Suggested Searches

1 min read

L-1011 Tristar

The headshot image of NASA

NASA

Sep 28, 2009
Image Article
L-1011 Tristar
This console and its complement of computers, monitors, and communications equipment make up the Research Engineering Test Station, the nerve center for a new aerodynamics experiment being conducted by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.

EC95-43145-4
The Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, seen here on June 1995, was used in a flight research experiment developed by NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., to improve the efficiency of large transport aircraft. Shown with a NASA F-18 chase plane over California’s Sierra Nevada mountains during an earlier baseline flight, the jetliner is operated by Orbital Sciences Corp.
The experiment sought to reduce fuel consumption of large jetliners by improving the aerodynamic efficiency of their wings at cruise conditions. A research computer employing a sophisticated software program adapted to changing flight conditions by commanding small movements of the L-1011’s outboard ailerons to give its wings the most efficient – or optimal – airfoil. Up to a dozen research flights were planned in the initial and follow-on phases of the project over several years.June 1995NASA Photo› Read L-1011 Project Description