On Thursday, December 19, 2013 9:07:46 PM UTC-6, GM wrote:
Very nicely made video. The shot at the very end is interesting as it shows, how inefficient airliner wings are despite the winglets. I wonder if such a shot was ever made with a glider.



http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs...avel.html?vp=1



Enjoy,



Uli

Not sure why you would call the wing tip vortices "inefficient", they really are unavoidable especially at the high angle of attack in the shown configuration (low Reynolds number, dirty flap-down wing). In order to get lift you need circulation around the wing and that has to go somewhere when the wing ends, even with winglets.
More remarkable is the massive amount of air the wing is accelerating downward - which is really the easiest explanation for lift. Newton's third law says there's an equal reaction for that downward accelerated air: the wing is being accelerated upwards.
I had just watched the video before finding your post and I agree, it's beautiful.
Herbert