NASA Dryden Flight Research Center’s Gulfstream III aerodynamics research test bed aircraft is undergoing modification to support the Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge project, a joint effort between NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
Both of the G-III’s conventional aluminum wing flaps are being replaced with shape-changing composite flaps designed by FlexSys, Inc., that form continuous bendable surfaces.
This video shows maneuvers flown to provide baseline data for comparison with data recorded after the flexible flaps are installed, a sample of a flexible flap being lab tested in a lab and the G-III in NASA Dryden’s Flight Loads Laboratory undergoing baseline structural loads testing.