Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1979
michael.j.braukus@nasa.gov
Kathy Barnstorff
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
757-864-9886/757-344-8511
kathy.barnstorff@nasa.gov
MEDIA ADVISORY M13-138
NASA Crashes Helicopter to Study Safety -- Updated Web address for
U-Stream
*
NASA researchers will drop a 45-foot-long helicopter fuselage from a height
of about 30 feet to test improved seat belts and seats and advance
experimental techniques and crashworthiness data.
News media representatives are invited to observe the drop test, scheduled
for 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 28, at NASA's Langley Research Center in
Hampton, Va. U.S. media members must email Kathy Barnstorff at
kathy.barnstorff@nasa.gov or call 757-864-9886 for credentials no later
than 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27. Researchers will be available for interviews
after the test.
NASA is collaborating with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and Federal Aviation
Administration on the Transport Rotorcraft Airframe Crash Test Bed full-scale
crash tests at Langley's Landing and Impact Research Facility.
"We have instrumented a former Marine helicopter airframe with cameras and
accelerometers," said lead test engineer Martin Annett. "Almost 40 cameras
inside and outside the helicopter will record how 13 crash test dummies react
before, during and after impact."
During the test, onboard computers will record more than 350 channels of data
as the helicopter is swung by cables, like a pendulum, into a bed of soil.
Just before impact, pyrotechnic devices release the suspension cables from
the helicopter to allow free flight. The helicopter will hit the ground at
about 30 mph. The impact condition represents a severe but survivable
condition under both civilian and military requirements.
For the first time ever in any test, technicians installed a video game
motion sensor in the helicopter. "We want to see if it is useful as an
additional way to track the movements of the dummies," said test engineer
Justin Littell.
The outside of the fuselage also is new for this test. Technicians painted
one entire side in black polka dots over a white background -- a photographic
technique called full field photogrammetry. Each dot represents a data point.
High-speed cameras filming at 500 images per second track each dot, so after
over the drop researchers can plot and see exactly how the fuselage buckled,
bent, cracked or collapsed under crash loads.
Another crash test of a similar helicopter equipped with additional
technology, including composite airframe retrofits, is planned for next year.
Both tests are part of the Rotary Wing Project in the Fundamental Aeronautics
Program of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
The Navy provided the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter fuselages, seats, crash
test dummies and other experiments for the test. The Army contributed a
litter experiment with a crash test dummy. The Federal Aviation
Administration provided a side-facing specialized crash test dummy and part
of the data acquisition system. Cobham Life Support-St. Petersburg, a
division of CONAX Florida Corporation, also contributed an active restraint
system for the cockpit.
NASA will use the results of both tests in efforts to improve rotorcraft
performance and efficiency, in part by assessing the reliability of high
performance, lightweight composite materials. Researchers also want to
increase industry knowledge and create more complete computer models that can
be used to design better helicopters.
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.
Improved designs might allow helicopters to be used more extensively in the
airspace system.
The following address for a live-stream will be activated just prior to the
test:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/NASA-lrcFor more information about NASA Aeronautics research, go to:
http://aeronautics.nasa.gov
