Aviation Week reports, “The cockpit warning light that cut short the second flight of NASA’s X-59 low-boom supersonic flight demonstrator on March 20 proved to be a false positive and the aircraft resumed envelope expansion testing with back-to-back flights on March 26 and 27. The Lockheed Martin Skunk Works-built X-59 was forced to return to base at Edwards AFB, California, after only 9 min. of a planned hour-long flight on March 20 when NASA Test Pilot Jim Less saw a vehicle system warning in the cockpit.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Tag: X-59
NASA’s X-59 Collects Valuable Data Despite Shortened Second Flight
Aviation International News reports, “NASA’s X-59 supersonic demonstrator returned to the skies on Friday morning for a nine-minute flight that was cut short after a warning light illuminated. However, NASA officials said they were still able to gather data during the second flight from the aircraft built in collaboration with Lockheed Martin at its Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
X-59 Low-Boom Aircraft Enters New Phase of Supersonic Flight Testing
Aviation Week takes the wraps off NASA’s Lockheed Martin-built X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft as preparations begin for envelope expansion tests.
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NASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Research Aircraft Performs First Flight
Aviation Week reports, “NASA began flight tests of its needle-nosed X-59 Quesst quiet supersonic research aircraft with a 1 hr. 7 min. initial sortie from Palmdale, California, to the nearby Edwards AFB on Oct. 28. Flown by NASA X-59 lead pilot Nils Larson, the much-anticipated first flight of the Lockheed Martin-built aircraft began at 8:14 a.m. Pacific time with an unrestricted climb from Palmdale’s 12,000 ft.-long runway 07/25.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
NASA’s X-59 Demonstrator Gearing Up for Flight-Test Phase
Aerotime reports, “NASA says the futuristic-looking X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft is closing in on its first flight, with engineers conducting final checks of safety systems as the program moves from ground testing toward the all-important flight-test phase.”
Full Story (Aerotime)
NASA Chief Says X-59 Will Still Play Key Role in Return to Supersonic Flight
Aviation Week reports, “The X-59 low boom demonstrator remains highly relevant, says NASA’s acting administrator. Although running years behind its original schedule, the NASA aircraft is still expected to play a key role in helping ICAO and the FAA develop a noise certification standard for sonic booms that could clear the way for legal overland civil fight at higher supersonic speeds.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
NASA’s X-59 Supersonic Jet Passes Key ‘Cruise Control’ Test Ahead of First Flight
SPACE reports, “NASA’s new X-59 supersonic jet is a step closer to flight after passing an important ground test in March. Known as “engine speed hold,” the test ensured that the X-59 can maintain a specific speed when it flies for the first time later this year. “Engine speed hold is essentially the aircraft’s version of cruise control,” Paul Dees, NASA’s X-59 deputy propulsion lead at Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, said in a statement. “The pilot engages speed hold at their current speed, then can adjust it incrementally up or down as needed.”
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NASA Initiates Engines Tests on Experimental X-59
Flying Magazine reports, “NASA has fired up the engine of its experimental X-59 supersonic aircraft for the first time, marking the launch of testing to ensure the powerplant and systems work together.” The “X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft is part of NASA’s Low Boom Flight Demonstration project aimed at collecting data to help shape regulations for possible future commercial supersonic flight. … The modified F414-GE-100 engine is expected to enable the aircraft to fly Mach 1.4, or around 925 mph, according to NASA.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine
After the Concorde, a Long Road Back to Supersonic Travel
An Ars Technica report discusses the possibility of achieving supersonic flight without loud booms, noting that NASA is working on it. “The X-59 is being built to do a series of supersonic test flights over American cities to boom people living there.” Then NASA will collect feedback “from those on the ground and compile it into a data pack for the aviation authorities, the FAA and the International Civil Aviation Administration.” That data is then expected to be “part of a push to lift the ban on supersonic flight over land and replace it with an acceptable noise standard.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)
NASA’s X-59 Moves Past Delays Towards First Flight This Year
Aviation Week reports that despite problems “that delayed the X-59 Low-Boom Flight Demonstration program from its scheduled flight debut in 2021, no obvious obstacles stand in the way of the aircraft flying for the first time in the late spring or early summer.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)