wrote in message
ps.com...

Robert M. Gary wrote:
Do you think a winglet lose would create so much asymetric life that it
would lose control? It seems hard to believe. And why would it be more
likely to have been a winglet than a wing?

-Robert


Yes, I do. The winglet is about 10 feet tall, which makes it a pretty
big target to get hit by a wing of another plane.

Imagine that the winglet gets mangled but does not come off completely,
imagine how much drag that would put on that side of the plane way out
at the tip of the wing.

Alternately, imagine that the winglet is gone completely. Imagine that
the plane happens to yaw to the left. The intact winglet on the left
side now experiences a side load and high drag. The absent right side
winglet isn't there to produce an equal and opposite drag force. The
left winglet then pulls the plane into a left handed spiral. If the
rudder and ailerons can't match the force from the winglet, you are
stuck in that spiral.

Can this really happen? I'm not certain, but it seems posible.

Dean


Rutan's Voyager lost a winglet and didn't die. It is possible to fly without
one, as did the Embrauer(sp?).

Al G