NASA Completes First Flight of Laminar Flow Scaled Wing Design
NASA’s Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) scale-model wing flies for the first time on a NASA F-15 research jet during a test flight from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The 75-minute flight confirmed the aircraft could maneuver safely with the approximately 3-foot-tall test article mounted beneath it. NASA will continue flight tests to collect data that validates the CATNLF design and its potential to improve laminar flow, reducing drag and lowering fuel costs for future commercial aircraft.
- Date
- 2026-01-29
- Photographer / author
- NASA/Carla Thomas
- Collection
- AFRC
- Archive
- NASA Image and Video Library
- Type
- photograph
Public domainsafest
Reason: a NASA work: not copyrighted in the United States.
Read from: NASA media usage guidelines: NASA material is not copyrighted in the US unless noted; no third-party credit or mark found.
Credit line
"NASA Completes First Flight of Laminar Flow Scaled Wing Design" (2026-01-29). NASA/AFRC/NASA/Carla Thomas. Public domain. https://images.nasa.gov/details/AFRC2026-0018-051Need photos for a whole script? Add Find Any Photo to Claude and ask for this one by its id: 25888.
More like this

NASA Completes High-Speed Taxi Test of Cross Flow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow Technology
2026-01-13 · NASA Image and Video Library

NASA Wing Model Mounted Under F-15 for High-Speed Taxi Test
2026-01-13 · NASA Image and Video Library

NASA’s Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) Project Tests Model Wing on F-15
2025-04-09 · NASA Image and Video Library

NASA F-15D Research Aircraft Conduct Calibration Flight
2025-04-03 · NASA Image and Video Library

NASA’s Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) Project Tests Model Wing on F-15
2026-04-20 · NASA Image and Video Library

NASA’s F-15D Tests New Shock-Sensing Probe
2025-04-03 · NASA Image and Video Library

AFRC2016-0364-11
2016-12-01 · NASA Image and Video Library

NASA’s Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) Project Tests Model Wing on F-15
2026-04-21 · NASA Image and Video Library
