NASA’s X-59 Passes Milestone Toward Safe First Flight
NASA has taken the next step toward verifying the airworthiness for its quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft with the completion of a milestone review that will allow it to progress toward flight.
A Flight Readiness Review board composed of independent experts from across NASA has completed a study of the X-59 project team’s approach to safety for the public and staff during ground and flight testing.
Commercial supersonic flight over land has been banned for more than 50 years because of the noise of sonic booms.
“It’s really an exciting time on the project,” Bahm said. “It’s not an easy road, but there’s a finite set of activities that are in front of us.”
With the Flight Readiness Review complete, the upcoming Airworthiness and Flight Safety Review will be the next safety milestone.
“None of these systems have ever worked and played together before,” said Brad Neal, chairman for the X-59 Airworthiness and Flight Safety Review board.
As we get into integration testing here, it’s going to be a great opportunity to learn.’’
“It’s a brand-new thing that we are developing, even though they’re components that have been on different legacy aircraft.