This magnificent piece of abstract sculpture brought me home to Sea Cliff, from Austin, Texas where I was just this morning. It is the starboard wing of an Embraer 175 aircraft. Fortunately the airlines (Go jetBlue!) allowed passengers to change their flights with no charge, so I was able to get home before the storm hits. It feels so good to be here, instead of away, with a hurricane on the way. If you have ever wondered what those little upright "wings" are, they are called "winglets" and they make the wings of airplanes more efficient. I will spare you the technical reasons, unless someone requests it... :-)
Happy Jet Blue brought you home safely.
ReplyDeleteJoan
Yes Ken, please share aerodynamic theory with us. I want to know everything about vortexes.
ReplyDeletePhotodude: No you don't! :-)
ReplyDeleteOK, OK, here we go. So air flows over and under an aircraft wing from front to back, creating lift. The air is in a hurry to get out of the way of the wing, and out at the tips of the wings, the air wants to take a "shortcut" and not flow over the wing, but rather to exit by flowing off the tip of the wing. These wingtip vortices create parasitic drag, and drag slows the airplane. The winglets smooth the airflow over the wing at the tip, and thus increase efficiency. Oh, and there's more...
Keep going with the explanation... .
ReplyDeleteSomewhere Sam heard them called "canards," but he might be mistaken.