NASA Drop Test Supports Safer Air Taxi Designs

Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, dropped a full-scale aircraft body, modeled after an air taxi, from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry, at the center’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. This and a previous test in late 2022 allow researchers to investigate aircraft materials that best absorb impact forces in a crash to protect the passengers and cargo inside. The data collected will enable manufacturers to design safer advanced air mobility aircraft.