Patent ID: 7012785

Claim:
A head gimbal assembly for accessing a rotating disk surface in a disk drive, comprising: a slider including at least one read-write head communicating with said rotating disk surface within an air bearing; at least one airfoil boundary reducing air flow turbulence about said slider induced by said head gimbal assembly accessing said rotating disk surface; and said slider rigidly attached to a head suspension including said at least one of said airfoil boundaries; wherein each of said at least one airfoil boundaries has a height less than or equal to the height of said slider and conforming to said air bearing; and wherein said airfoil boundary reducing said air flow turbulence about said slider, increases the reliability of said read-write head communicating with said rotating disk surface within said air bearing; wherein said slider is further comprised of a first slider edge, and a second slider edge parallel to said first slider edge; wherein said second slider edge is near to said read-write head; and wherein at least one of said airfoil boundaries is near to said first slider edge; wherein at least one of said airfoil boundaries approximates a smooth convex hull on the generally windward side about said slider.