I had heard of these (several of our pilots at the CAF are airline pilots in their day jobs) but this was the first time that I had seen them in the wild.
The new 737s have them, a double wingtip instead of the single upturned wingtip that’s been in wide use for a few years. In addition, the bottom one is angled differently and shaped differently than the “standard” upper one. Very interesting.
It’s all about efficiency and fuel economy, which in turn is all about money, of course. What it also allows is the new 737s to fly a lot further. For example, my LAX to Newark trip outbound last month was a 737. All of the earlier 737s were built for short hauls, such as LA to San Francisco, LA to Denver, LA to Dallas. Now they can go across the continent.
The original research on the “standard” upturned wingtip came out of NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research center, which is of course where I’ve been for several NASA Socials. I don’t know if the research on the “double wingtip” came from there, but I’ll see if I can find out.
In short, the next time you think that the tax dollars spent on NASA don’t affect you – look out at the wingtips of your planes.
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 