According to reports, NASA sent a small airplane plummeting to Earth in order to test safety features. Engineers and scientists at the space agency's Langley Research Center in Virginia dropped a Cessna 172 in a crash test that was captured on video. The small airplane was dropped from a height of 100 feet (30 meters) and at the impact with the ground it hit belly first, then flipped over onto its back. For their test crash, NASA used an old airplane, dating from 1974.
Two dummies were installed aboard the airplane outfitted with cameras, sensors and five emergency locator transmitters (ELTs). ELTs are devices designed to send out signals that help rescue teams to find aircraft such as commercial jetliners in the event of a crash. According to NASA officials, current ELT models will first beam those signals up to satellites, which will relay them to ground stations.
The latest plane crash test performed by NASA simulated a survivable crash. The experiment was intended to help researchers improve ELT technology and learn about the best ways to install the beacons. Most often the rescue efforts are compromised when ELTs are often seriously damaged in crashes.
NASA officials wrote in a statement previewing the crash that ELTs are required to work in extreme circumstances involved in a plane crash, including excessive vibration, impact damage and fire. The present NASA research has the aim of finding practical ways to improve ELT system robustness and performance. This will ensure that rescue workers have the best chance of saving lives.
The latest NASA plane crash experiment was the last of three such trials involving different Cessna 172 aircraft. All of the tests were performed at Langley. The first test involved a drop of 80 feet (24 m) onto cement and it occurred on July 1. On July 29, the second test involved crashing a different plane onto dirt from a height of 100 feet (30 m).
According to the American Space Agency officials, the ELT research is funded by the Search and Rescue Mission Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland,
