X-29

X-29. . Researchers flew the X-29 to explore the use of advanced composite materials in aircraft construction, variable-camber wing surfaces, forward-swept wings with a thin supercritical airfoil, close-coupled canards, and digital fly-by-wire controls. The DFWB system made the inherently unstable aircraft flyable., The complex geometries of the wings and canards provided exceptional maneuverability. In addition, air moving over the forward swept wings tended to flow inward toward the root of the wing, rather than outward toward the wingtip (as occurs on an aft-swept wing). This reversed airflow prevented the wingtips and their ailerons from stalling before the rest of the wing. Since wings usually stall inboard first, this gave pilots greater control., To reduce cost, the X-29 was assembled from as many off-the-shelf aircraft components as possible, including landing gear from an F-16 cockpit from an F-5, and the same type of engine as used on the F-18. The wings and canards were constructed entirely from carbon fiber composites, the first such aircraft structures ever built. Two X-29 aircraft were flown 422 times between 1984 and 1992.