A320 with winglets

I read somewhere the APB winglets start horizontal and end vertical following a constant arc. Now that could look pretty cool head on!

Lee

Looks wise, not keen at all, will never be able to compete with a 737 with ‘pointy things’ looks wise!

Interesting thought but the ACJ project just focused on the smaller market going down to the A318CJ from the A319CJ

It talks about the “A320 family” here, so we could both be right.

It doesn’t do it for me!!

Will be interesting to see what APB manage to come up with for the other airframe that is going to be doing the tests. Probably a cross between the 737 & 757 winglets.

Certainly will be interesting!

Its the 737 just made from a diffrent company

The more I look at this photo, the more it seems (to me anyway) that those winglets are a half assed effort.

Will be interesting to see what APB manage to come up with for the other airframe that is going to be doing the tests. Probably a cross between the 737 & 757 winglets.

The more I look at this photo, the more it seems (to me anyway) that those winglets are a half assed effort.

It looks just like an A320 with winglets to me.

The point about the fuel efficiency increase being marginal on short-haul ops is a strong one, IMHO, so I wonder whether these larger winglets are primarily intended for the ACJ?

Interesting thought but the ACJ project just focused on the smaller market going down to the A318CJ from the A319CJ where as Boeing went up from BBJ – BBJ2 – BBJ3, however perhaps an A320CJ is on the horizon

The A320 winglets are being developed after a request from JetBlue. They have had a number of US Transcontinental flights have to tech stop for fuel over the winter and reckon the winglets will improve the fuel burn on some of the 4hr+ sectors that they operate.

There are 2 different winglet designs under evaluation – the Airbus factory designed winglet and an APB designed winglet, although no photos exist of this one yet.

I think it looks good, different, but good!

The reason the winglet is more square at the join with the wing is that Aviation Partners Boeing hold the patents and therefore the rights to make them ‘blended’ which is superior to the Airbus winglets (allegedy).

There is no realistic aerodynamic load redistribution since it is usual to reduce the load significantly towards the wingtip anyway. The wingtip area could actually produce negative lift if required. Note the amount of nose down twist an airliner wing in flight has. This aircraft’s wing has not been redesigned to cater for that puny piece of plastic! They may have had to put the bolt size at the mid-box/wing-tip (the area actually forming the tip of the wing) up in a couple of places, thats it! On somthing more substantial, such as the 747-8’s raked wing-tip a redesign of the outboard end would probably be required to deal with the extra loading induced by the part, and the loading system it creates, even then it would probably be limited to the mid-box to tip interface.

Both tip fences and winglets create an effective increase in aspect ratio leading to a lower drag. In fact, the direction of the lift vector of the winglet could theoretically provide ‘thrust’ to at least cancel out the induced drag of the winglet itself!

The more I look at it, the more I start to like it – I suppose we’ll just get used to them, just like any other plane that’s had winglets later added.

It looks just like an A320 with winglets to me.

The point about the fuel efficiency increase being marginal on short-haul ops is a strong one, IMHO, so I wonder whether these larger winglets are primarily intended for the ACJ?

I don’t like them

Wing Tip Fences are helpful, if your wing already has sufficient span but you want to reduce wing tip vortice (= induced drag). It is efficient and winglets have itself some disadvantages. I think on short range aircraft they can be useful for carefully chosen distances.
However, the winglet/fence has not only justification due to efficiency, some people consider them modern and they add some marketing area to your aircraft.
The 2 to 3% less fuel consumption doesn’t matter too much, espeically not on short legs, were this advantage is burned away in 4 minutes more idling due to delays at the runway.

They are meant to give a decent improvement in the effective wingspan (something like 10-15% if done properly).

Obviously this gives a higher effective aspect ratio and thus reduces lift-dependant drag.

edit: Just read through distillers link, never thought of the effects of sidewash on the winglet before. 😮 😀

Distiller: I don’t see why winglets wouldn’t give you advantages in both short and long haul – you get more lift for less, never a bad thing :confused: I’m sure you’ll tell me why though… 🙂

Winglets help reduce induced drag when you design your wing shorter than optimal. But the wing gets heavier because the load distribution along the wing changes. Generally winglets are good for long haul, bad for short haul.

Read here (if you don’t mind it’s a Boeing website):
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_17/winglet_story.html

Who cares about looks – if it improves efficiency and reduces fuel burn it doesn’t really matter

No one is saying they won’t be efficient.

This is an open forum for enthusiasts, fans and in this case a few people who work in various different roles within aviation. It is the nature of such a forum that opinions will always be dominant in discussions.

Yes, ok, they’ll be efficient… no quarels there. But some folks, including myself don’t like the asthetics of these new winglets. To fob these opinions off with a generalised “who cares” post is a little harsh. Opinion is the mother of all discussion!

Well the thread started provided a picture of the plane, so obviously we’d comment on the looks.

100% correct.