What do the winglets do on an aircraft?

[Guest VCSIGDA]

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

[Guest TrafficTraffic]

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

[Guest pez_man]

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

[Guest VCSIGDA]

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

[Guest captbulldog 2]

Are these differences present in the PMDG models and dynamics?

[Guest nandrzej]

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

[Guest Pulse_77]

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

[Guest nandrzej]

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