NASA to stage plane crash
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NASA is planning to stage a plane crash as a practical test for emergency locator transmitters (ELTs).
On Wednesday 26 August, the US space agency’s Search & Rescue Mission Office will simulate a “severe but survivable plane accident”, with the incident being broadcast live air live on TV.
The crash will take place at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, where a research team has equipped a 1974 Cessna 172 with five ELTs, two crash test dummies, cameras and data-collecting sensors. The aircraft will then be dropped from a height of 100 feet (30.5 metres).
NASA’s research is aiming to find practical ways to improve ELTs by testing how they react to excessive vibration, fire and impact damage.
This is the last of three NASA crash tests of three different Cessna 172 aircraft. The first plane was dropped from about 80 feet and came in at nose level on concrete. The second was hauled up to 100 feet and crashed nose down into soil, and the third is planned to come in from 100 feet, tail down, into soil.
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