NASA is investigating the ways flexible, light weight, ultra-efficient lift wings may increase efficiency for aircraft, and how to address their challenge with flutter in flight. One technology that may make it possible to stabilize flutter, increasing both aircraft efficiency and safety, is the use of advanced flight control systems. NASA’s X-56 aircraft aims to advance aeroservoelastic technology through flight research, using flight profiles in which flutter occurs in order to demonstrate that onboard instrumentation can not only accurate predict and sense the onset of wing flutter, but also be used by the control system to actively suppress aeroelastic instabilities.
