[DUMBGRUNT]

Not to worry! Please no panic!

Not falling through your roof...yet.

A scale model.

The price of the toys is all that seperates the men from the boys.

And this bunch are having a good time... funded with Euro tax $$$

[The MAGA-Deplorian]

Yeah.....I feel safe already!

[TexasGator]

In before stupid comments

[virgil]

Albatross or goonie bird?

[volunbeer]

I think this is pretty cool. Such innovation will allow more efficient flights further driving down costs and the concept has long been shown to minimize turbulence.

Good on them. It’s not like Boeing is not also studying this and can implement it when the concept is proven correct.

[Seruzawa]

Not sure that "albatross" is a good name choice.

[Bigbrown]

As a 747 Captain I can say with confidence that it’s just stupid. Sorry.

[nvskibum]

This experimental concept is one of several attempts to try to
solve a real problem with commercial airliner fuel and operational efficiency. Most wing shapes create fuel-wasting “drag” from turbulence generated at the wing tips. This is why most commercial jets have “winglets” of various designs on their wing tips. But, they don’t work well enough to solve the problem.

Yesterday I stumbled upon a very interesting YouTube channel
called “Wintour Pilot” (made by a commercial airline pilot) that covers this and numerous other technical things about commercial aircraft from an airline industry perspective.

His latest explains why much of what the public thinks they know about winglets is wrong, exactly what the technical problem is, and some of the potential solutions. Many aspects to this would not be readily apparent to people outside the airline industry.

If interested, take a look:

https://youtu.be/2ieRwRnwqY8

[trebb]

Hmmmm - longer wings with some flex...now they’re going back to the B-52 drawing board.