AME Research Helps NASA Win Laureate Award

On March 3, Aviation Week celebrated its 59th annual Laureate Awards – sometimes called the Oscars of the aerospace industry  – and this year's winner in the technology category was NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project, "for developing and demonstrating performance-improving technologies that could be used to make the next generation of civil aircraft more efficient, economical and environmentally friendly."

Among the most successful research supported by the six-year ERA Project was the Active Flow Control Enhanced Vertical Tail Flight Experiment, a collaboration among NASA, Boeing, Caltech and the University of Arizona department of aerospace and mechanical engineering. Their technology could bring the next great shift in airplane design, leading to lower fuel consumption and greater lift.

The UA researchers included professor Israel Wygnanski, research specialist Philipp Tewes, and former staff members Elisa Phillips and Lutz Taubert, as well as the AME shop team of Joe Hartley, Dale Drew and Lane Hammond.