Aug 8 1980
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
DFRC said that it was awaiting delivery of a new aircraft that would take off and land like a helicopter and cruise in flight like a conventional airplane: the XV 15A, built for NASA and the U. S. Army by Bell Helicopter Textron in Ft. Worth, Tex. Another XV15 was at ARC preparing for research flight tests. The one being delivered to DFRC would serve to expand performance limits reached by NASA, military, and contract pilots in a flight-test program expected to last one year; the ARC craft would be flown within limits established at DFRC to accomplish specific research objectives. (NASA Release 80-127; DFRC Release 80-16)
NASA reported that its QSRA was the first four-engine transport jet to land and take off from an aircraft carrier at sea [see During July]. It made 37 touch-and-go landings and 16 full-stop landings on the carrier during the evaluation, and 16 takeoffs without the aid of catapult gear. The tests, by a Navy pilot, Lt. Cdr. Pete Strickland, and two NASA research pilots, Jim Martin and Bob Innis, demonstrated QSRNs use on short runways and its quieter operation. (NASA Release 80-126)
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