[FlyVet]

"The tests were reported by biomechanicist Frank Fish..."

You just can't make this stuff up. Paul Harvey mentioned this today. I'm looking forward to seeing strange-looking wings on future aircraft.

[Rokke]

This is just dying for some of the computer geniouses on this site to create an appropriate image.

[MarkL]

I'm not sure why this is such a big suprise, and I've wondered about it in the past...

It's long been known that long, smooth surfaces cause additional drag in laminar fluid flow.

That's why golfballs have the dimples. The balls fly farther than smooth ones.

Mark

[dalereed]

Hae a good friend that was an F-4U pilot that shot down 2 Migs in Korea named Frank Fisch. It's not Fish, but close!

Along the lines of improving lift, drag, etc., i've had in the back of my mind for over 20 years that props should have winglets facing forward. The "Q" tip props weren't successful (facing backward) just as the droop tip Cessna wing wasn't successful, they turned it the wrong direction!

[El Gran Salseron]

I would venture a guess that these tubercles would not work so good at higher speeds. They might work well for Pipers, slower aircraft but probably not so good on airliners or fighters.

[Pylon]

I don't like this for one reason, whales don't fly.

[martin_fierro]

Southwest's on the case.

<|:)~

[Reeses]

[miner89]

1. We already know about tripping boundary layer turbulence to prevent on the onset of separation which both lowers lift and increases drag.

2. A wing designed to function like a whale may be good for very low speed incompressible flow wings. Unfortunately all commercial aircraft fly in a faster flow regime.

3. Why are we surprised that a creature that lives in the water has a body designed for swimming in water?

[Reeses]

[Old Professer]

All our lives we were told the most important invention was the wheel; yet had we a knife first and the fruit of a citrus tree we would, through trial and error, have disclosed a wheel replete with spokes - but whence came the axle?

[gonzo]

If they build it, I promise to try to fly it............FRegards

[Vince Ferrer]

Mimicking humpback whale flippers may improve airplane wing design

And if we ever found out why those petunias said, "Oh no, not again," we'd understand the universe a lot more.