Sri Lankan Airlines wingtip incident

[Mace 1,926]

I am sure some of you have heard about the Sri Lankan Airlines wing tip incident:http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article...sing/article.dohttp://www.walthamforestguardian.co.uk/epp...light_drama.php"Sri Lankan Airlines has said there was no danger in flying without a wing tip.The article quotes an airline spokesman as saying: "They are purely for aerodynamics and to keep fuel costs to a minimum. There is no impact on safety at all. Safety is our absolute priority."---Here's my question, wouldn't this damaged wingtip cause inefficiency?That was a long flight they were doing (London --> Colombo, Sri Lanka). Wouldn't they potentially use a lot more fuel?RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

[RFields5421 1]

The pictures in the first article are misleading - because they show the damage to the British Airways B747 and not the the A340.There is probably some damage to the leading edge of the A340 wing/ wing tip.After inspection, the decision was probably made that the aircraft was safe to fly back to Colombo and be repaired there.I would expect that someone figured that the cost of more fuel for the trip was lower than what I assume are higher maintenance costs in London and the airline's home base.It's interesting that the story is getting so much press this weekend - since the incident and the flight to Colombo were almsot three weeks ago - on Oct 15 & 16.

[Mace 1,926]

>>It's interesting that the story is getting so much press this>weekend - since the incident and the flight to Colombo were>almsot three weeks ago - on Oct 15 & 16.It is interesting...you would think the Singapore Airlines A380 striking the hangar would be bigger news.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian