Free flight laboratory

The B20 is a large indoor free flight laboratory (90 m long, 20 m wide, 20 m high). It was created in the early 2000s and was used to study the wakes of model heavy transport aircraft catapulted into the air. In 2005, the B20 was equipped with a gust generator.

Today, it is dedicated to modelling the behaviour of aircraft (drones, airships) in the wind, by recording flight parameters and trajectory data. A Free Flight Laboratory project is underway to equip the B20 with a much greater ‘wind’ capacity (in terms of volume and speed) and make it a unique facility at national and even European level for research into aerology and drones.