Patent ID: 6161797
Filing Date: 2000-12-19
Classification: B64C,B64D,Y02T

Abstract:
A method of reducing takeoff drag and increasing altitude over a noise-monitoring station on a departure path for an aircraft, said aircraft having wings, each wing having slats, flaps and ailerons, said method comprising:a. modifying said wings of said aircraft, said modification process comprising the steps of:1. removing an existing wing tip from an outboard end of each airplane wing;2. mounting a winglet to the outboard end of each wing;3. re-rigging said flaps and ailerons downwardly for each airplane wing; and4. re-rigging said slats on each airplane wing to a reduced deflection for take-off flat settings;b. re-calculating stall speeds for the modified wing;c. setting reduced flap deflections based upon said re-calculated stall speeds; andd. upon takeoff, flying a speed profile based upon said re-calculated stall speeds,whereby the re-calculated stall speeds for the modified wing are lower than the stall speeds for an unmodified wing, the lower stall speeds permit the same lift to be generated at a lesser flap deflection resulting in reduced drag during a take-off roll and a steeper climb angle resulting in greater altitude over said noise monitoring station on the departure path.