An experimental aircraft is an aircraft that has not yet been fully proven in flight. Often, this implies that new aerospace technologies are being tested on the aircraft, though the label is more broad.
The term "experimental aircraft" is also sometimes used to refer to aircraft flown with an "Experimental" category airworthiness certificate. In the U.S. this includes most homebuilt aircraft; many of which are based on conventional designs and hence are experimental only in name.
Famous quotes containing the word experimental:
“Philosophers of science constantly discuss theories and representation of reality, but say almost nothing about experiment, technology, or the use of knowledge to alter the world. This is odd, because ‘experimental method’ used to be just another name for scientific method.... I hope [to] initiate a Back-to-Bacon movement, in which we attend more seriously to experimental science. Experimentation has a life of its own.”
—Ian Hacking (b. 1936)