With a small video camera mounted atop the center wing to record control surface movement, the small unmanned APV-3 research aircraft takes to the air for the first time with a flight control system incorporating segmented wing flaps and fiber optic sensors to reduce dynamic loads on the wing.
Read: NASA Interns Developed and Flight-Tested a More Efficient Flight Control System
The APV-3 test aircraft displays the multiple-segment flaps and their linkages on its high-aspect-ratio wing during a flyover of the test site.
While NASA Armstrong engineer and mentor Frank Pena monitors data, NASA Aeronautics Academy intern Ben Martins conducts pre-flight checks on the APV-3 small unmanned research aircraft before its first test flight with a control system that combines segmented flaps and fiber optic sensors.
NASA Aeronautics Academy intern Ben Martins and small unmanned aerial systems pilot Robert ‘Red’ Jensen conduct pre-flight checks on the APV-3 research aircraft before the first test flight of a control system that combines segmented flaps and fiber optic sensors.
Filed Under: Aerospace + defense