Image right: NASA's flexible-wing F/A-18 maneuvers through a test point during the second phase of the NASA/Air Force Active Aeroelastic Wing flight research program.

"It works! We've proven the AAW concept," said Larry Myers, project manager for NASA's Active Aeroelastic Wing (AAW) project. In March 2005, second phase flight-testing of a modified F/A-18A fitted with flexible wings proved that the concept of warping an aircraft's wing to improve turning ability works. The idea actually dates back to the Wright brothers, who used cables attached to the wingtips of their 1903 flyer to twist the wing and turn the airplane.

More than 100 years later, NASA used software in the aircraft's flight control computer to react accurately to the flexible wings' movements during twisting maneuvers at various speeds and altitudes. A total of 86 flights have been flown since the project began in 2002. Results will likely be used to develop faster, more capable military aircraft, as well as high altitude-long endurance uninhabited aerial vehicles, large transport aircraft, and high-speed, long-range aircraft.

AAW Team
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, NASA Langley Research Center, The Boeing Company, U.S. Air Force Research Lab