Aircraft Winglets
Aircraft Winglets
Aircraft Winglets
Winglets
Many of us who fly regularly have most probably seen a so-called winglet or wingtip
device at the end of the wing of an airliner at least once. It is showing up more and
more often on more and more types of aircraft, thus we felt it’s time to give an overview
to our readers about these sometimes funny, sometimes cool and stylish looking aircraft
parts.
The initial theoretical concept goes back to times before even the Wright Brothers first
took to the skies in 1905, but it was picked up and developed by Richard T. Whitcomb of
NASA after the 1973 oil crisis – in order to reduce fuel consumption. The first tests were
carried out in 1979/80 in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force. At almost the same time,
but independent of any U.S. military organization, a private jet producer, LearJet
exhibited a prototype in 1977: the LearJet 28 that featured the first winglets on a jet and a
production aircraft. Flight tests made with and without winglets showed that the winglets
increased range by about 6.5 percent and also improved directional stability for the
LearJet- these two factors are the major reasons behind using this facility at any fixed
wing aircraft ever since.
A winglet is a (near) vertical extension of the wing tips. The upward angle of the winglet,
its inward angle as well as its size and shape are critical for correct performance – this is
why they can look quite different. Air rotating around the wing strikes the surface of the
winglet that directs it in another direction – thus creating an extra force, basically
converting otherwise wasted energy to thrust. This is a small contribution but can save a
lot for an operator in an aircraft’s lifetime. Another potential benefit of winglets is that
they reduce the strength of wingtip vortices, which trail behind the plane. When
other aircraft pass through these vortices, the turbulent air can cause loss of control,
possibly resulting in an accident.
Winglet Types
In general any wingtips that not end the wing simply horizontally are considered as some
kind of a winglet. Even though in strictly technical terms Wingtip Fences are not real
extensions of the wing, and Raked Wingtips do not have a vertical part, they are still
widely considered as winglet variants.
WINGTIP FENCES are a special variant of winglets, that extend both upward and
downward from the tip of the wing. Preferred by European plane-maker Airbus, it is
featured on their full product range (except the A330/340 family and the future A350).
The Airbus A300 was actually the first jet airliner to feature this kind of solution by
default, but it was a very small version of the tool. Provided that most of the Airbus
planes (including all A320 family jets) feature such wingtip fences, this may be the most
seen and most produced winglet type. Even the new Airbus A380 double-decker features
wingtip fences.
blended winglets are considered by Boeing for example as an optional extra feature on
their products, except for the Boeing 747-400. For some of the older Boeing jets (737 and
757) such blended winglets have been offered as an aftermarket retrofit, these are the
newer, tall designs and do not connect to the tip of the wing with a sharp angle, but with a
curve instead. These winglets are popular among airlines that fly these aircraft on
medium/long haul routes as most of the real fuel savings materialize while cruising.
Longer flights mean longer cruising, thus larger fuel savings. And they also server as
marketing surface for airline logos or web addresses usually.
Just recently the Boeing 767-300ER has received 3.4 m high (!) winglets produced by
Aviation Partners Inc. with American Airlines as the launch-customer with Air New
Zealand and Hawaiian Airlines following with orders of 5 and 8 aircrafts respectively.
141 shipsets have been pre-sold already as the forecasted fuel savings range around 4%-
6% for medium/long-range flights. Airbus earlier tested similar blended winglets
designed by Winglet Technology for the A320 series, but determined that their benefits
did not warrant further development and they stayed with the wingtip fences
instead. Aviation Partners Boeing claims that winglets on 737s and 757s have saved a
collective 1.2 billion gal. of fuel since they were introduced and 11.5 million tonnes
of CO2 while reducing those types’ noise footprint by 6.5%. It has sold winglets to
140 airlines and 95% of all 737NGs are fitted with them. It is working on four winglet
concepts for the 777 and hopes to finalize a design for that aircraft type by December,
2008.
Raked wingtip