NASA researchers crash a 45-foot helicopter fuselage into the ground Wednesday afternoon at NASA Langley Research Center's Landing and Impact Research Facility. NASA plans to use the results of the test to improve performance, efficiency and to design saf

The helicopter airframe was winched slowly into position three stories high, suspended on cables and packed with dummies of every size seated, standing and in simulated motion.

At 15 seconds, the countdown began.

And at the end, pyrotechnics blew the cable supports, and nearly 11,000 pounds of fuselage dropped forward then straight down, slamming 30 mph into a layer of packed dirt with a resounding whump.

It may have been anti-climactic as far as crash tests go no explosions, no crumpled frame, no dangling dummy bodies but for engineers at NASA Langley Research Center, Wednesday's event was a rare opportunity to conduct a suite of experiments designed to improve helicopter safety.

The drop at the facility's historic gantry in Hampton was similar to another test conducted there last summer, except, as lead test engineer Martin Annett said afterward, "It was a lot harder hit than last year."

What researchers hope to see with the new test, though, is a lot fewer dummy "injuries," based largely on the use of three types of lightweight composite subflooring materials designed to absorb the impact and render aircraft more crash-worthy. And, by extension, more survivable.

According to NASA Langley, data from last year's test indicated some of the simulated passengers would have been seriously injured or even killed under those crash conditions.

Two of the subfloor composites used in the new test were developed by NASA's Rotary Wing Project in the Fundamental Aeronautics Program. The third was developed by the Australian Cooperative Research Center for Advanced Composite Structures in cooperation with the German Aerospace Research Center.

The U.S. Navy supplied the former Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter fuselage, which was painted white and peppered with black polka dots as part of a technique called full field photogrammetry. Dozens of high-speed cameras then recorded the event inside and out at 500 frames per second, tracking each dot and helping researchers figure out exactly where and how the fuselage buckled or cracked under crash loads.

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NASA Langley crashes a helicopter for safety research | With Video