Grumman X-29 - Operational History

Operational History

The first X-29 was taken aloft on 14 December 1984 from Edwards AFB with Grumman's Chief Test Pilot Chuck Sewell at the controls. With that flight, the X-29 became the second jet-powered aircraft to fly with forward swept wings (with the Nazi Germany-era Junkers Ju 287, which first flew in 1944, being the first). On 13 December 1985, one of the X-29s became the first forward swept wing aircraft to fly in supersonic, level flight. The X-29 began a NASA test program only four months after its first flight. The X-29 proved very reliable, and by August 1986 was involved in flying research missions lasting more than three hours. The first X-29 was not equipped with a spin recovery parachute, as it was not expected to go into a spin. The second X-29 was given such a parachute and was involved in a high angle-of-attack research program. The NASA test program continued from 1984 to 1991. By the time the first X-29 was retired in 1986, it had been flown 242 times.