2-860-796 - Heritage Space/Heritage Images

F-15B ACTIVE with Thrust Vectoring Nozzles, 1997. The F-15 ACTIVE in flight over the Mojave Desert, southwestern USA, during a High Stability Engine Control (HISTEC) flight. The twin-engine F-15 is equipped with new Pratt & Whitney nozzles that can turn up to 20 degrees in any direction, giving the aircraft thrust control in the pitch (up and down) and yaw (left and right) directions. On March 27, 1996, NASA began flight testing a new thrust-vectoring concept on the F-15 research aircraft to improve performance and aircraft control. The new concept should lead to signifigant increases in performance of both civil and military aircraft flying at subsonic and supersonic speeds. NASA pilot Rogers Smith and photographer Carla Thomas fly the F-18 chase to accompany the flight.