Quieter aircraft

NASA and aerospace industry partners are flight testing new technologies to see if they can make aircraft quieter.

Scalloped edges on engine exteriors and toboggan-like fittings on landing gear are some of the high tech ideas being tested to reduce aircraft noise.

Experts at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, and industry team researchers developed the advanced noise reduction concepts and used wind tunnels and computer simulations to initially test them out.

With the initial conceptual testing completed, the team is now assessing the ideas and actual hardware at a test flight facility in Glasgow, MT on a specially equipped 777 passenger jet provided by Boeing.

A three-week test flight program will validate the ideas, including two improved chevron designs on the engine and a cover that fits on the landing gear. Chevrons are scalloped or serrated edges already used on some newer jet engines. One improved chevron design includes asymmetrical scallops around the engine.