Show I NASA Involved 4 With Light Planes Planes Planes' S You wouldn't think that an i agency so heavily involved with spacecraft that make trips to the Moon Mars and i Venus would have any interest interest inter inter- est st in light aircraft y yAND P r S AND AND BY light aircraft wey we y mean those sma small two- two to i five sealers most of them t tj j propeller driven planes that e you see hopping from sma small local airports But NASA has had a deep I and abiding interest in these small planes an interest dating dating- back long before the space r. r t program began and this OVER THE years has been at least 50 years years- t NASA and its predecessor age agency n c y the NACA National National National Na Na- Na Advisory Committee t for Aeronautics has played both a direct and indirect role r in improving this type of air air- r craft Its research has been geared F to goals such as improved stability and safety and pilot pilot pilot pi pi- pi- pi lot workload reduction h L THAT NASA continues in int inthis t r this work is very important i I because the number and uses 7 of sma small aircraft are increasing increasing increasing ing every day 4 5 Flying for pleasure continues cont con- con t xi to be an increasing hobby for many Small aircraft aircraft air- air c craft are being used more and more for aerial p surveying survey- survey t i B ing forest fire and traffic h gj patrols and mail transportation i B IN SHORT the sma small airplane airplane air- air r plane is pla playing ing a major rot rotin role e in making a all parts of th the e country air accessible For example in 1969 NASA NASA's Flight Research Center Edwards Edwards Edwards Ed Ed- wards Calif CaliL evaluated a device device device de de- vice that helps keep a plane in a straight path during turbulent air c conditions wh where el e elight light planes oft often n spend r as s' s much as 97 percent of their flight time IN TURBULENT air the craft often yaws turns toone toone to toone one side or goes into a Dutch Dutch ro roll rolls right or left leU as it swings The correction device a yaw-damper yaw helps keep the plane on a straight path and appears to improve the pi pilots pilot's pilots pilot's pilots pilot's pi- pi lots lot's ability to cope with an engine failure because the device is quicker than the pilot in sensing trouble THE yaw-damper yaw which occupies occupies occupies oc oc- only tenth one-tenth of a cubic foot of space costs about to install For most of its testing NASA used a Piper PA 30 A 30 twin engine plane and concentrated on determining ing hardware and systems concepts concepts concepts con con- which could be used in aircraft by 1980 Another NASA study showed that airplane manufacturers might be able to reduce production production production pro pro- costs by using a revolutionary revolutionary revolutionary rev rev- method of or injection molding of plastics for plane parts instead of using the standard aluminum body parts AS THE role of small aircraft expands so will NASA's role in improving these so that they will be sturdier and safer |