Touchdown: The Development of Propulsion Controlled Aircraft at NASA Dryden

by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Tom Tucker

This publication relates the important history of the Propulsion Controlled Aircraft project at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and describes the development of the Flight Research Center Simulation during the period from 1955 to 1975. These are the years in which analog computers were used as a major component of every flight simulation that was mechanized in support of the many different flight research project at the High-Speed Flight Station (HSFS-redesigned the Flight Research Center [FRC] in 1959 and the Dryden Flight Research Center [DFRC] in 1976). Initially, analog computers were used along with a ground-based cockpit for these simulators. This started in 1955. In 1964 a small scientific digital computer was bought and added to the X-15 simulator. This was the start of the hybrid (combined analog and digital) computer period of flight simulators. Both of these periods are covered in this document. This publication discusses how we developed the many different analog simulations. However, it is important to mention the reasons why we did so. This monograph tells the PCA story in a non- technical way with emphasis on the human aspects of the engineering and flight-research effort. It thereby supplements the extensive technical literature on PCA and makes the development of this technology accessible to a wide audience.

62 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 2013

About the author

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.