Dr. Edgar Waggoner, Director, Integrated Systems research Program Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), talks during a House Subcommittee on Oversight hearing titled "Operating Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the National Airspace System: Assessing Research and Development Efforts to Ensure Safety" on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Dr. Edgar Waggoner, Director, Integrated Systems research Program Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), takes notes during a House Subcommittee on Oversight hearing titled "Operating Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the National Airspace System: Assessing Research and Development Efforts to Ensure Safety" on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA’s Pilatus PC-12, based out of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, is seen flying over NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. On Sept. 18, 2024, NASA pilots and crew from both centers flew the PC-12 over the Mojave Desert in a series of familiarization flights. Familiarization flights involve egress training, preflight walkaround, interior preflight, engine start, taxi, and takeoff.  

Based out of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, the Pilatus PC-12 is flying over the compass rose in the Roger’s Dry Lakebed at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, in Edwards, California. The compass rose is more than 4,000 feet in diameter and aligned to magnetic north, to test navigation equipment on aircraft. The Pilatus PC-12 tests communications technology for the emerging Advanced Air Mobility ecosystem. Pilots and crew from both centers perform familiarization flights to prepare for Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) systems tests between the aircraft and ping-Stations on the ground at Armstrong Flight Research Center. These flights are the first cross-center activity with the Pilatus-PC-12 at Armstrong Flight Research Center.

Used as a directional indicator the compass rose guides pilots flying test and experimental aircraft like the Pilatus PC-12 in the vast airspace over NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. This Pilatus PC-12 based out of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is being flown for a series of familiarization flights for NASA’s Armstrong pilots and crew. These familiarization flights supported communication, navigation and surveillance evaluations for Advanced Air Mobility research.

Equipped with state-of-the-art technology to test and evaluate communication, navigation, and surveillance systems, NASA’s Pilatus PC-12 flies over the Mojave Desert near Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Based at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, the Pilatus PC-12 runs a series of familiarization flights for NASA Armstrong pilots before a test series evaluating ADS-B or Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast systems for advanced air mobility applications in the desert flight test range on Sept. 18, 2024. Airborne work during familiarization flights includes several approach and landings, with an emphasis on avionics, then medium altitude air-work with steep turns, slow flight, and stall demonstrations to qualitatively understand the handling characteristics of the aircraft. The flights lasted about 60 to 90 minutes on average.