World's largest wind tunnel reaches full operational capabilty, re-opens doors to rotorcraft

  • Published
  • By Janaé Daniels
  • AEDC/PA
After two years of refurbishment and reactivation activities, the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC) in Moffett Field, Calif., reached a major milestone recently, achieving full operational capability for rotorcraft testing. 

This restores the rotorcraft testing capability that was available before the facility was closed in 2003. 

"This achievement was not a minor undertaking," said Nick Jize, Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA) NFAC site manager. "The NFAC team completed the many and varying tasks to achieve full operational capability through hard work, overtime and personal sacrifice." 

According to Mark Betzina, acting Department of Defense site director, the primary focus after reactivation in 2006 was to start up the rotorcraft testing capability in order to meet the requirements of their major customers--the Army, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NASA. 

The first government test will be performed on the Boeing SMART Rotor for DARPA's Helicopter Quieting Program. The Army and NASA are also participating in the test that will begin in mid-February. 

Jize described the NFAC team at the facility.  Whether directly involved in the control room running a test or one of the many that kept the facility up and running by providing safety support, maintenance, configuration management, planning, administration, purchasing or any other task, each individual was highly valuable.

"The NFAC team was not alone in this," Jize continued. "This achievement started out due to people who believed in the NFAC as a national asset and lobbied to get the facility reopened. This includes our friends in the rotorcraft research community, the Army, Air Force and the NASA Ames Unitary Wind Tunnel as well as many others at Ames Research Center." 

Jize also mentioned the relationship between Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC), Jacobs and ATA.

 Betzina added, "Data system design and installation, NSMS blade instrumentation and transformer repair were just some of the tasks the AEDC team helped us achieve." 

Jize acknowledged that as the NFAC moves forward in a new phase that has more concentration on operations rather than reactivation, new challenges will occur. 

"However, seeing the strength of our team and what they have accomplished,
we are confident that we are looking at a great future of providing an important and critical service to our nation."