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FLUTTER instability can jeopardize aircraft performance and dramatically affect its survivability. Although flutter boundaries for an aircraft can be theoretically and experimentally determined, due to certain events occurring during its operational life, such as escape maneuvers, significant decays of the flutter speed are possible with dramatic implications for its structural integrity. Passive methods that have been used to address this problem include added structural stiffness, mass balancing, and speed restrictions. 1 However, all of these attempts to enlarge the operational flight envelope and to enhance the aeroelastic response result in significant weight

revision received 24 January 2005; accepted for publication 25 January 2005. Copyright c 2005 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved. Copies of this paper may be made for personal or internal use, on condition that the …