How much can 787 wings bend?

Aircraft wings can flex much more than most people realize. During testing, the Boeing 787 wings flexed 26 feet upward before failing. Aircraft designers calculate the maximum stress they anticipate a wing will experience in flight, then make it able to withstand 50% more as a safety margin.



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The video shows a KLM Boeing 747 jet's wings jiggling with turbulence. The caption reads: Airplane wings aren't some rigid chunks of metal: in fact, they probably have a bit more flex than you'd expect. This is the behavior of a Boeing 747's wing in a turbulence. It can move 6m up and down safely.

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Many modern passenger jets can flex their wings nearly 90 degrees in a test rig. To see how the wings and fuselage would behave under both normal and exceptional loads during their life, manufacturers perform so-called ?static tests.?

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This advanced fly-by-wire system also is the key to Smoother Ride Technology – unique to the 787 family -- which senses turbulence and adjusts control surfaces automatically to dampen its effects before it reaches the passengers.

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Boeing 787 Dreamliner is equipped with smooth ride technology, an active gust alleviation system. It mitigates effects of turbulence by adjusting control surfaces in the opposite direction.

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While passengers love the experience in the back, it's also a great place for the pilots to work. A number of features on the aircraft set it apart from other aircraft types. So, even when your working day can be 19 hours long, I'd much rather be doing it in a Dreamliner than any other type.

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The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has revolutionized flying for both passengers and pilots. Taking a leap into the future from its predecessors, the designers incorporated a number of new features that make the Dreamliner one of the most fuel efficient and comfortable aircraft in the skies.

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The 787's simple pivot trailing edge flaps allow for much smaller flap track fairings than on conventional aircraft. This gives the airplane highly efficient lift-to-drag characteristics that reduce fuel consumption and costs.

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The A350-900 has a 665 nautical mile advantage in range, while the 787-9 has a lighter maximum take-off weight by 62,408 pounds. The A350-900 offers more seating in a typical configuration, which we would expect to result in a lower seat-mile cost.

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Titanium can withstand comparable loads better than aluminum, has minimal fatigue concerns, and is highly resistant to corrosion. Titanium use has been expanded on the 787 to roughly 14 percent of the total airframe.

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The best plane for turbulence: Boeing 787-9 This plane boasts on of the largest wing loading in commercial planes: 670 kg/m2. For comparison, the wings can take 60% per square meter than those of an Embraer ERJ-145. Just by this value, you can expect a smoother ride on the 787.

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Mountain waves are turbulent eddies that are found downwind from mountain ridges. They are caused by and are therefore stationary with respect to the mountain ridges. Mountain waves produce some of the most severe turbulence associated with mechanical agencies.

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A better design. Winging it: The curves at the end of modern airplane wings are all about efficiency. As air flows around a plane's wings, it generates high pressure on the bottom surface and low pressure on the top one, which creates lift.

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If winglets are so great, why don't all airplanes have them? Because winglets are a tradeoff: In the highly visible case of the 777, an airplane with exceptionally long range, the wings grew so long that folding wingtips were offered to get into tight airport gates.

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