Winglets have been understood since the beginnings of aviation. In fact an Englishman, Frederick W. Lanchester described them in before the Wright Brothers had even taken flight. Like many great pioneers of his time, Lanchester looked to birds for inspiration. He noted that soaring eagles had splayed upturned feathers at their wingtips and he incorporated this into his designs for model gliders. Find out more about this fascinating and unsung hero of aerodynamics.
Winglets give aircraft a performance improvement of anything between five and seven percent. They do that by reducing the powerful vortexes that curl out behind the wingtip as the aircraft slices through the air. These occur when low-pressure air flowing over the wing and the high pressure flowing under the wing meet at the tip. The vortexes create drag, slowing the aircraft down and need to be countered with increased thrust and therefore more fuel burn.
With clever aeronautical design —— and it is really complicated —— winglets can change and drastically reduce the vortex, so the aircraft needs less thrust to maintain the same speed. Apart from some small wing tip plates seen on military aircraft during the wars, the first time the winglet appeared was on an enthusiasts aircraft called the Rutan VariEze in The technology in general offers between 4- and 6-percent fuel savings, says Stowell.
If you burn less fuel, your emissions will go down as well. The benefits of winglets do not stop there, Stowell explains. Reduced drag means aircraft can operate over a greater range and carry more payload. Winglet-equipped airplanes are able to climb with less drag at takeoff, a key improvement for flights leaving from high-altitude, high-temperature airports like Denver or Mexico City. Winglets also help planes operate more quietly, reducing the noise footprint by 6.
If all the single-digit percentages of savings seem insignificant on their own, they add up. In , APB announced its Blended Winglet technology has saved 2 billion gallons of jet fuel worldwide. APB predicts total fuel savings greater than 5 billion gallons by With advances in materials technology, engineering, and manufacturing, the -8 requires less maintenance than its predecessor.
The maintenance intervals are longer, which means less time on the ground compared to the Outside of the technical characteristics and specifications of the two jumbo jets, the number of orders of the two models varies greatly. For the and its variants including combi, extended-range, freighter, etc. Furthermore, the ratio of freighter orders to passenger-variant orders is much higher with the newer Some of its more notable customers have been cargo operators such as UPS.
In comparison, the became the choice for many passenger airlines and their long-haul operations, including British Airways, KLM, Qantas, Japan Airlines, and many more. These include identical:. Boeing notes that tow tractors used for the can be used to move the as well. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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