The Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche, known at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., as NASA 808, was a rugged workhorse in a variety of research projects associated with both general aviation and military projects. Beginning in the late 1960s, NASA 808 was used as a testbed for general aviation flight control research. In the early 1970s, NASA 808 ws flown to prove the concept of flying research vehicles from a pilot station on the ground. Aided by a video system mounted on the aircraft, the ground pilot flew the aircraft remotely in tests that paved the way for sophisticated research vehicles to be flown remotely in projects involving high risk spin, stall, and flight control conditions. NASA 808 was also used in spin and flutter research and wake vortex studies with general aviation aircraft.
The Piper PA-30 is currently on loan to Reedley College in Reedley California and it is being utilized in the college’s Aircraft Maintenance Technology program.