NASA Researcher Wins Prestigious American Helicopter Society Award

A NASA researcher has found that some computer programs that predict the human body’s ability to withstand automobile crashes can also apply to helicopters.

Twenty-eight-year-old Yvonne Fuchs of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., wrote about her conclusions in a technical paper that has received a prestigious award at an international conference in Montreal. Fuchs won the Robert L. Lichten Award from the American Helicopter Society for “Vertical Drop Testing and Analysis of the WASP Helicopter Skid Gear.”

Her research concluded that automotive developed passenger models can be used in aerospace applications to determine how the human body will respond in a crash, even one that involves a vertical impact.

Fuchs is obviously very excited to get the award.

Navtej Kohli Collection | Dr. Navtej Kohi