NASA Dryden Students Achieve Proverse Yaw Through Wing Tip Aerodynamics

A group of college aerospace engineering students in the 2012-2013 Aeronautics Academy at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center have proven German aerodynamicist Ludwig Prandtl’s theory on how to overcome one of the thorny problems of flight — adverse yaw due to induced drag — without relying on rudders or complicated computerized flight controls to accomplish it. This student-produced video details the students’ research, using a student-built subscale flying-wing sailplane that proved that proverse yaw can be achieved just as birds achieve it — through wingtip aerodynamics alone.