Remotely Piloted PTERA Bridges Gap Between 

Wind-Tunnel and Crewed Flight Testing

Aerospace testing can be costly and time 

consuming but a new modular, subscale remotely piloted aircraft offers NASA researchers more affordable options for developing a 

wide range of cutting edge aviation and space 

technologies. The Prototype-Technology 

Evaluation and Research Aircraft (PTERA), 

developed by Area-I, Inc., of Kennesaw, 

Georgia, is an extremely versatile and highquality, yet inexpensive, flying laboratory 

bridging the gap between wind tunnels and 

crewed flight testing.

The ability to alter PTERA’s configuration allows cost-effective testing of unconventional 

designs that might otherwise be too dangerous or expensive to test with a full-scale, 

crewed aircraft. PTERA’s capabilities make 

it a perfect platform to support aeronautics 

and space research within NASA, defense, 

industry, and academia.

PTERA was initially developed to flight test 

circulation control technology for a cruiseefficient short-takeoff-and-landing airliner 

under the NASA Small Business Innovative 

Research (SBIR) program. This configuration 

was only ground tested, but was subsequently 

modified for a variety of aeronautics research 

projects. The modified vehicle, sometimes 

called PTERA-BL, was first flight tested in 

2012 at Middle Georgia State University’s 

Eastman Campus under a Phase 1 SBIR 

contract.

Flight testing under a Phase 2 SBIR contract included flight maneuvers used to develop a PTERA simulation. With additional 

funding from the State of Georgia Center 

for Aerospace Innovation, the contract 

also provided for construction of two new 

PTERA-BL airframes, one for the company’s use and the other to be delivered to 

NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, 

Edwards, California.

PTERA-BL aircraft are configured to resemble an 11%-scale Boeing 737 with a 

wingspan of 11.3-feet and 200-pound gross 

weight. Powered by two 50-pound-thrust 

NASA Armstrong’s PTERA remotely piloted research aircraft made its first flight on October 22, 2015. 

(NASA Photo/Jim Ross)
FS-2015-10-108 AFRC

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Armstrong Flight Research Center

P.O. Box 273

Edwards, California 93523

NASA Facts

JetCat P200 engines, each PTERA has a semi-modular 

airframe designed to accommodate a variety of configurations and technologies.

Flight-testing in July 2013 at Heart of Georgia Regional 

Airport demonstrated basic airworthiness and handling 

qualities, and validated PTERA’s usefulness as a research test bed to support experiments in aerodynamic 

efficiency, aeroelasticity, flight controls, vehicle heath 

management, and acoustics.

In October 2014, Area-I delivered a PTERA to Armstrong, where it was flown for the first time just one year 

later on October 22, 2015. Researchers hope to conduct 

low-cost, low-risk flight evaluations of shape-memory 

alloys to control aircraft configuration, and possibly 

parabolic autonomous flight profiles for microgravity 

payloads such as Cubesats.

Seen here in the Armstong Flight Loads Laboratory, the semi-modular PTERA may be reconfigured to accommodate a wide variety of flight experiments. (NASA photo/Ken Ulbich

PTERA baseline configuration. (Area-I, Inc. 

Artist Concept)