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Description
| Notes: Experimental fighter with 33.73 degree forward sweep, aeroelastic, graphite epoxy composite wings, close coupled variable incidence cannards and digital FLY-BY-WIRE flight control system. | ||
| Manufacturer: | Grumman | |
| Base model: | X-29 | |
| Designation: | X-29 | |
| Version: | A | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | |
| Designation Period: | 1948-Present | |
| Basic role: | Research | |
| Crew: | Pilot | |
| First Flew: | 1984/12/14 | |
Specifications
| Length: | 53' 11.25" | 16.4 m | |
| Height: | 14' 3.5" | 4.3 m | |
| Wingspan: | 27' 2.5" | 8.2 m | |
| Wingarea: | 188.8 sq ft | 17.5 sq m | |
| Empty Weight: | 13,800 lb | 6,258 kg | |
| Gross Weight: | 17,303 lb | 7,847 kg | |
| Max Weight: | 17,800 lb | 8,072 kg | |
Propulsion
| No. of Engines: | 1 | ||
| Powerplant: | General Electric F404-GE-400 | ||
| Thrust (each): | 16,000 lb | 7,256 kg | |
Performance
| Ceiling: | 50,200 ft | 15,300 m | |
Known serial numbers
Examples of this type may be found at
| Museum | City | State |
| NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility - Visitor Center | Edwards | California |
| National Air and Space Museum | Washington | Dist of Col |
| United States Air Force Museum | Wright-Patterson | Ohio |
X-29A on display
NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility - Visitor Center | National Air and Space Museum | United States Air Force Museum |
Recent comments by our visitors
| Paul Frank , NY | Just found the site, and it is nice to see good memories about some great jets.
My father Arthur Frank was a mechanical designer for Grumman and worked on this plane, the F-14, and others I don't know about. He always loved these jets and when I worked summers as a kid at Bethpage, I did get out to see both jets out in Calverton. They are beautiful planes. 07/13/2008 @ 17:08 [ref: 22003] |
| Nick Sellers Cypress, CA | Nick's e-mail update: ImNickImSoRad@yahoo.com 07/07/2008 @ 19:29 [ref: 21790] |
| Nicholas Sellers Cypress, CA | Hello Everyone,
First Flight... Chuck Sewell. I'm actually related to him, I believe he would be my 3rd cousin. I have a couple of Original Pictures with Chuck standing right next to the X-29, they were taken after the first test flight, he is suited up and holding his helmet... and they have his signature in silver. (Yes, It's real.) Also... I have 2 circle stickers that are original "test flight X-29" along with an envelope that reads, "This envelope was actually flown in the X-29 during the first test flight of the X29", (not in those exact words, I would have to look at it again to get the exact words...) It also has a stamped date on it from edwards airforce base. Neat stuff. They were given to Leon Sewell who was my grandpa, and Leon is Chuck's 1st Cousin, Leon passed away a while back, and now I have the X-29 Stuff hanging on a wall at my grandmas house. I always liked the forward swept wing design on the X29. I was searching the web about the X-29 and I found this site, I thought I would put in a few words since I own some cool items from history. (Back in the day when I was little, I always thought Chuck was my grandpas brother... hahaha that is untill I talked to my grandma "Virginia Sewell" and found out everything. Kenneth! hahaha) By the way, My name is Nick Sellers and I'm 25 years old. I live in Cypress,CA. My email is Servalspeed@cox.net Have a good one!!! 05/24/2007 @ 19:46 [ref: 16597] |
| Andy , NY | I was a guard at Grumman in Calverton at the time the X-29 was there. It was in a primer green at the time. I remember one evening when I was on guard duty for the X-29, Mr Sewell and his wife showed up. He came over and introduced himself. He was very friendly and I was glad that I had the chance to meet him. Truly a great and brave man. I was saddened when I heard the news of his death. 04/28/2007 @ 13:34 [ref: 16335] |
| Mike Tenenbaum Plainview, NY | I worked on the X29 software in the test phase as a job shopper for Grumman. Chuck Sewell was by far my favorite person on the project, mainly because he laughed at my jokes. And job shoppers are great at telling jokes.
Honestly, it was not the most interesting of projects, mainly because Grumman had a very low regard for its software people to the extent that the operational software was farmed out to Honeywell. I think it was a costly mistake because (1) Grummanites did know their software and (2) even the most minor changes to the control laws meant a trip to freezing cold Minneapolis to present the changes. It was costly because a good deal of the project was financed from Grumman's own coffers in an attempt to win more USAF business. I think some of those trips to Minneapolis could have been avoided had Grumman looked deeply into its software corps. Our job as Grummanites was to modify the Honeywell code during the testing phase to bypass tested sections of the software in order to isolate problems. The most common bugs in the Honeywell code caused the hydraulics to go nuts and cause race conditions that impacted the canards and strakes in ways that were contrary to the control laws. I'm not sure if this is true, but it's my understanding the hydraulics did explode in Plant 14 from constant vibratory action initiated by the software. Besides Chuck, another guy I remember very well was the genius Kevin Blankenship. Kevin was selected as a Grumman Fellow and later attended Columbia University with Grumman picking up the tab. Not only did Kevin know his aero theory but his was also a Kremlinologist. At the time I was reading Shipler's book about the Soviet Union, "Broken Idols, Solemn Dreams," and I had Kevin explain some of the aspects of Soviet life that were briefly mentioned in "Broken Idols." There was also a marriage among the software testers. The Honeywell rep (forgot his name) and our only female software tester (also forgot her name) got engaged on Valentine's day, 1985. 04/18/2007 @ 09:55 [ref: 16222] |
| Rich Reed Seattle, WA | I was a Test and Integration engineer at Grumman's Calverton plant in the 80's, and as such debriefed both Chuck Sewell and Tom Milligan on the EF-111 program.
I got to write and perform the checkout procedures of what was loosely termed "Aux Systems" (nosewheel steering, map light, stuff like that) of the X-29 with Grumman legend Harold Jacobson looking over my shoulder. My claim to fame. I got to spend two afternoons in the cockpit of ship #1 doing the checkouts. A small part, but a part nontheless. I sure miss CTO (Calverton). They paid me a lot of money to work on some neat jets, including Tomcat 3 and Tomcat 7 (Super 7), then watch them fly. Now I build big airborne buses.....but at least I get to go on some test flight. 08/08/2006 @ 16:14 [ref: 13829] |
| Arthur Pearce Winnipeg, MB |
I think that Hasbro was marketing a toy based off this design for a time. They called the X-30, but the overall design was the exact same. 10/19/2005 @ 22:15 [ref: 11518] |
| David Lombard Los Alamitos, CA | According to "One of a Kind, The story of Grumman" by Bill Gunston, ISBN 0 517 56796 2, the X-29 had a digital and analog control system... I got this while at Grumman--can't remember if they were given to employees or I bought it. 10/12/2005 @ 00:33 [ref: 11459] |
| Zodyak Sacremento, CA | Did youknow that the X29A will be used for US Naval operations by 2005.It will be Eqiupped with the kind a junk you'd find in a F22, 02/02/2005 @ 12:03 [ref: 9339] |
| Lisa Ellinwood New York, NY | My father, Jack Ellinwood was part of the X-29 test team from beginning to end. I am looking for anyone who could help me find those he worked with. A few years back he my father passed, he wanted to give some things to people he had worked with. I have not been able to contact these people, so if there is anyone who may be able to help me please contact me. Thank you. 01/27/2005 @ 12:15 [ref: 9280] |
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