Boeing's X-32B lifts off

Flight Journal, Aug 2001 by Pace, Steve

In March 29, 2001, Boeing's X-32B STOVL demonstrator successfully completed the first flight in what will be a four-month test program that Boeing hopes will validate its direct-lift approach to STOVL flight.

Flown by Boeing JSF lead STOVL test pilot Dennis O'Donoghue, the X-32B completed a 50-minute conventional flight to Edwards AFB from Palmdale, California. O'Donoghue's initial airworthiness tests included those of flying qualities and subsystem checkouts. "I felt right at home in the X-32B," he says. "It flew exactly like the X-32A, which is a real tribute to the commonality of the Boeing [JSF] design. Today's flight means we'll be as successful in demonstrating STOVL flying qualities and performance with the X-32B as we were with the X-32A in demonstrating conventional takeoff and landing and carrier-approach performance."

The X-32B will complete a number of flights at Edwards before being transferred to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, for most of its STOVL tests. The flight-test program will include approximately 55 flights (approximately 40 hours). -Steve Pace