From Flight ... morphing wings ...

[rb1957]

"Airbus to demonstrate high-efficient, ‘dynamically’ moving wings for future aircraft"

didn't NASA research this back in the 90s, with an F111 if memory works ?

judged by the lack of anything productive since, you'd think it was a dead end ?

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?

 

[IRstuff]

Morphing is probably a good idea, it's the actuators to make that happen that are buzzkills.

Current wing technology with flaps or spoilers are a form of wing morphing. I guess the big question is how much bang for the buck; most wings are designed for optimum performance at cruise condition, which is 95% of a flight. Bird wings are highly adaptable because their flight conditions can change moment to moment, and long distance cruise isn't necessarily that important. Now if that Cessna needed to hunt down a gyrocopter or a drone, then that might be an interesting scenario.

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[3DDave]

It's tough to guess where Airbus is suggesting there is sufficient inefficiency in the current wings to make it better. From the Flightglobal article it seems they aren't suggesting anything at all, just making public relations noise.

Most of these efforts I put in the same category of those working to eliminate bicycle chain drives in favor of generally heavier, higher friction, or much more expensive (but not chain!) transmissions.

 

[rb1957]

"good idea, lousy practice" ?

I mean, even swing wings have gone old of fashion

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?

 

[IRstuff]

The F-14 was the last US swing wing, but whatever advantages there might have been, the F-18's design embodies something that's said on Grace and Frankie alot, "F*ck it," gas mileage be damned.

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[Sparweb]

If the Wright brothers could make it work, surely Airbus can!

 

[3DDave]

They could make it work because ...

dun, dun DUN!

They had the Wright stuff.

 

[rb1957]

"surely" a swing wing had more to it than "gas mileage" ...

I wonder why we stopped using Wright's wing warping ? oh yes, aileron's are a much better solution !

like the V22 ... if enough time, money, effort, blind stubbornness, a steadfast refusal to be beaten by the economics of physics; we can do just about anything.

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?