Pilot Didn't Mind NASA's Experimental Plane Doesnt Have a Front Window

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

https://mashable.com/article/nasa-x-59-supersonic-jet-test-problem

Nothing seemed amiss as NASA's experimental X-59 supersonic jet touched down after its second test in the air, smoothly coasting onto the runway.

But the sleek, needle-nosed airplane had completed only nine minutes in the air on Friday, March 20, before a cockpit warning light forced an early landing. That warning was separate from a caution light that occurred during an earlier takeoff attempt just before 10 a.m. P.T., said Cathy Bahm, project manager at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center.

The brief flight left from Edwards Air Force Base in California at 10:54 a.m. P.T. marked only the second time the aircraft had flown. While the team originally planned for about an hour, leaders stressed that even short flights provide new data for moving the project forward. You can watch the landing in the video below.

[...] "Sometimes it's easy to forget that building this kind of experimental aircraft means creating something that never existed before," Pearce said during a news conference. "As far as X-planes go, it's not unusual."

The X-59 is part of a long-term effort to change how fast commercial airplanes fly over land. Traditional supersonic aircraft create a loud boom when they break the sound barrier, which is why the U.S. government bans routine supersonic passenger flights over populated areas. NASA and its contractor,Lockheed Martin,built the X-59 to fly faster than sound while producing only a "thump," with the goal of providing regulators and the industry with the evidence neededto reconsider the restrictions.

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.