NASA Langley cuts back on wind tunnels

HAMPTON -- From the outside, Building 643 is not remarkable.

A six-story, sea gull-colored warehouse, it blends into the patchwork of World War II-era structures at NASA Langley Research Center.

Inside is another matter.

A steel door opens into a cavernous room that hums with electricity. The faint smell of burnt circuits drifts in the air. Above, a pair of enormous fans rest opposite what appears to be a giant, pill-shaped void.

It is here, the Full Scale Tunnel, where researchers have spent the past 78 years readying many of the nation's airplanes for flight.

Aviation pioneers, including Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughes, walked its halls. The nation's first space capsule was tested here; so, too, were its first modern submarine and most World War II fighters. Currently, researchers are testing prototype airplanes that burn less fuel.

The tunnel, perhaps more so than any structure on the campus, tells the story of Langley. But it is old, inefficient and not designed for the computer age. It also sits in a floodplain.

NASA plans to tear it down.

Langley, which once had more than 50 tunnels, will be down to 34 next year after the Full Scale Tunnel and three smaller facilities are razed.

NASA began closing tunnels in the 1990s and continued after a 2004 report it commissioned stated that about one-third of the agency's tunnels were underused. The trend is higher at Langley, where only nine tunnels are routinely used, said William "Allen" Kilgore, deputy director of the center's ground facilities and testing.

The situation caused a stir five years ago when union leaders accused NASA brass of initiating a back-door attempt to shutter Langley altogether. The mood has simmered since.

"It's not affecting our work force," said John B. Warren, a Langley technician and representative of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1923.

With the exception of the Full Scale Tunnel, which is under lease by Old Dominion University until Sept. 30, the tunnels slated for demolition are vacant, said Kathy Barnstorff, a NASA spokeswoman. No NASA employees will lose their jobs as a result, she said.

Still, questions linger about the role that NASA -- Langley in particular -- will play in the future of aeronautics. The agency last built a major wind tunnel in the 1980s. European competitors, meanwhile, have developed more modern facilities.

"That, I think, is an alarming situation," said Robert Ash, an ODU aerospace professor who leads the university's research at the Full Scale Tunnel. "We really can't do all the things we need to do."

Despite the location, some believe the tunnel is worth saving. Among them: Ken Hyde of Warrenton, founder of The Wright Experience, a group dedicated to promoting the legacy of the founding brothers of aviation. Hyde has written state and federal officials to block the demolition.

His efforts, however, might fall on deaf ears.