FAA History Lesson -- March 17

From the FAA Historical Chronology, 1926-1996...

”Mar 17, 1966: The Bell Triservice X-22A, a tilting-duct Vertical/ Short Takeoff and Landing (V/STOL) aircraft, made its maiden flight. On Jun 30, 1966, with the tilting ducts at an angle of 30 degrees, the aircraft made its first STOL takeoff, and subsequently attained a top speed in excess of 100 miles an hour.

Mar 17, 1966: FAA type-certificated the Learjet 24, a two-engine turbine-powered business aircraft seating eight (two crewmembers and six passengers). In the first flight of its kind by a business jet, a Learjet 24 completed a 17-leg, 23,002-statute-mile, round-the-world flight on May 26, 1966. The global flight took 65 hours 40 minutes (actual flying time, 50 hours). “

I would normal give these two entries a pass -- neither really has much to do with air traffic control. However, because of so much talk about technology and what it will do for ATC, I thought I’d use them.

The Lear 24 was wildly successful. The X-22A -- after 42 years -- is almost ready for the field, having morphed into the V-22 Osprey.

Here are a few pictures I found as I was searching the ‘net.

X-22A

V-22 Osprey

Lear 25 (a stretched version of the Lear 24 but a really neat shot.)

Sometimes, the promise of technology works out. Sometimes, you have to wait 40 years or more.


Don Brown
March 17, 2008