I'd think that if a pilot had catostrophic wing failure from enemy munitions, you'd still be engaged by said enemy. An autonomous system lazily (pardon the vernacular) bringing the pilot home might need to be a little more, shall we say, proactive in avoiding any further incoming enemy fire. Though, if the pilot sees incoming fire after the automated system takes over, ejection is still an option. So, I think this could work for the instances of 'fire and forget' from long range where the plane structurally survived the initial impact, but during heavy close encounters ejection seems the best option.

N@tedog

@Git Em SteveDave's G3 hearts a certain MBP: Perhaps. My thinking though is that whatever caused such a catastrophic failure in the first place(i.e. losing 60% of the wing), would be dramatic enough to cause the loss of flight control and create high enough stresses to tear the rest of the plane apart. I suppose if you're just in level flight and oops 60% of your wing falls off, then there might be some chance to recover or maintain flight control. Of course anything that could help in any scenario is a good thing I suppose. I'd just like to see it in a full scale test to convince me it can be done on anything other than a model. After all, a scale RC airplane could make snap turns that would most likely rip the wings off a full scale plane if it attempted the same maneuver. I do wonder what kind of affect the Damage Tolerance and Autonomous Landing Solution would have in actual combat. I mean, what if your plane gets damaged enough to activate the safety feature, and it starts to take over flight, but you're still engaged with the enemy. Would this make you a sitting duck?

yougottabekidding

@TheCyberBob: You are correct!

Gulf War-1 has produced some good examples of AAA making swiss cheese out of A-10s with the only performance impact being an annoying whistling noise that makes the chain gun hard to hear. ;-D

rtwod2

@TheCyberBob: Not only that. But with a little duck tape you can be ready take off again 5 minutes later.

Lazarus511

Gaa! This is how SKYNET STARTED!!!!!

MagnoliaBoy

@rtwod2: If I'm not mistaken the A-10 Warthogs had a pretty good record for landing with heavy wing damage as well.

TheCyberBob

@hakubak: Preach it brother!

Lazarus511

I know an ex-Phantom pilot (F4) who did a zoom climb to 90,000 and lost the entire outer section of one wing on the way down. He had no problems flying it (okay, no major problems) because that portion of the wing provides very little lift, and is mainly there for stability.

I also know of a verified story of an A-7 Corsair launching from an aircraft carrier with its wings folded (I can't remember how THAT happened though), and made it safely back to a land base.

All these incidents just prove my point that wings are overrated. ; )

MyPetFly

@Darrone: "Somewhere down the line we shouldn't even have pilot-manned aircraft."

Yeah, it's called SkyNet......

babj615

I remember a story (with pictures)some years ago of an Israeli F-15 pilot who landed his bird with most of the starboard wing sheard clear off. Aeordynamics aside, an aicrafts lifting-body shape combined with sufficient thrust can power through alot of situations. Please recal the design of the F-104. It is just a a tube with stubby little wings.

For the F-1-4, see www.warbirdalley.com/f104.htm

For the History Channel video of the F-15 missing a wing, see [www.liveleak.com]

rtwod2

Option 2: Fly an A-10. It can take a worse beating than that, and still fly home.

Imperfect answer, I know.

hakubak

Considering that an on-board computer decided to crash an undamaged B-2 because there was water in a sensor, I'm not holding out much hope that this will end up working.

I look foward to a future version of this technology being adapted to allow titanium alloy endoskeletons to drag themselves towards people in the event that their legs are blow off.

daveNYC

Another 'too good to be true' factor is how the demonstration relies on a smooth, neatly severed and disconnected section of wing. I'd like to see how well the system responds to an actual weapon impact with all the broken, jagged edges, turbulent airflow and cascading failures that you can expect in a real combat situation.

NBDY_IMPRTNT

@GeekyNerdGuy: Decoration. It looks good to the public that a living, breathing, feeling person is delivering the death and destruction.

Gann

@yougottabekidding: Perhaps if they were doing aerial acrobatics after losing it. But if you were just focused on landing, then I think there wouldn't be as much stress on the airframe. Besides, the wings on these things are meant to take more force than the pilot could survive, and since the fuel is stored in them, they are built pretty strong.

Git Em SteveDave's G3 hearts a certain MBP

Most people would be shocked to learn that commerical passenger jumbo jets take off and land using the auto-pilot over 75% of the time. You can usually tell when the pilot landed hte plane becuase it's either a) bad weather, or b) a very smooth landing.

Lupison

Go DARPA!!!

bms

I think the f-22 can lose all control of it's flight controls and still manuever. They use the vectored thrust to turn/climb as well as by cutting engine power.

Git Em SteveDave's G3 hearts a certain MBP

Because scale models act just like the full scale would. Ok, maybe it could work, but it sounds too good to be true. It seems to me that a full scale F18 losing 60% of its wing would undergo such high stresses that it would lose maneuverability and be more likely to break apart before the computer has a chance to take over flight. Show me a full scale test and I'll be convinced.

yougottabekidding

If the computer can control it that well while the plane is damaged, why are we even keeping pilots around in the first place?

I mean, seriously, they're just overpaid bus drivers anyway.

GeekyNerdGuy

OKY DOKEY!...
We want it on every commercial airline, got it?.

aec007

Somewhere down the line we shouldn't even have pilot-manned aircraft.

Darrone

This is pretty cool. I just hope DARPA can come up with a solution for getting those creepy naked dudes off the wings. William Shatner and John Lithgow need to enjoy their flights too.

Kaiser-Machead's got LindsayJoy's cookies on the SuperDrive

@GeekyNerdGuy: You're kidding right? Do you know...neverfuckingmind. There's no point in trying because I know people of your ignorance level will (hopefully) never have a chance to influence major legislation on subject matters like this.
That's how shit happens...congressmen and judges who think they know what the fuck they're talk about get their hands in shit they shouldn't touch, and screw everything all to hell.
Please do your Goddamn research next time before posting such an ignorant comment.

shenanigans61

Uh ... anyone but me curious about Athena Technologies? A small speaker manufacturer that was bought out by Klipsch? Is this the same one?

MastaFalse

@MyPetFly:

In looking at the picture, I can believe it. It looks like about 60% of it's surface is still exposed.

Git Em SteveDave's G3 hearts a certain MBP

Stealth fighter :

[i13.photobucket.com]

axel000

@Stang70Fastback: He doesn't have a Polaroid, I don't believe it. Of course, I probably don't have enough clearance.

@MyPetFly: He also added afterburners, which gives it tremendous thrust. IIRC the f-15 was the first jet that could climb at a 90 degree angle

Git Em SteveDave's G3 hearts a certain MBP

@Stang70Fastback:

Some of that depends on the shape of the fuselage. In the case of the F-15, it's a bit of an airfoil itself, so that helped. Also, of course, the reflexes of the pilot are a huge contributing factor. Some airplanes (or airplane/pilot combos) that were missing 60% would drop from the sky like a rock.

MyPetFly

You people saying that a 60% loss would result in the aircraft tearing apart, or exploding, or vanishing into another dimension obviously haven't seen this video:

+ Watch video

Stang70Fastback

@Git Em SteveDave's G3 hearts a certain MBP:

Yep, those were amazing little airplanes. Too bad they've been retired. It'd be a blast to see one flying around in an airshow if someone could afford to restore one.

I saw one go over the side of Carl Vinson when the brakes and steering went out. Pilot punched out, scaring the crap out of a flight deck chief who was trying to toss chocks under the wheels.

MyPetFly

@Git Em SteveDave's G3 hearts a certain MBP:

Actually, I think you mean accelerate at a 90 degree angle. Lots of airplanes can climb for a little while, until they run out of energy. Either way, they're impressively powerful airplanes.

MyPetFly

@Joe_Bagadonuts:

I was wondering what that black blur was...

MyPetFly

I liked how they blanked out the control surfaces when they separated the wing panel in the video. Proprietary control laws to counter the transient dynamics until the computer rebaselines for certain.

Joe_Bagadonuts

Darpa would be nice if it was installed in all of our cars. Sure would save us a ton on DWI's it could take over my car and compensate when my pilot Captain Morgan has me listing to the left.

josephsherry

@Shenanigans61

...sooo... your a pilot???

venomous_duck41

@GeekyNerdGuy

but then who would nail the stewardesses?

*hand raises*

venomous_duck41

@Git Em SteveDave's G3 hearts a certain MBP: That's because the Raptor by design stays in unstable flight at all time. A normal plane that defaults to stable (read steady, level flight when no one is piloting) wouldn't be able to be maneuvered without it's actual control surfaces.

smartboydan

This is really cool technology!

SundariAerope

*edit - As far as production planes, not 1 off X planes.

Fzzt

I went to find my link to that Israeli F15 video, that's just amazing. [www.sonnyradio.com]

Oh and I believe the F-104 was the first 'vertical rocket', that could fly vertically until either your fuel or the atmosphere ran out.

Fzzt

that's KER-RAZ-YY!!!

banmojo

What would be cool is to have this installed on all commercial aircraft, and the next time a terrorist takes over a cockpit the pilots could flip an emergency land switch before they are removed from their seats.

Better yet, if we become aware of a plane becoming 'compromised', being able to send a signal to remotely trigger the auto-land setting.

Think you're going to see Allah? Not today sport! The look on the terrorists face when they realize they aren't in control: priceless.

codemagic

Whenever I see "DARPA", I think about Metal Gear Solid...(good times)

sdimacu