MD-90 Test Bed For Trussed Wing Demonstrator Project
Boeing has chosen an old McDonnell-Douglas airliner as the test bed for the Transonic Truss Braced Wing that it hopes will eventually lift a new-generation passenger aircraft toward sustainability. NASA…
Boeing’s MD-90 aircraft flies from Victorville California to Palmdale, California on August 15, 2023. This aircraft will be NASA’s future Sustainable Flight Demonstrator. Modifications to the aircraft will include changes to the fuselage and most notably the use of a transonic truss-braced wing.
Boeing has chosen an old McDonnell-Douglas airliner as the test bed for the Transonic Truss Braced Wing that it hopes will eventually lift a new-generation passenger aircraft toward sustainability. NASA has contracted Boeing to build a Sustainable Flight Demonstrator and key to the design is a set of long, thin wings that are braced by large trusses that also work as lifting surfaces. It will be known as the X-66A, and the actual prototype is expected to fly in 2028, but in the meantime the old rear-engined descendent of the DC-9 will test the wing concept. It was ferried from Victorville to Boeing's Palmdale, California, facility on Aug. 17.
"We at NASA are excited to be working with Boeing on the X-66A Sustainable Flight Demonstrator making critical contributions to accelerate aviation towards its 2050 net-zero greenhouse gas emission goal," said Ed Waggoner, deputy associate administrator for programs in the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. Boeing and NASA are hoping for a 30 percent reduction in fuel burn and emissions with the skinny wings and trusses.
