First, sorry if this is a subject already covered. It says on the airline info page that JB is going to have some A320 Winglet mods done in late 2006. I've searched google and this forum and can't find out a thing as to why/what the mods are for. Are the winglets that come with the plane not good enough?

 

Increased fuel efficiency. Not sure about the aerodynamics except it has to do with wing-tip vortex.

-LA

 

so.......does anyone have an idea as to what these new winglets are going to look like? Are we talking 738 or E170 style, or still the airbus arrowhead?

 

Depends on who will win the fly-off. DN has arranged for a company in KS to come up with a elliptical type winglet like the BBJ. Airbus, scared that they would lose out agreed to come up with their own design. Jetblue will provide the A/C for the flyoff (late Feb/early Mar 2006) and the best design (not airbus) will win the contract. Then JB will get a cut of every winglet mod sold/installed. Expectations are that a 4-5% increase in fuel efficency (not as high as 737 (5-6%) because the airbus wing is a bit more efficent) and the big benifit will be increase in range (no tech stops JFK/BOS to LGB) and "no Burbank problems". Gotta give the guy credit for thinking outside the container. With high fuel $$ you gotta find ways to make money somehow.

 

Thanks for the info. I wonder if this mod will be widely used. It seems everyone is jumping on the winglet bandwagon. That could mean some serious passive revenue for JB if NW, F9, UA, HP, etc. get the mod put on their airbuses. Or perhaps they will bypass paying JB for them and get someone else to develop them, so as to not benefit the competition...(think AMR)

 

When I worked for Pan Am (not the old Pan Am) considering I am 21, they put winglets on their 727's until they blew out their #2 engine on takeoff and it became very unstable around the longitudal axis. The A/C had a dutch roll tendency. Does anybody know if this is a common problem with winglets and if it will actually deter companies from adding them to their A/C? After that incident Pan Am took them off the rest of the fleet. I personally think they make an A/C look sharp. I like them but I would not want them if it made the plane unstable.

 

For a fly-by-wire airplane, dutch roll isn't a problem.

 

An interesting article on the blended winglet:

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aer...y.html#wingtip


I wonder what the Airbus/JetBlue team will come up with, since the blended winglet technology is patented.

The only way any design will make it onto a 'bus is with direct involvement by Airbus, since they will have to modify the flight control logic software, not because their affraid of "losing out".

 

Is there somewhere I can find a video of the Dutch Roll effect?

 

Airbus and JetBlue to flight-test wing tip devices for A320 family

European airframer Airbus is to next month flight test two different wing-tip devices on its A320 development aircraft as part of study looking at possible applications for its single-aisle aircraft.

US budget carrier JetBlue Airways will also provide an aircraft for part of the flight test programme, while Airbus says Wichita, Kansas-based Winglet Technology is providing one of the winglet designs for testing.

The manufacturer says: “With the advent of more sophisticated analysis techniques, in particular in the context of A380 development, Airbus recently reviewed the application of more advanced methodologies to the A320 family wing. This allows Airbus today to consider the application of new wing tip devices.”

The first set of wing tip devices arrived at the A320 final assembly line in Toulouse at the start of the month, and the second set will follow in the coming weeks.

Airbus says it will record a large set of parameters during the coming months of flight tests. “Depending on the outcome of a thorough analysis of the results achieved, Airbus will decide later this year on the way forward,” the company says.

Wing tips are designed to improve wing aerodynamics, and thus reduce fuel burn – particularly timely given the recent spiralling in fuel prices.
http://www.flightinternational.com/A...ion/177/204707
/Airbus+to+flight-test+wing+tip+devices+for+A320+family.html