonic booms, flying at supersonic speeds just off the coast of Florida. In order to understand how atmospheric turbulence in a humic climate impacts how sonic booms travel, NASA is flying a TG-14 motorized glider to obtain data on sonic booms before they travel through atmospheric turbulence. That data is compared with similar data captured by two microphone arrays on the ground that hear sonic booms that have traveled through atmospheric turbulence.

Ride quality evaluation 1: Questionnaire studies of airline passenger comfort

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richards, L. G.; Jacobson, I. D.

1974-01-01

As part of a larger effort to assess passenger comfort in aircraft, two questionnaires were administered: one to ground-based respondents; the other to passengers in flight. Respondents indicated the importance of various factors influencing their satisfaction with a trip, the perceived importance of various physical factors in determining their level of comfort, and the ease of time spent performing activities in flight. The in-flight sample also provided a rating of their level of comfort and of their willingness to fly again. Comfort ratings were examined in relation to (1) type of respondent, (2) type of aircraft, (3) characteristics of the passengers, (4) ease of performing activities, and (5) willingness to fly again.