Wingtip modifications will save Alaska Airlines $20 million annually

[unhappycamper]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/10/28/2860750/wingtip-modifications-will-save.html



The Aviation Partners "split scimitar wingtips" will cut drag on Alaska Airlines jets.

Wingtip modifications will save Alaska Airlines $20 million annually
By John Gillie — Staff writer
Published: October 28, 2013 Updated 12 hours ago

Just when you've become used to seeing upturned blended wingtips on many commercial jets, Alaska Airlines is moving on to the next generation of the fuel-saving wingtips.

The airlines said it plans to install so-called "split scimitar wingtips" on most of its fleet of 130 Boeing 737s beginning next year. The new wingtips are made by Seattle's Aviation Partners, the company that developed the existing upward turning blended wingtips.

The split scimitar wingtips will modify the top of the existing wingtips and add a downward slanting wingtip to the end of the wing. The resulting wingtip will resemble a V-shape with upward and downward slanting elements.

The new wingtips are expected to save the airline about $20 million and 58,000 gallons of fuel per aircraft per year. That fuel savings is enough to power nearly 12,000 automobiles for a year, the airline said.

[Esse Quam Videri]

1. Very cool

Wonder if any of the larger airlines will be employing this technology?

[FogerRox]

8. United has ordered them for 737's.

http://www.aviationpartners.com/news/011513-APB-UAL-Split-Scimitar-Launch.pdf

[Atman]

2. Aaaauuuugghh!

An article with NO INFORMATION! This new wingtip will save money. Great! BUT HOW?! I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me why planes now have upturned wingtips, now they'll have split wingtips. For the love of Bernoulli, could someone please tell us non-avionics engineers what the hell these wingtips do?

[FBaggins]

3. The boundary between a lifting surface and the air around it...

... necessarily creates drag from turbulence. By transitioning instead to a surface that isn't lifting (thus creating less turbulence), you reduce drag. Here's an example of the original move to upswept wingtips:



The same kind of thing is done on propeller tips to reduce cavitation, aircraft props and on wind turbine tips to cut down on losses due to drag.

[Atman]

4. Thank you!

[brush]

5. Great info

Now how do the new split wingtips save even more than the upturned ones?

[FBaggins]

6. Can't help you there

Naval architecture has some overlap with aerospace engineering (it's all fluid mechanics)... but that was decades ago.

Looking at a photo, that lower winglet appears to sweep backwards as much as downward. Maybe that's enough to extend into the turbulence zone behind the wingtip.

[FogerRox]

7. Improved performance, Better climb and lower stall speed, faster & higher initial cruise

40% less drag than a non winglet plane.

[NickB79]

9. Over 7700 737's have been built so far

Per Wikipedia:

The 737 series is the best-selling jet airliner in the history of aviation.[4] The 737 has been continuously manufactured by Boeing since 1967 with 7,755 aircraft delivered and 3,467 orders yet to be fulfilled as of September 2013.[1] 737 assembly is centered at the Boeing Renton Factory in Renton, Washington. Many 737s serve markets previously filled by 707, 727, 757, DC-9, and MD-80/MD-90 airliners, and the aircraft currently competes primarily with the Airbus A320 family.[6] There are, on average, 1,250 Boeing 737s airborne at any given time, with two departing or landing somewhere every five seconds.[7]

If we assume only 5,000 are currently still in service, at 58,000 gal. saved per year per aircraft, this modification done fleetwide would save 290 MILLION gallons per year!

Wow.