AviationBanter - View Single Post - Japanese plane

Bob Kuykendall · March 9th 06, 07:38 PM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt,rec.aviation.piloting

Earlier, wrote:

Take a look at some of the papers on the site...

I did. I also chatted about them with one of the aero engineers whose
work is cited in them. We agree that it's a bunch of hokum. It looks
almost like it was designed to spawn a bunch of conspiracy theories
like the ones about GM suppressing the 200 mpg carburator.

As regards the topic of winglets raised by another poster, they're
great for span-limited and bending-moment-limited situations, which is
why they're popular on sailplanes and airliners. L/D-wise it's more
effective to just make the wing longer - that is, a 2-foot span
extension usually increases the performance more than a 2-foot tall
winglet. But of course, extra span drives the wing bending moment up
more, so there are many cases where you can have a winglet but not the
equivalent span extension.