NASA pilot Jim Smolka and McDonnell Douglas pilot Larry Walker flew the F-15B Advanced Control Technology for Integrated Vehicles (ACTIVE) project at NASA Dryden's Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA.
EC96-43456-2
Project: Advanced Control Technology for Integrated Vehicles (ACTIVE)
NASA pilot Jim Smolka and McDonnell Douglas pilot Larry Walker flew the F-15B ACTIVE project at NASA Dryden’s Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA. A major goal of the ACTIVE project was the successful flight demonstration of the Pratt & Whitney pitch-yaw balance beam nozzles (PYBBN) which were installed on F100-PW-229 engines. This flight test phase was performed at the beginning of the ACTIVE flight project and was used to identify and correct any operational deficiencies discovered with the nozzle systems. The ACTIVE aircraft was originally built as the prototype F-15B (Serial #71-0290).
March 1996NASA Photo / Jim Ross