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‘Flying wing’ jet plane flown for first time

This image provided by NASA shows Boeing's X-48B Blended Wing Body last year. Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press The Spokesman-Review
This image provided by NASA shows Boeing's X-48B Blended Wing Body last year. Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – An experimental jet that resembles a flying wing successfully flew for the first time in a program that could lead to more fuel-efficient, quieter and higher-capacity aircraft, NASA said Thursday.

The remotely controlled, 500-pound, three-engine jet with a 21-foot wingspan took off July 20, climbed to an altitude of 7,500 feet and landed about a half-hour later, NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center said.

The X-48B Blended Wing Body aircraft was controlled by a pilot at a ground station. NASA and Boeing said data from the flight are already being compared with data from wind tunnel tests.

The aircraft and a duplicate were designed by Boeing Co.’s Phantom Works in cooperation with NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. They are 8.5 percent-scale versions of a future design.