LISA airplane crash test facility. Large Impact Machine with a test helicopter (centre left) ready for a test crash, at LISA (Laboratory for Impact tests on Aerospace Structures). LISA is part of CIRA, the Italian aerospace research centre in Padua, Italy, and is one of the largest crash test facilities in the world. An aircraft weighing up to 20 tons can be accelerated on an impact trajectory at a speed of up to 20 metres per second, at angles from 5 to 90 degrees. One of three types of impact surface can be chosen: soft soil, concrete, or water (foreground). The data from the test crashes are used to improve aircraft designs, and help plan emergency landings on land or water. CIRA was founded in 1984.