the computer told you. But to me, According to a BLR Aerospace how to do it,” says Stowell. “It’s not
it’s a matter of getting more and official, the King Air winglet kit unique repair…there’s not much to
more focused on the fine elements costs about $55,000. Stowell reports their structure.”
of it. Seeing is believing.” that sets his company produces for “A good example is a 737 Next
So to get the types of detailed commercial airliners range from Generation winglet,” he contin-
look they want, BLR’s engineers $680,000 to $2.2 million. ues. “It has the same basic repair
turn to an old solution: pieces of scheme as the aircraft’s aileron. If
yarn. Marone describes the yarn’s Easy Maintenance the operator has the materials and
use: “Run black yarn from the A damaged winglet on a small air- know-how to repair the aileron,
leading edge to the trailing edge craft is usually just replaced. Airlines they can fix a winglet.”
over the wing. Run those vertically usually repair the more-costly win- “Like any type of wingtip, our
every three inches all the way down glets on their aircraft. “Airlines know winglets need to be easily inter-
the wing from inboard to outboard
so you have all of these parallel
black pieces of yarn. Then you tape
them down every four inches or so
horizontally [and] cut the strings.”
Nervous about choosing
Engineers can now visualize the air
movement over the wing and make
the right repair center?
the changes to achieve the perfor-
mance they want.
Marone says once the tufts are
in place, the BLR engineers fly
the subject airplane and use a
L-39 fighter equipped with high-
def cameras as the chase plane.
“It’s a low-tech solution, but it’s
the only way to see the complex
airflow over the wing,” he adds.
“Computer modeling and wind
tunnels can’t replicate what we see
in the real world. The only way
to see what it happening with the
aircraft in its natural environment
is with tufting.”
The time required to develop a
winglet varies. Aviation Partners Relax. Go with Aero.
divide the aircraft types it modi-
fies into “major models” (737, 757,
Finding a repair center you can trust can be a real nail-biter. Until now.
etc.) and “minor models” (dash
For more than 40 years, Aero has specialized in repairs and overhauls
variants such as -200, -400, etc.,
of the major models). Developing
of commercial aircraft instruments, avionics and electrical accessories
a new winglet for a major model
for regional and commercial operators around the world. We’ve earned
can take up to 22 months, says
a reputation for unparalleled quality and excellent customer support.
Stowell, while one for a subse-
quent, minor model might take 12
And that gives you peace of mind that Aero will keep your fleet flying
months or less.
high – for years to come.
Winglets are mostly made of
composite material and include
some aluminum for the leading
and trailing edges and the tip cap.
On a 737NG a winglet set adds
AERO INSTRUMENTS & AVIONICS, INC.
about 220 pounds (100 kg) to the
716.694.7060
aircraft’s weight; for a 767, it can
reach 3,000 pounds (1,360 kg). For,
say, a King Air, the added weight
is negligible: a total of about 30
www.aeroinst.com
pounds (13.6 kg).
Aviation Maintenance |
avmain-mag.com | Oct/Nov 2009 21
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