Friday, November 11, 2011

Before and After

If you ever doubted that airliners' wings are designed to bend, just compare these two shots. The first shows this China Airlines (callsign: Dynasty) Cargo B744 about to touch down on Runway 6 Left. The entire weight of the aircraft is being supported by the wings:


And now, just after touchdown. The weight of the aircraft is on the landing gear, and the wings have relaxed:


Those of you who recall the Wake Turbulence series remember that this means that the wings are no longer producing lift, and thus no longer creating the vortices that create the wake turbulence felt by the following aircraft.


Happy Binary Day!
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2 comments:

  1. getjetsNovember 11, 2011 at 12:45 PM

    no more Wake Turbulence...so Smooth Sailing ahead.....should last about 30 seconds...
    then the next approach....guessing of course.....
    misstwa

    ReplyDelete
  2. porkpalNovember 13, 2011 at 10:08 AM

    I seem to remember the early Electras got in trouble because of excessive wing flex...

    ReplyDelete