Question about wings on Continental Airlines plane?

[[email protected]]

I hadn't flown in 7 yrs until last week when i went on a vacation. My
question is that the plane i flew in had the tips of its wings bent or
inverted upward. I had never seen this before. Someone told me that
this was done to save fuel, but is that it?

[The Old Bloke]

> wrote in message
ups.com...
>I hadn't flown in 7 yrs until last week when i went on a vacation. My
> question is that the plane i flew in had the tips of its wings bent or
> inverted upward. I had never seen this before. Someone told me that
> this was done to save fuel, but is that it?
>

AFAIK the winglets reduce turbulence, and hence result in lower drag.

[Dan Luke]

> wrote:

>I hadn't flown in 7 yrs until last week when i went on a vacation. My
> question is that the plane i flew in had the tips of its wings bent or
> inverted upward. I had never seen this before. Someone told me that
> this was done to save fuel, but is that it?

The winglets you saw create the effect of greater wingspan. This increases
the apparent aspect ratio of the wing which makes it more efficient.

So, yes; it's done to save fuel.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

[Jay Beckman]

"Dan Luke" > wrote in message
...
>
> > wrote:
>
>>I hadn't flown in 7 yrs until last week when i went on a vacation. My
>> question is that the plane i flew in had the tips of its wings bent or
>> inverted upward. I had never seen this before. Someone told me that
>> this was done to save fuel, but is that it?
>
> The winglets you saw create the effect of greater wingspan. This
> increases the apparent aspect ratio of the wing which makes it more
> efficient.
>
> So, yes; it's done to save fuel.
>
> --
> Dan
> C172RG at BFM

Don't they also "capture" some of the spanwise flow and direct it rearward
also?

Jay B

[John T]

> wrote in message
ups.com
>
> I hadn't flown in 7 yrs until last week when i went on a vacation. My
> question is that the plane i flew in had the tips of its wings bent or
> inverted upward. I had never seen this before. Someone told me that
> this was done to save fuel, but is that it?

From <http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/Concept2Reality/winglets.html>:

"The resulting reduction in aircraft drag for a properly designed winglet
configuration can be extremely significant in terms of fuel consumption and
range."

--
John T
http://sage1solutions.com/blogs/TknoFlyer
Reduce spam. Use Sender Policy Framework: http://openspf.org
____________________

[Dan Luke]

"Jay Beckman" wrote:

>
> Don't they also "capture" some of the spanwise flow and direct it rearward
> also?
>

Could be; I hadn't heard that one.