Full Scale Foldable Wing Extensions

4fterd4rk

Cool, but Boeing is doing it first with the 777X.

gnabgib

Title: Airbus launches new flight test programme for Wing of Tomorrow ... doesn't look like there's any folding being tested here, just the resulting wing shape to see what the benefits might. Full scale foldable wings would be years off.

happyopossum

FTA: The extensions, each measuring several metres, will replicate a folding wing in the fully extended position during a flight So no, they are not foldable today - the headline submitted to HN is total clickbait.

bilsbie

What’s the purpose of doing this? (Site won’t load for me)

sleepyguy

>The Wing of Tomorrow programme is centred around creating longer, lighter, and more slender wings to maximise aerodynamic efficiency and reduce fuel burn. The wing extensions will be assembled at Airbus’ Wing Technology Development Centre in the UK and flight tested in Toulouse. I can't say for certain, but I believe Boeing may have explored this concept at some point. The idea would be to equip aircraft with mechanically extendable wingtips that could expand outward by several meters during flight and retract while on the ground. The primary challenge is that most airport gates cannot accommodate aircraft with a significantly larger wingspan. Retractable wingtips would allow the aircraft to benefit from the improved aerodynamic efficiency and fuel savings of a longer wing in flight, while still fitting within existing gate infrastructure during boarding, deplaning, and parking.

jsrozner

It looks like you can get ~10-20% efficiency gain from these kinds of wings. https://www.technologyreview.com/2013/11/18/175391/folding-w... That's a meaningful improvement but not that big. Perhaps the limits to this kind of technology are ~50% fuel gain? https://www.technologyreview.com/2013/01/24/180345/hybrid-wi... We've got AI, but I'm still waiting on exponential technological gains. So far I've mostly gotten exponential enshittification of my google experience. Is AI going to unlock the detonation engine and bring down the cost of my plane ticket? https://www.technologyreview.com/2012/11/23/181486/exploding...

metalman

Orville Wright could have explained the reduced drag asociated with a higher aspect wing in 1902, perhaps useing his own terminology as airodynamics as a concept was still stuck in he and his brothers heads for the most part, but was very well known by 1910 and on up. Airbus should probably stick to structural engineering refinement, which they are rather good at, and not try and sell themselves as inovators, which they are not.