A forty-five foot long helicopter was crash tested at the NASA Landing and Impact Research Facility in Langley, Virginia. This test was similar to a helicopter crash test that NASA did last summer, but this time they experimented with using layers of subfloors made by the Australian Cooperative Research Center for Advanced Composite Structures.
A forty-five foot long former helicopter fuselage was crash tested at the NASA Landing and Impact Research Facility in Langley, Virginia.
This test was similar to a helicopter crash test that NASA did last summer, but this time they experimented with using three layers of subfloors with one made by the Australian Cooperative Research Center for Advanced Composite Structures.
The subfloors were evaluated to see how they held up to the crash test, which fell thirty feet at a rate of about thirty miles per hour.
Thirteen crash test dummies, and two mannequins were placed inside of the helicopter to see how the impact affected them.
During the test, nearly forty cameras located on the interior and exterior of the helicopter recorded the crash, which lasted less than ten seconds.
Rotary Wing Project Manager Susan Gorton is quoted as saying: "The ultimate goal of NASA rotary wing research is to help make helicopters and other vertical take off and landing vehicles more serviceable -- able to carry more passengers and cargo -- quicker, quieter, safer and greener."
The test is a collaborative project between several factions of the United States military, along with the German Aerospace Center, and the Federal Aviation Administration.