A Brief History
On December 1, 1984, a joint operation between NASA and the FAA conducted a “Controlled Impact Demonstration,’ a fancy way of saying purposely crashing an unoccupied jetliner.
Digging Deeper
The remotely controlled jet was a Boeing 720, a narrowed down version of the ubiquitous 707. A 4-engine jetliner that could carry 131 passengers, the 720 was a good representation of the airliners of the time.
The doomed jet was loaded with cameras, sensors, and recording equipment, and the data derived from the intentional crash was used to develop new safety standards for airliners. Conclusions included that airliners should have a Head Up Display for the pilots and a microwave landing system. The test also showed the “anti-misting” agent added to the jet fuel failed to prevent a huge fireball upon crashing.
The test crash was conducted at Edwards Air Force Base in California, with a “landing” strip at Rogers Dry Lake.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Gero, David. Aviation Disasters: The World’s Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1950. Sutton Publishing, 2006.
Wittlin, Gil. KRASH analysis correlation: Transport airplane controlled impact demonstration test. Available from the National Technical Information Service, 1987.
The featured image in this article, a NASA photograph by Mike Mills (NASA Photo Number: EC83-28021) of Pilot Fitz Fulton in CID simulator, is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that “NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted“. (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
