Editor's note: These are excerpts from NASA Administrator Dan Goldin's speech, "The Three Pillars of Success for Aviation and Space Transportation in the 21st Century,"presented March 20 to the Aero Club in Washington, D.C.
Last July I issued a challenge before the Aero Club to work together and develop bold goals for the future. I felt we needed to re-examine our goals to be sure they supported the long-term health of America's air transportation system and ultimately our economy.
Over the next three months we met with industry leaders and others to define and quantify technology goals for continued leadership 50 years from now. In October, I gave an interim report to the aviation community at the World Aviation Congress to say, "This is where we are. What do you think?"The general consensus from industry, and especially from the CEOs present, was "Dan, your goals are not specific enough, and they are not aggressive enough."
We listened, and now the culmination of our work is stated in 10 goals. I call them "stretch goals"because they will stretch the boundaries of our knowledge and capabilities. I don't have time to go into detail on each goal, but as you leave today, we have our new Enterprise brochure available so you can read about them. The 10 goals of the Enterprise are framed by three technology "pillars," Global Civil Aviation, Revolutionary Technology Leaps and Access to Space. Global Civil Aviation focuses on our goals for safety, affordability and the environmental compatibility for subsonic aircraft. Revolutionary Technology Leaps tackles these challenges for a new generation of both subsonic and supersonic aircraft.
In Access to Space, we will merge aeronautics technologies and operating principles with revolutionary new launch vehicle technologies. Again this is about how new transportation systems will open the doors for economic growth in new sectors such as space.
You'll notice that the goals are framed in terms of a final outcome, which is something that NASA does not control. We've stated the goals as the anticipated benefit of our technology once it has been incorporated by industry. As this implies, we cannot achieve these goals alone. Each will require partnership and coordination with manufacturers, airlines, the industry, the Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration.
In our Global Civil Aviation pillar, the No. 1 goal is aviation safety. This goal is to provide the technology that will reduce the aircraft accident rate by a factor of five within 10 years and by a factor of 10 within 20 years.
In February, the president and the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security challenged NASA to assist in reducing fatal aircraft accident rates five-fold within 10 years. This is a challenge not only for NASA, but a joint challenge for all of us, the FAA, DoD and our industry partners. This will not be an easy goal, but it is a crucial one. I believe in it, and NASA will spend a half billion dollars on this effort over the next five years. People are concerned about safety; we read about it daily. Experts predict that air traffic will double in 12 years and triple in 20. That's good news for the country. However, it won't be good unless we do something about flight safety.
The major safety problem is human error, which is a factor in 60 to 70 percent of all aircraft accidents. Other major causes of accidents are mechanical problems, which account for roughly 17 percent, and then weather at about 5 percent. Therefore, one of the keys to improving aviation safety is to provide improved information for the human beings in the system: the flight crew, air-traffic managers, aircraft maintenance and operations personnel.
Our second goal while maintaining safety is to triple the aviation system throughput, in all weather conditions, in 10 years. It is estimated that congestion and delays at airports cost the American economy at least $4 billion a year.
With this goal, we are trying to triple the current capability under adverse weather conditions. This is within 10 years and targeted at the busiest airports. What that means is the planes will fly through fog as if it were a clear day.
If we can increase the capacity at airports that are overburdened, then more planes will fly.
Our third goal is to reduce emissions of future aircraft by a factor of three within 10 years and by a factor of five within 20 years. Our environmental goals are stretch goals. We have this goal on emissions and a goal on noise. We publicize them to stimulate people, to stretch the imagination and the creativity of our researchers. We need to keep the global competition in mind, and we want to lead the way. We do not have the technology to meet the goals today and so they should not be used as a guide for unrealistic regulations. However, by pursuing these goals we will determine what is feasible and what is required, such that environmental regulations do not impose inappropriate safety or cost burdens.
I'd like to digress a minute to describe this with more technical detail particularly as it relates to our research for future supersonic transport aircraft. In our High-Speed Research program we are using a parallel approach to address environmental impact.
On one hand, we are developing impact assessments of aircraft emissions on the atmosphere, using scientific experts worldwide with the best aircraft, satellite and computer tools available. These assessments will provide the information basis for establishing meaningful international emission standards. On the other hand, we are developing the technology for controlling emissions. This requires major advances in fuel and air mixture control and breakthrough composite materials made of high-temperature ceramics for the combustor liner. We know we can achieve these ultra-low-emission goals in our labs, and the challenge is to simplify the designs in order to also provide enhanced operability, reliability and affordability for the real thing. The need for quieter aircraft brings me to our fourth goal, to reduce the perceived noise levels of future aircraft by a factor of two from today's subsonic aircraft within 10 years and by a factor of four within 20.
With aircraft quiet around airports, airlines can fly more, increasing the number of passengers they take every day. National Airport, which closes from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., might stay open round the clock. There would be less congestion.
Now I want to re-emphasize the point I made earlier: These environmental goals must be accomplished within our other goals for safety and affordability. It is the combination of these three goals that will produce the most competitive aircraft for our nation. Our final global civil aviation goal is to reduce the cost of air travel by 25 percent within 10 years and by 50 percent within 20 years.
A 25-percent improvement in cost may be achieved with advancements in materials, structures, aircraft systems and manufacturing process technology. However, to achieve a 50-percent reduction in cost, we will need revolutionary changes. This leads us to our second pillar, Revolutionary Technology Leaps. A goal in this pillar is to provide next-generation design tools and experimental aircraft to increase design confidence and to cut the development cycle time for aircraft in half.
The sooner we can help industry develop these aircraft, the quicker they'll be out there, competing for work around the globe at better prices, while costing less to operate and maintain. These new tools will integrate multidisciplinary product teams, linking design, operations and training databases to cut dramatically design cycle times. It's a long way from the days of drafting boards with a sheet of paper and pencil. We're not quite there yet, but simulation-based design tools will provide incredible new capabilities.
On the flip side of the design-tool coin are experimental aircraft. I can't stress how important experimental aircraft are. They test and validate innovative, high-risk concepts. They allow us to accelerate the development into design and technology applications. The pioneering spirit at work in the X-1 and X-15 projects is being recaptured through the renewed emphasis of X-planes.
I've talked a lot about the big aircraft, now let's talk about the small aircraft. They play a very different, but very important role in our society The seventh goal is to invigorate the general aviation industry, delivering 10,000 aircraft annually within 10 years and 20,000 aircraft annually within 20 years. General Aviation is a $15 billion industry and an integral part of our national transportation system.
General Aviation includes aircraft from long-range corporate jets to two- and four-passenger light aircraft. It provides on-the-spot, efficient and direct air service that commercial aviation does not provide.
Let me tell you about the future I see for General Aviation: The safety of the light planes of the future will be far superior to traveling by car. These new aircraft should only cost about as much as today's high-end luxury automobile. Then businessmen, rural commuters and small businesses can afford to fly routinely. With fail-safe avionics, ultra-reliable engines, whole-airplane parachutes and the simplifications enabled by "Free Flight,"which allows pilots to choose their own routes, small airplanes can enjoy the levels of safety previously standard only on larger aircraft.
One of the other major concerns is the airports. Public-use airports are lost at the alarming rate of 74 per year. And if we have no runways, the advantage of flying general aviation aircraft will be lost. We need to get those aircraft in the skies and those runways regularly utilized while we still have them.
And we are taking action. Through our work on the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE) consortium, we have worked to develop glass cockpit technologies with graphic displays of weather and guidance information, along with on-board traffic avoidance systems. Our work through the General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) program will develop technologies and manufacturing processes for revolutionary low-cost, environmentally compliant new engine designs. With the infusion of new technology for safety, reliability and lower cost into the general aviation industry, I can see a boom ahead.
Getting people and cargo to their destinations is fundamental to our industry. In the global economy we are talking about greater distances and the need for speed. If we don't do it, someone else will.
That's why we have our eighth goal to reduce the travel time to the Far East and Europe by 50 percent within 20 years and to do so at today's subsonic ticket prices.
With the new High-Speed Civil Transport, we could go across the Pacific and back in the same day. If costs are similar to subsonic fares, it wouldn't be a hard choice on what to fly.
So, where do we go from here? Is the sky really the limit? Let's go beyond the stratosphere and see what the future holds.
So, we come to our Access to Space pillar, where we have the last two goals. The ninth goal is to reduce the payload cost to Low-Earth Orbit by an order of magnitude, from $10,000 to $1,000 per pound, within 10 years. We will reduce the cost of the access to space through our Reusable Launch Vehicle program. The Reusable Launch Vehicle program will benefit from system study capabilities and the airframe, materials and propulsion technology available through the aeronautics enterprise. This is why we've merged our aeronautics and advanced space transportation technology efforts into one Enterprise.
We already are building hardware on the X-33, our prototype for a Reusable Launch Vehicle. We are on our way to reducing the probability of failure to one in 1,000. To put this in perspective, the probability of failure for today's Shuttle system is one in 145.
In addition, for the RLV we are looking for operational turn-around times of days, not months, with small ground crews similar to aircraft operations. This is what we need to make space access an affordable and safe reality. This has obvious benefits to commercial users and to our national security. The 10th and final goal is to reduce the payload cost to Low-Earth Orbit by an additional order of magnitude, from $1,000s to $100s per pound, by 2020.
Once the cost of opening up the space frontier is no longer prohibitive, we could explore some of our neighboring planetary bodies. We could send people and equipment to Mars to search for more signs of life and the resources to support life. We could place a research station on an asteroid. One day, we could open up exploration throughout our solar system.
But we must make the leap from expensive space flight to low-cost space flight. We must invest in the technology. We must invent the next generation of launch vehicles and the ones after that. Those grandchildren of the vehicles we are working on today will make science fiction science fact. The key to the next era of exploration and expansion, beyond globalization, is to make access to space reliable, affordable and safe. We must do it. We are going to do it.
(Editor's note: See the full text of Goldin's speech in "Today @ NASA"on the Headquarters home page.)
NASA HEADQUARTERS, Washington, D.C. NASA has selected a team led by MicroCraft Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn., to fabricate a series of small, unpiloted experimental vehicles that will fly up to 10 times the speed of sound.
The five-year project, known as Hyper-X, will demonstrate hypersonic propulsion technologies. When the Hyper-X flies, it will be the first time a non-rocket engine has powered a vehicle in flight at hypersonic speeds speeds above Mach 5, equivalent to about one mile per second or aproximately 3,600 miles per hour at sea level.
A booster rocket will carry each experimental vehicle to its flight-test speed and altitude, where it will be launched to fly under its own power. The cost-plus-incentive-fee contract is worth an estimated $33.4 million over the next 55 months. It specifies that the first of four Hyper-X vehicles is to be delivered in time for the first scheduled flight early in fiscal year 1999.
The Hyper-X project is conducted jointly by the Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., and Dryden. Langley will manage the overall project while Dryden will conduct the flight tests.
"We're embarking on an ambitious series of Hyper-X flights to expand the boundaries of aeronautics and develop new technologies for space access,Ó said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin. "Most impressively, these flights will begin less than two years from now. Under old ways of doing business it might have taken 10 years to reach flight tests."
MicroCraft will be responsible for fabrication and flight-test support. This will include not only the four research vehicles but also one research vehicle-to-booster adapter for mating the research vehicles to the nose of an expendable booster rocket. Each vehicle will be approximately 12 feet long with a wing span of about five feet.
"We are ready to prove this technology to be the first to fly an air-breathing vehicle at hypersonic speeds," said NASA Langley's Vince Rausch, the Hyper-X project manager.
Program managers plan to demonstrate hydrogen-powered, "air-breathing" propulsion systems that ultimately could be applied in vehicle types ranging from hypersonic aircraft to reusable space launchers. A rocket carries its own oxygen for combustion. An air-breathing vehicle, the experimental Hyper-X, will burn oxygen in the air scooped from the atmosphere. Because of this, air-breathing hypersonic vehicles should carry more payload and/or offer longer range than equivalent rocket-powered systems.
Four flights are planned one each at Mach 5 and 7 and two at Mach 10. The Mach 7 flight comes first. The flight tests will be conducted within the Western Test Range off the coast of southern California. Each Hyper-X vehicle will ride on the first stage of an Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va., booster rocket, which will be launched by the Dryden B-52.
For each flight, the booster will accelerate the Hyper-X research vehicle to the test conditions (Mach 5, 7 or 10) at approximately 100,000 feet. There, it will separate from the booster and fly under its own power and preprogrammed control. Ground tests and analyses of both vehicle and engine will be performed prior to each flight in order to compare flight and ground-test results.
In addition, the Hyper-X Mach 7 and 5 vehicles will be tested prior to flight in Langley's 8-Foot High Temperature Wind Tunnel. The vehicles, with a fully operating ramjet/scramjet propulsion system, will be put through tests in the tunnel simulating many, but not all, Mach 7 and 5 flight conditions. A ramjet operates by subsonic combustion of fuel in a stream of air compressed by the forward speed of the vehicle itself.
In a conventional jet engine, the compressor section (the fan blades) compresses the air. A scramjet (supersonic-combustion ramjet) is a ramjet engine in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Hyper-X takes the next essential step in developing hypersonic, air-breathing technology.
Team members working with MicroCraft will be Boeing North American Inc., Seal Beach, Calif.; GASL Inc., Ronkonkoma, N.Y.; and Accurate Automation Corp., Chattanooga, Tenn.
Dwain A. Deets, formerly NASA Dryden's director for Aerospace Projects, has been appointed full-time manager of the Research and Technology (R&T) Flight-Research Program at Dryden for NASA's Aeronautics and Space Transportation Technology Enterprise.
Deets assumed his current duties full time in March 1997 after spending a year in a dual-role capacity. Deets is one of six aeronautics R&T lead-Center program managers operating on behalf of the NASA Aeronautics Enterprise. The others are based at the remaining aeronautics Centers (Ames, Langley and Lewis). The R&T Flight-Research Program was assigned to Dryden in February 1996.
The R&T Flight-Research Program covers most of the flight projects at Dryden. Some of the more familiar ongoing projects within the program include ERAST, ACTIVE, X-36 and the various estbeds (such as the SRA, F-15B, B-52 and F-16XLs). The program also includes advanced concepts and research-support areas such as instrumentation and flight-test techniques, disciplinary research engineering, some of the ground support facilities such as the Research Aircraft Integration Facility (RAIF) and the support aircraft.
Prior to March 1997, Deets was director for Aerospace Projects, a position he held since February 1996. In that position, he directed the project-management function encompassing all of the Dryden flight projects. Before this appointment, Deets became director, Research Engineering Division, in March 1994 and served as acting division chief from 1990 to 1994. In that position, he directed the research and engineering aspects of the flight-research programs at Dryden.
Deets has had several special assignments since September 1994 that took him away temporarily from the Research Engineering Division responsibilities. He led the preparation of the Dryden response to the NASA Federal Laboratory Review. He was chairman of the NASA Non-Advocate Review of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) program in 1995 and again served in that capacity in the review of the X-33 just prior to the selection of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in 1996. He is a 1961 graduate of Occidental College, Los Angeles. He earned a master of science degree in physics from San Diego State College in 1962 and a master of science degree in engineering from UCLA in 1978 as part of the Engineering Executive Program.
Gary E. Krier is Dryden's new director of Aerospace Projects.
Krier assumed office in March replacing Dwain Deets. A former research pilot, Krier began working at the Center in 1967.
Prior to this assignment, Krier headed the Intercenter Aircraft Operations Directorate at Dryden from 1995 to 1997.
From 1992 to 1994, he served as manager, Operations and Facilities, for the New Launch System at NASA Headquarters. There he developed operational procedures and facilities for the next generation of Expendable Launch Vehicles and participated in policy making for the program.
From 1987 to 1992, he held two different management positions at NASA Headquarters relating to Space Shuttle operations. Krier, a lawyer, served as an attorney in the Office of the Chief Counsel at Ames Research Center (1982-1983).
As a research pilot, Krier was the first to fly the F-8 Digital Fly-by-Wire aircraft and the Integrated Propulsion Control System F-111 with digital fuel and inlet control. He flew the YF-17 research aircraft and codirected the program. He has flown more than 30 types of aircraft, ranging from light planes to the B-52 and the triple-sonic YF-12.
Before joining NASA, Krier served as an engineer for Pratt & Whitney, Martin Marietta and Hercules Powder Co. He is the author of seven technical reports. He earned his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Utah in 1960 and went on to achieve an M.B.A. (with distinction) from Golden Gate University in 1978 and a J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1982. He completed a management development program at Harvard University on a NASA Fellowship in 1975.
He is a member of the State Bar of California, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (for which he served as legal officer in 1989 and continues to serve as legal advisor and scholarship foundation trustee) and the Quiet Birdmen.
By Alan Brown, Projects Science Writer
In the skies above the Southern California desert, a group of aeronautical engineers for an atmospheric- research and electric-vehicle firm are developing a solar-powered aircraft concept that they believe will push the state of the art to literally new heights.
Sponsored by NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program, engineers for AeroVironment Inc. are designing the aptly named Centurion to be able to fly at 100,000 feet (30 kilometers) altitude.
Like its predecessor, the AeroVironment-developed Pathfinder, the Centurion will be an ultralight flying wing with multiple electric motors along its span (length) powered by solar cells spread across the wing's upper surface. Centurion's wingspan, however, will be more than twice that of Pathfinder, while retaining the same wing chord (width), creating an extremely high aspect ratio (ratio of span to chord).
Questions about the Centurion's aerodynamics and stability were answered during recent flight tests of a quarter-scale, battery-powered model of the craft at El Mirage Dry Lake in Southern California's high desert, according to John Del Frate, Dryden's ERAST deputy project manager.
"We saw it fly, and it flew quite well," Del Frate said. "It has given us confidence that we can go ahead with the design of the full-scale proof-of-concept (POC) vehicle."
"We'll take the data from these flights and incorporate them into the design of the full-scale POC vehicle," added Bill Parks, Centurion's chief designer and operations manager for the subscale flight tests.
Flight testing of the full-scale POC aircraft, also battery-powered, will begin at Dryden this fall. "We're essentially scaling the aircraft up, designing new airfoils that are more efficient for high altitudes and optimizing the systems," said Rik Meininger, AeroVironment's Centurion project manager.
The incremental approach of building and flying a subscale model, then a full-scale prototype before developing the final solar-powered Centurion was driven by both cost and efficiency considerations.
"We find that we can make configuration changes very quickly and very cost-effectively, then immediately test it and come back and change if necessary," Meininger said. "It allows us, in a very short period of time, to get a lot of test data and also do the risky things that normally you wouldn't want to do with a full-scale aircraft. By the time we get to the final aircraft stage, we should only be doing minor changes and fine-tuning for optimization," he said.
Under goals established by NASA in the ERAST program, the final solar-powered Centurion will be designed to reach an ultrahigh altitude of 100,000 feet (30 kilometers) for a relatively short duration about two hours while carrying a small 200-pound (91 kilogram) payload of scientific sensors.
The full-scale Centurion will span between 210 and 240 feet (63 to 72 meters) with an eight-foot (2.4 meter) chord. The final span will be determined largely by the number of solar cell arrays needed to power the aircraft.
The subscale Centurion spans 62.5 feet (18.75 meters) but has only a two-foot (60 centimeter) chord, giving it an aspect ratio of 31.25. The wing is in five sections supported by four underwing pods. The model weighs in at a feathery 25 pounds (11.25 kilograms), giving the kite-like craft a wing loading of only 2/10ths of a pound per square foot. It is designed to fly at a constant airspeed of about 11 knots (12.5 miles per hour), with a maximum dive speed of about 22 knots (25 miles per hour).
Centurion officials had a chance to assess the lightweight craft's stability during a planned flight in adverse conditions, which included sudden large wind gusts just seconds after liftoff. Although the turbulence tossed the model around like a cork, causing the wing to flex significantly, remote test pilot Wyatt Sadler was able to maintain safe altitude by adding differential power and to land the craft safely. The model flew more than an hour and 40 minutes total during 13 flights. Encouraged by this success, Parks said AeroVironment is considering whether to fly the quarter-scale version again to reduce the number of tests required on the full-scale POC vehicle.
The Centurion is one of several unpiloted aircraft being developed by an alliance between NASA and several small aeronautical development companies and universities under NASA's ERAST program. The goal of the ERAST program is to develop aeronautical technologies that will lead to development of a new family of high-flying remotely piloted aircraft for scientific missions.
NASA Administrator Dan Goldin unveiled the Agency's new strategic directions for Aeronautics and Space Transportation Technology March 20.
The strategy rests on three pillars:
What is Dryden's role in this new strategy? Flight research is a major element of the aeronautics program of the future, and hence will play a key part in these new directions.
Access to Space
Dryden will participate in the development and flight phases of projects related to opening up space to a multitude of users. The Marshall Space Flight Center X-33, X-34 and Johnson Space Center X-38 projects just started last year are all directed at achieving lower cost and routine access to space. In addition, Marshall is developing advanced space transportation technology concepts that will involve exploratory and validation flight activities.
The vehicles and approaches emerging from the Access to Space Program are forerunners of 21st-century space transportation systems.
Because the space shuttle must be operated until more advanced vehicles are available, Dryden will continue to place the highest priority on ensuring safe and efficient shuttle operations.
Revolutionary Technology Leaps
Technology leaps have been the trademark of the U.S. aerospace efforts since the Wright Brothers' historic flight in 1903. There are innovative concepts popping up every day from government laboratories, universities and aerospace companies. A new High-Speed Civil Transport will require advances in virtually every discipline. New subsonic aircraft configurations with dramatic reductions in cost of ownership and operations are being proposed. Dryden will play a pivotal role in evaluating, exploring, verifying and demonstrating these new ideas in flight.
Global Civil Aviation
In the Global Civil Aviation arena, safety is a paramount issue. The administration has announced an all-out assault on the accident rate of passenger aircraft. NASA, Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense labs are formulating aggressive plans to focus R&D to provide near-term and long-range safety improvements.
NASA has committed $500 million in just the next five years to conduct R&D for order-of-magnitude reductions in the accident rate over the next two decades. Flight research in human-vehicle interactions, flight systems and aviation operations will be needed to provide flight-verified solutions to the underlying causes of accidents.
Finally, the Agency has taken on bold goals to impact global aviation across the board in the cost of air travel, noise, emissions and airport throughput. These goals will require both evolutionary and revolutionary advances in virtually all aeronautical disciplines. Flight research again will be necessary not only to develop new technology, but also to prove readiness and transition use to production aircraft.
We are truly engaged in a renaissance in aeronautics and space transportation. The Dryden team members, in cooperation with partners across the land, will be major contributors to the new and safe ways people fly in the next millennium.
By Robin McMacken, X-Press Editor
When aerospace artist Bob McCall envisions the future, he often colors outside the lines. For McCall, life on other planets does exist.
Or so McCall whimsically mused March 14 when his latest painting for Dryden Flight Research Center, titled "Accepting the Challenge of Flight: NASA Dryden Flight Research Center," was unveiled. As he pointed out, "I'm an artist, so I can make predictions and not be disputed. ... I'm certain we will discover life on other planets."
Although there are no green Martians hidden between layers of oil on the painting, "Accepting the Challenge of Flight" does take into account the indomitable human spirit that has guided Center research in the past, present and ultimately into the future.
McCall used real-life models from the Center to capture the tremendous team spirit that makes all aspects of flight research possible. The models were Laurie Marshall, Anthony Moreno, Cecilia Cordova, Ting Tseng, Bill Burcham, Dana Purifoy and Carla Thomas. In the painting, the group stands in the center front. That is the first tier in the painting, according to McCall, and the second tier shows aircraft that have been flown at Dryden. The third tier on top takes a visionary glance into the future. McCall has included the X-33 in this area.
"The human spirit is very courageous," McCall said. "When one realizes the power of the human spirit to make these machines, that thrills me."
The aircraft are painted with such nimble accuracy they look as if they could zoom off the painting. Planet Earth is in the background, and it appropriately shows the United States. The universe is painted in energetic wide strokes, as if to imply there is still so much to tame in this new frontier.
"Bob has the unique artistry of combining people, things and events" in his artwork, said Center Director Ken Szalai. The new painting is on permanent display in the entrance of the Research Aircraft Integration Facility.
When McCall undertook this new project, it resulted in his first visit to Dryden since 1977, when he completed his mural in the ISF. McCall and his wife Louise live in Paradise Valley, Ariz. His family was present for the March 14 unveiling ceremony.
"Being here is inspiring and exciting," McCall said. He said flight research and space exploration were snowballing into a period of history-making precedence with new revelations coming almost daily from the Hubble Space Telescope and other programs.
"Maybe it's a golden age ... who knows?" McCall queried with his trademark optimism.
For longtime admirers and those new to McCall's artistry, he showed slides of other artwork he has created for NASA and even the motion picture industry.
His six-story mural "The Space Mural: A Cosmic View" greets millions of visitors each year at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. D.C. McCall also displayed his talents in the movie classic, "2001: Space Odyssey."
In addition, McCall was the production designer for the world's first IMAX simulator ride called "City in the Stars," a project that also called upon the talents of award-winning fiction writer Ray Bradbury and Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
Editor's note: This is the third installment in a series of articles about Dryden's F-104 fleet.
By Roy Bryant, B-52 Project Manager
The arrival of the West German Starfighters in July 1975 increased Dryden's F-104 fleet to eight aircraft. However, having eight Starfighters for the pilots to fly was just too much of a good thing to last.
In 1975, the luster of the NASA Starfighter legacy was at one of its brightest points. On Nov. 18, F-104-818 (Air Force tail number 961), with chief pilot Don Mallick at the controls, flew to its place of honor at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. It was a fitting honor bestowed on an airplane that had made so many significant contributions during its 19 years of research missions in the quest of data to further aircraft technology.
From the initial stability-and-control, handling-qualities evaluation and propulsion programs (research to obtain data on the basic F-104 airplane) to the last testbed experiment flown, this airplane provided invaluable aerodynamic data. In addition to the roll-coupling evaluation, interaction of nonsteady twin-inlet flow study, jet-reaction control program (see March 7, 1997, X-Press article) and many others, the airplane flew the Panel Flutter Flight-Test program to obtain in-flight data about the aerodynamic phenomena known as panel flutter. This program also compared that data accurately with the results of wind-tunnel studies.
Another program on the same aircraft obtained flight-test verification of wind-tunnel data on two configurations for reducing base drag (retarding forces). This "Two-Dimensional" Base Drag Reduction experiment also demonstrated devices for breaking down major vortices, thereby also reducing base drag.
In a separate program, the F-104 was used to study and develop the low-lift/low-drag landing technique used by pilots during the X-15 rocket research airplane and Lifting Body programs, thereby contributing tremendously to those two significant milestones. The F-104 even served as an airborne simulator of landing patterns and approaches for the pilots who flew the X-15 and the wingless vehicles.
In accomplishing its research-oriented mission, this F-104 devoted 59 percent of some 1,444 total flights to obtaining data for research programs. During its illustrious career, the aircraft had been flown at speeds greater than Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) and at altitudes above 85,000 feet.
Nineteen different NACA/NASA Center pilots flew this Starfighter during its flight career. The achievements of these pilots added even more luster to the already brilliant legacy of this Starfighter. Three of the pilots were astronauts and flew on Apollo space missions (one was Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon); seven flew the X-15 rocket airplane (one was Joe Walker, who holds the unofficial altitude record of 354,200 feet [more than 69 miles]); four flew the X-15 above the 50-mile altitude necessary to qualify as winged astronauts; and six flew one or more of the Lifting Body vehicles tested at Dryden.
Now enshrined at the National Air and Space Museum, the blue-and-white Starfighter with the yellow band on its vertical tail (showing NASA in bold black block letters) stands as a symbol, to all who view it, of the contributions Dryden has made to aviation technology.
By Robin McMacken X-Press Editor
For the first time since his retirement in 1974, De Beeler stepped onto the dusty grounds of Dryden. Although it was an occasion to reflect on the landmark flights that took place here, it also was a moment for the former deputy director to portend the future.
"As I drove out here, I tried to project what Dryden would be like in another 50 years," said Beeler, now 82. He predicted that the current staff would have the same pride in the Center as he does now.
"You've got a great Center, and it's really solid. The challenges you have now are much greater than what we had much greater," Beeler said. "You should be proud of this organization."
Beeler first arrived in the Muroc area in December 1946 from the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory's Aircraft Loads Division where he had worked on high-speed research with the XP-51 Mustang. At Muroc, he joined the small cadre of people headed by Walt Williams who were doing research on the XS-1 aircraft for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Beeler was the project engineer in charge of the aircraft loads program and also served as Williams' deputy.
Beeler continued to serve as deputy director as the small contingent of engineers and so-called human computers grew to become, in succession, the NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit in 1947, the NACA High Speed Flight Research Station in 1949, the NACA High Speed Flight Station in 1954, the NASA High Speed Flight Station in 1958 and the NASA Flight Research Center in 1959.
In addition to serving as the longtime deputy director of the Center until his retirement, Beeler also served as chief of the Research Division for a number of years.
Center Director Ken Szalai, who had worked with Beeler for 10 years, said Beeler played a key role in continuity at Dryden as the focus shifted from an aircraft, the XS-1, to a research organization.
Beeler shared his vast knowledge with Dryden workers March 14 in the ISF auditorium. He covered a wide variety of topics - from the success of the X-15 to the awkward aftermath of Gary Powers' U-2 incident over the Soviet Union. In an effort to quell public inquiry, Beeler said the CIA had Dryden pass off the U-2 reconnaissance plane as one of its own research aircraft. The Russians later revealed they had captured Powers, and President Eisenhower admitted the flight was a spy operation.
"There are some things in life that you are really proud of, some things you're ashamed of and some things you're sad about," Beeler said.
He also eloquently spoke of the first supersonic flight in the X-1, piloted by Chuck Yeager, the camaraderie and competition between Centers, the Apollo program and the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle. He praised the Air Force for expediting the X-1 research process, adding that the AF team of Yeager and engineer Jack Ridley "was one of the best things that happened to the program."
Szalai presented Beeler with a plaque and a copy of "Flights of Discovery: 50 Years at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center," noting how one person can indeed make a significant difference.
By Robin McMacken, X-Press Editor
De Beeler slowly walked around the replica of "Glamorous Glennis" the X-1 plane that broke the sound barrier and waxed nostalgic about working on the legendary aircraft.
"Tears came to my eyes," he said later of the model of the Bell aircraft that brought him to the Muroc Flight Test Unit more than 50 years ago to supervise the XS-1 loads research program. "They did a fantastic job," added Beeler, who also served as a deputy director at Dryden until his retirement in 1974.
The Air Force Flight Test Center had the X-1 replica created in preparation for the 50th anniversary celebrations of the first supersonic flight and the inception of the United States Air Force. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager, then a captain in the Air Force, broke the sound barrier Oct. 14, 1947. The X-1 replica will travel to Nellis Air Force Base, Las Vegas, Nev., this month for its official unveiling at the Air Force Association's National Convention and Symposium.
Beeler's high-speed experience on the XP-51 Mustang at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory made him a natural choice for the XS-1 team, led by project engineer Walt Williams. The X-1 was a joint effort by the Army Air Forces (which became the Air Force in September 1947), the NACA and Bell Aircraft Corp.
Today, the real Glamorous Glennis is displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's Air and Space Museum, yet its replica proves imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The bullet-shaped model at Edwards appropriately is painted fiery desert-sunset orange with "Glamorous Glennis" painted in red balloon letters and outlined in white.
The full-scale replica arrived at Edwards Air Force Base March 14 on a flatbed trailer from Apoka, Fla., where Guard Lee Inc. worked from wind-tunnel models and drawings to reproduce the aircraft. The firm currently is working on Apollo spacecraft replicas for HBO's largest miniseries, the 13-episode production of "From the Earth to the Moon." As Beeler admired the replica last month, the pitot tube was being installed on the craft's nose.
The cockpit and landing gear are missing, but there are provisions so they can be added at a later date, according to Edwards Flight Test Museum curator Doug Nelson.
Piloted by Yeager on Oct. 14, 1947, the X-1 reached a speed of 700 miles per hour, Mach 1.06, at an altitude of 43,000 feet. Yeager named the airplane "Glamorous Glennis" in tribute to his wife.
Air-launched at an altitude of 23,000 feet from the bomb bay of a Boeing B-29 (or B-50), the X-1 used its rocket engine to climb to its test altitude. It flew a total of 78 times, and on March 26, 1948, with Yeager at the controls, it attained a speed of 957 miles per hour, Mach 1.45, at an altitude of 40,130 feet.
Many important structural and aerodynamic advances were first employed in the Bell X-1, including extremely thin yet incredibly strong wing sections and a horizontal stabilizer that could be adjusted up and down to improve control, especially at transonic speeds (near the speed of sound). Dryden historian Dill Hunley said this was important because engineers at that time didn't know what the effects of going through the transonic region (Mach .7 to Mach 1.3) would be. Researchers had been unable to get answers through conventional wind-tunnel and ground tests.
Because of the stabilizer's success, later transonic military aircraft were designed with all moving horizontal stabilizers as standard equipment.
Beginning in 1946, two XS-1 experimental research aircraft (later redesignated X-1s) conducted pioneering tests at Muroc Army Air Field (now Edwards Air Force Base) in California to obtain flight data about conditions in the transonic speed range. These early tests culminated Oct. 14, 1947, during Yeager's famous flight at speeds faster than Mach 1, but the NACA and Air Force later flew many more research missions in the X-1 No. 2 and advanced versions of the X-1 to obtain much more vital aeronautical data.
The XS-1 was the first high-speed aircraft built purely for aeronautic research purposes. The design never was intended for mass production. The XS-1 was designed largely in accordance with specifications provided by the NACA (now National Aeronautics and Space Administration), paid for by the Army Air Forces and built by Bell Aircraft Corp. The XS-1 No. 2 (tail number 46-063) was flight tested by the NACA to provide design data for later production high-performance aircraft.
The research techniques used during the X-1 program became the pattern for all subsequent X-plane projects. The NACA X-1 procedures and personnel also helped lay the foundation for America's space program in the 1960s.
History book promises to be an interesting, lively narrative.
By Robin McMacken, X-Press Editor
This image of Dr. Michael Gorn recurs increasingly in Dryden's External Affairs Office: A tall, studious-looking figure leaning over the copier and diligently duplicating documents about Dryden's rich history. Although Gorn often uses the computer in his work, at the research stage he still likes to have the hard copy in his hands.
Thus begins the craft of producing a book about flight research at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (the NACA) and at NASA, a study NASA commissioned Gorn to write. The research logically will include an intensive look at Dryden and its three NASA partners in flight research: Ames Research Center, Lewis Research Center and Langley Research Center.
Gorn started the book in December of last year and he has been a frequent visitor to Dryden as he assembles a vast collection of written and oral accounts about flight research. He soon will travel to the three other centers as his research expands. Archival research is a large part of the writing process, but Gorn also wants to lend a human touch to the book, which falls under the auspices of the NASA History program and NASA chief historian Dr. Roger Launius. Gorn has begun interviewing people involved in all aspects of flight research and anyone with a significant anecdote or recollection is encouraged to step forward. "I would welcome contact with anyone who would like to get in touch with me," Gorn said. They can call him at (805) 389-1919 or send an e-mail to mikegorn@aol.com.
Although historical literature is inevitably tied to dates and places, Gorn promises an interesting and lively narrative. "It won't be encyclopedic," Gorn said. "The aim is to publish a readable history that will entice everyone with an interest in the subject. In the past, I've tried to write scholarly history which is also colorful and vital, rather than dull and flat." Although the narrative will follow a chronological pattern, "the point is not to belabor the audience with a blow-by-blow account, but rather, to give readers a compact, coherent story of this incredible technical enterprise."
Gorn is also at work on a biography of Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, the last director of the NACA, NASA's first deputy director, and the DFRC's namesake. Smithsonian Institution Press will publish this book in its History of Aviation Series. Since he wrote a monograph about Hugh Dryden for NASA last year, he has completed the research phase for the full-length biography. Gorn said that working on the two books simultaneously has been mutually instructive "because Dryden was associated with the NACA and NASA all of his adult life."
Gorn also published in 1992 a biography on the famed Hungarian physicist Dr. Theodore von Kármán, perhaps Hugh Dryden's greatest friend and colleague. Gorn was able to weave an amazing account of Kármán's personal and professional lives in "The Universal Man: Theodore Von Kármán's Life in Aeronautics."
"I think of Kármán when I hear Hungarian music on the radio and imagine him in the concert hall, with friends, enjoying the sounds of his native country," Gorn said.
Likewise, readers can expect an equally animated life of Hugh Dryden, who died after a protracted illness in December 1965. Gorn has interviewed Dryden's three children and has spoken to many of his associates. "Despite his external reserve, he was an extraordinarily warm person, capable of remarkable compassion."
Gorn said that he will continue to visit Dryden frequently and confer often with the Center's historian, Dill Hunley.
Gorn admitted that on all of his trips to Dryden he has been impressed by the esprit de corps among its staff.
"I think there is an extraordinarily strong sense of cohesion among the Dryden workforce, stronger than I've ever seen. There is also a clear sense of the Center's mission and the mission's importance," he said. "At a time when many federal agencies are being dismantled, it is refreshing and encouraging to find such a sense of purpose."