NASA has crash-tested a version of an eVTOL fuselage and the crumpled result will provide plenty of data on some NASA innovations included in the mock-up. The composite structure was hoisted about 30 feet in the air and sent on an inclined trajectory to the concrete below in a simulation of an emergency landing by an eVTOL. The test article was built by NASA and was not a copy of any of the dozens of eVTOLs now under development. There were six crash test dummies aboard and the roof was loaded up with weight to simulate wings and engines. The structure did not hold up well.
Although the energy-absorbing floor and seats appear to have functioned as designed, engineers were surprised the roof of the passenger cabin collapsed with the weight of the simulated wing structure. The simulated passengers in the back seats may have suffered some real damage. “Our computational pretest models did a good job predicting the composite deformation until overhead structural failure,” NASA spokesman Justin Littell said. “However, the computational models did not predict the overall collapse as seen in the test,” Little said in a statement. “The test was a great success for the crash-worthiness team at Langley.”
