NASA Test Pilot Mike Lippert Completes First X-59 Flight, Reaching Mach 1.4 at 55,000 Feet
Why It MattersThe X-59's continued flight testing feeds the data regulators will use to set noise thresholds, which would determine whether supersonic commercial flight over land becomes permissible.
NASA test pilot Mike Lippert completed his first flight in the agency's X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft on Oct. 21, taking off from NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, and landing one hour later. He reached a maximum speed of Mach 1.4 and an altitude of 55,000 feet. The X-59 has flown numerous times, but this was Lippert's first opportunity to fly an X-plane in nearly 11 years of piloting high-performance aircraft.
The flight followed scheduled maintenance and a review of the aircraft's systems after its busiest week of testing to date; in September the X-59 completed six flights in three days. On its return to flight, Lippert performed various maneuvers to assess the aircraft's handling while the team evaluated its systems.
Lippert spent months preparing, completing his first engine run in August and logging extensive simulator time alongside fellow NASA test pilots Nils Larson and Jim "Clue" Less. "After completing our high-altitude test points, there was a brief period where we descended and decelerated, where I was able to look outside and recognize that I was flying supersonic in an X-plane over the high deserts of the Mojave," Lippert said.
The X-59 is part of NASA's Quesst mission, supported by the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, which aims to demonstrate technology for flying supersonic without generating loud sonic booms. NASA will then survey how people respond to the quieter sonic "thumps" when the X-59 flies overhead and share those reactions with national and international regulators to inform new data-driven acceptable noise thresholds for supersonic commercial flight over land.
