Hi all,I was just currious if anybody knows what the winglets are used for on the tips of the wings. How do they effect flight.Thanks in advance.CYQRVincent

Briefly, they reduce wingtip vortices, resulting in greater efficiency (less energy wasted in vortices).Lee Hetherington, PP-ASEL (KBED)

Hi!They are there to reduce fuel consumption due to a lower drag from the wing. On longer sectors the fuel consumption can be lowered with up to 4% on the 700 and 800 with winglets. As the wing is more aerodynamically efficient, operators have the option to select a lower power setting for take-off and climb at similar weights. I believe however that the winglets are quite expensive so if the airline mainly flies shorter routes the extra cost isn't worth the money earnt in fuel reduction. Hope this helps a bit! :-)rgrds fredrik granfors

Thanks for the replies guys,They are very cool looking on the 700 series.Take care,CYQRVincent

Are these differences present in the PMDG models and dynamics?

I know in the aircraft.cfg file there is a "winglets" option, so it may be modeled within MSCoF.I may try this to create a frankenairliner 736 "winglets" for kicks and have a fly.Check here for more detailshttp://www.boeing.com/commercial/737family...f_winglets.htmlalso a note to PMDG development, it appears this info would suggest that a winglet variant is some 480 lbs heavier than a non winglet version.cheers, Nick

From Boeing's site: http://www.boeing.com/commercial/737family...f_winglets.htmlWeight Each winglet weighs about 132 pounds. Increased weight to the airplane for modifying wing and installing winglets is about 480 pounds. So PMDG is right on the money there :)RegardsJaco Roux

Hello JacoI had a look to see if the PMDG planes were different but did not find anything, it could just be I didn't look in the right place, where did you find the weight difference? Please let me know.Nick