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Tthe Flight Research Building, also known as the NASA Glenn Hangar, is located at the NASA Glenn Research Center adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
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Home to many unique and innovative aircraft including the Learjet Model 25 and the Twin Otter Icing Research Aircraft, the Flight Research Building, also known as the NASA Glenn Hangar, is located at the NASA Glenn Research Center adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Built in the 1940's, the Hangar is a 65 X 250 ft. heated facility that is large enough to hold numerous aircraft of various sizes. It has been home to many unique and innovative aircraft including the Learjet Model 25 and the Twin Otter Icing Research Aircraft. Inside the Hangar, there is a Flight Operations Administrative Office that is responsible for the daily operations, a pilots lounge, and flight-planning areas. There is also a full-scale metal, battery, and avionics shop.
Permission from the NASA Glenn Flight Operations Office must be obtained prior to landing and parking an aircraft at the Hangar.
Learjet:
The Learjet Model 25 is a modified, high performance small cabin class aircraft capable of flight up to 50,000 ft. with a modified oxygen system. It is used for such diverse projects such as satellite calibration, solar cell research, air sampling above and below the tropopause, far-field acoustic measurements, and microgravity research. It is equipped with a large nadir-looking optical glass viewport for remote sensing and ground-observation activities. A research electrical system provides 28 volts dc, as well as 110/60 and 110/400 Hz of power. With a range of 1000 miles at 420 KTAS, it is crewed by two pilots and up to four researchers.
Twin Otter Icing Research Aircraft:
Glenn's icing research aircraft is a modified DeHavilland DHC-6 Twin Otter. It is powered by two 550 hp Pratt & Whitney PT6A-20A turbine engines that drive three-bladed Hartzel constant speed propellers. It's relatively large size makes this aircraft a versatile test bed for in-flight icing research reaching speeds of 150 knots with a range of 500 n mi with a maximum fuel load.
The Twin Otter has been modified to carry a full complement of sophisticated instruments that measure and record important properties of icing clouds. A stereoscopic camera system documents ice accretion characteristics of the aircraft in flight. Most test flights are conducted below 10000 ft., but the Twin Otter has an oxygen system onboard for flight up to 16000 ft. Research flights are performed with two pilots and up to three research personnel on-board.
The ice protection system on the Otter is a combination of pneumatic boots, electrothermal anti-icing, and electrothermal de-icing. NASA has added pneumatic de-icing boots to the vertical tail, wing struts, and main gear struts. The high level of ice protection allows safe flight into known icing conditions, as well as the ability to selectively de-ice aircraft surfaces. By selectively de-icing, it is possible to evaluate the performance, stability, and control effects of ice on various surfaces.
The Twin Otter supports the Icing Research Tunnel research and new icing protection systems. It has two experimental sites, the overhead hatch and the wing cuff, that subject test models to the icing environment while the aircraft remains clear of ice through de-icing. This aircraft is currently being used to acquire extensive experimental data about icing effects on aircraft flight. The aircraft has been used for, and is adaptable to other flight research projects |
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