ATA’s work on the Perlan 2 sailplane recognized in annual AIAA publication
SAN DIEGO, Calif., December 22, 2016 – ATA Engineering has been featured in the 2016 Year in Review edition of the AIAA publication Aerospace America for work on the Perlan 2 sailplane. The AIAA Year in Review notes important developments in an array of disciplines within aerospace and aeronautics over the past year and draws attention to various achievements.
The structural dynamics technical committee selected ATA’s support to the Perlan Project on the ground vibration testing of a highly flexible sailplane as a notable accomplishment of 2016 and part of a general trend of “fruitful [research and development work] … in the disciplines of structural dynamics” during the year. The ground vibration tests were one step in the process of predictive flutter analysis, which ATA performed to assist the Perlan Project in preparing for the flight testing program. The innovative Perlan 2 aircraft, designed to reach a record altitude of 90,000 feet by gliding on “mountain wave” air currents, is expected to open up new possibilities for research at the edge of Earth’s atmosphere.
As a leader in experimental and analytic dynamics and structural analysis, ATA has performed hundreds of ground vibration tests on commercial and military aircraft, launch vehicles, satellites, and missile programs. ATA has been actively involved in aircraft testing and analysis programs for several decades and is widely recognized as the leading independent company for performing ground vibration tests, with unsurpassed expertise in finite element modeling, flutter analysis, and aircraft dynamic testing.
