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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8136766 | Frangible fasteners for aircraft components and associated systems and methods Frangible fasteners and associated systems and methods are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, for example, an unmanned aircraft can include a fuselage portion, a wing portion, and a winglet carried by the wing portion. The aircraft can also include at least one fr... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8128035 | Winglets with recessed surfaces, and associated systems and methods Winglets with recessed surfaces, and associated systems and methods are disclosed. A system in accordance with a particular embodiment includes a wing having an inboard portion and an outboard portion, and further includes a winglet coupled to the wing at the outboa... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8083185 | Aircraft wing tip having a variable incidence angle An embodiment of an aircraft wing includes a main wing section and a variable incidence wing tip. The main wing section is adapted to connect to an aircraft fuselage at a first angle of incidence. The variable incidence wing tip is connected to the main wing section... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8061661 | System and method for reducing airfoil vortices A system and a method according to the invention reduce wake turbulence of an aircraft in that a component affixed to the extremity of the wing of an aircraft disturbs the rolling action of the air in the region of the outer wing by periodic hingeing movements. ... | 11/22/2011 |
| 7997538 | Aerodynamic fan control effector A fan control effector for an aircraft comprises at least one blade configured to be pivotably deployable in a radially outward direction from a retracted position to a deployed position such that the blade extends out of the aircraft. The fan control effector may b... | 08/16/2011 |
| 7988099 | Winglet A winglet for an aircraft wing is provided. The winglet has an airflow control arrangement, for example in the form of a trailing edge flap (20) by means of which lift generated by the winglet can be varied. The control arrangement desirably forms part of a m... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7988100 | Wing tip device An aircraft includes a wing having a positive dihedral, the wing having a tip and a wing tip device mounted in the region of the tip. The wing tip device is generally downwardly extending and has a region inclined at a cant of more than 180 degrees. The region is ar... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7971832 | Wing tip devices A tip device to act as an outboard continuation of an aircraft wing or other aerodynamic lifting surface has a downward cant angle, a leading edge swept back in relation to the leading edge of the inboard lifting surface, and a chord reducing in the outboard directi... | 07/05/2011 |
| 7900876 | Wingtip feathers, including forward swept feathers, and associated aircraft systems and methods Tip feathers, including forward swept tip feathers, and associated aircraft systems and methods are disclosed. A system in accordance with one embodiment includes an aircraft wing having an inboard portion, an outboard portion, and a leading edge having an aft wing ... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7900877 | Active winglet An active winglet includes a body portion substantially parallel to a wing of an aircraft, as if it were an extension of the wing, and an angled portion that projects at an upward angle from the body portion. The body portion is attachable to an aircraft wing and in... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7874524 | Methods and apparatus for a multi-segment flap fence A multi-segment flap fence is incorporated into the wing such that a lower fence structure is attached to the underside of the fixed wing, an upper fence structure is attached to the main flap (e.g., at the outboard end). The two flap segments are configured to slid... | 01/25/2011 |
| 7753316 | Deployable flap edge fence A method and systems are disclosed for reducing fluid flow noise. The method and systems use a thermal mechanism to deploy a flap edge fence during landing and/or other operating conditions, and stow the flap edge fence during other operational conditions such as cr... | 07/13/2010 |
| 7744038 | Controllable winglets Systems and methods for providing variable geometry winglets to an aircraft are disclosed. In one embodiment, a winglet includes a base portion configured to attach to a wing. The winglet further includes a body portion. In turn, the body portion includes at least o... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7644892 | Blended winglet A capped winglet comprising a helical portion having a smooth vertical curvature of 180°±approximately 20° from the plane of the unbounded end of a wing, and a generally planar cap contiguous with the helical portion of the winglet at the end of its curvature awa... | 01/12/2010 |
| 7624951 | Aircraft with antennas mounted on the tops and bottoms of aerodynamic-surface extensions An aircraft has a fuselage and a pair of wings joined to the fuselage at a dihedral angle. A wing extension, such as an angled winglet or a wing-tip pod, is joined to a distal end of each of the wings. A top-surface antenna lies in each of the top surfaces, and a bo... | 12/01/2009 |
| 7497403 | High efficiency tip vortex reversal and induced drag reduction Methods for increasing the performance of a foil (100) by using tip droop (102) having an inward directed camber capable of generating an inward directed lifting force on the tip droop (102) in order to control spanwise flow conditions adjacent ... | 03/03/2009 |
| 7322546 | Performance airplane wing with tip tank assembly The present development relates to an improved wing having a tip tank assembly. The tip tank assembly is attached to a distal end of an outer wing section. The tip tank assembly includes a tank, a pair of mounting brackets and a fairing assembly. The fairing assembl... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7316371 | Method and device for steepening a landing approach of an aircraft To control and particularly steepen the landing glide path of an aircraft, a respective aerodynamic component mounted on each wingtip includes a fixed plane member and a pivotable control element pivotally connected to the fixed plane member. The pivot axis is perpe... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7275722 | Wing tip device An aircraft comprises a wing tip device, for example a winglet, a raked-tip device, a wing tip fence or a planar wing extension, mounted in the region of the tip of a wing on the aircraft. The wing tip device is rotatably moveable between a first position and a seco... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7264200 | System and method for improved rotor tip performance The present invention discloses systems and methods for the performance enhancement of rotary wing aircraft through reduced torque, noise and vibration. In one embodiment, a system includes a sail having an aerodynamic shape positioned proximate to a tip of the roto... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7207526 | High efficiency tip vortex reversal and induced drag reduction Methods for increasing the performance of a foil (100) by using tip droop (102) having an inward directed camber capable of generating an inward directed lifting force on the tip droop (102) in order to control spanwise flow conditions adjacent ... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7100867 | Lifting foil A lifting foil for an aircraft, a hydrofoil or the like having a pair of courses or wings. Vortex losses due to spanwise fluid flow are substantially reduced by joining the tips of the courses with flow guides configured for jointly terminating the undesired flows. ... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7070148 | Aerodynamic component for controlling a landing guide path of an aircraft An aerodynamic including a main body and a control member. The main body is configured to be connected to a wing of an aircraft. The control member is connected to the main body, the control member including a fixed member secured to the main body and a pivotable me... | 07/04/2006 |
| 4781341 | Flying wing aircraft An ultralight aircraft having a generally rectangular, swept-back, single-surface wing. The wing, which is formed by fabric mounted on exposed spars and ribs, has a reflex profile to provide pitch stability which is further augmented by horizontal stabili... | 11/01/1988 |
| 4776542 | Aircraft stall-spin entry deterrent system A system for deterring subsonic airplane stall-spin entry wherein a highly swept wing tip mounted lifting surface panel 18 (FIGS. 1-3) is attached to the tip of a main wing panel 14 and provides a stabilizing vortex lift to the aircraft at an angle of att... | 10/11/1988 |
| 4739957 | Strake fence flap The strake fence flap is a device which may be tailored to the aircraft to augment the low-speed lift of canard-configured general aviation aircraft with little or no longitudinal trim change and no cruise drag penalty. The strake fence flap is deployed a... | 04/26/1988 |
| 4722499 | Auxiliary wing tips for an aircraft Auxiliary winglets or control surfaces for aircraft wings are tiltable ab an axis extending in the flight direction and about an axis extending substantially perpendicularly to the flight direction. The auxiliary wing tips have a configuration which assu... | 02/02/1988 |
| 4714215 | Aircraft wing and winglet arrangement An aircraft wing has a winglet extending from the tip to reduce drag and thereby improve the efficiency of the aircraft. Hitherto such winglets, although they have succeeded in reducing drag, they have also increased the wing bending moment at high coeffi... | 12/22/1987 |
| 4674709 | Airframe design This invention relates to aircraft designs with substantial trim drag reduction while maintaining commercially feasible low parasitic and induced drag. The stable or control configured aircraft utilizes controllable winglets to generate pitching, yawing, ... | 06/23/1987 |
| 4671473 | Airfoil This invention is an improved airfoil in the form of a plurality of controllable winglets which are used to reduce the stall characteristics of wing tips and to give them better lift capabilities. This is accomplished through relatively simple and yet hig... | 06/09/1987 |
| 4598885 | Airplane airframe An airplane airframe having wings connected to the fuselage by spars of smaller cross section than the wings. Movable winglets may be provided at the outboard ends of the wings. The fuselage may be an airfoil shaped lifting body structure with longitudina... | 07/08/1986 |
| 4595160 | Wing tip airfoils The subject invention relates to a new and improved airfoil design. More particularly, an airfoil design is disclosed which improves efficiency by taking advantage of the vortex created at the wing tips.... | 06/17/1986 |
| 4545552 | Airframe design This invention relates to aircraft designs with substantial trim drag reduction while maintaining commercially feasible low parasitic and induced drag. The stable or control configured aircraft utilizes controllable winglets to generate pitching, yawing, ... | 10/08/1985 |
| 4541593 | Aircraft providing with a lift structure incorporating multiple superposed wings The invention relates to an aircraft provided on either side of its fuselage with at least one lift structure constituted by at least two wings whose distal ends are connected either to each other or to at least one wing element, each structure forming in... | 09/17/1985 |
| 4478380 | Wing tip vortices suppressor A wing tip vortices suppressor utilizing a scoop having an inlet at the lower, leading surface of the wing and an outlet at the upper, trailing surface to reduce turbulence causing pressure differential across the wing. A turbulence fence is used at the t... | 10/23/1984 |
| 4457479 | Winglets for aircraft wing tips A wing assembly in an aircraft includes a pair of wings and a winglet situated at each of the wing tips, the winglets or portions thereof being movably mounted. In order to avoid the need for providing structural reinforcement for the wings to accommodate... | 07/03/1984 |
| 4382569 | Wing tip flow control A capture device at the tip of a fluid foil such that when the foil has relative motion with respect to fluid in which it is immersed the capture device intercepts a quantity of the crossflow which is generated by the difference in pressure on the lower s... | 05/10/1983 |
| 4377267 | Vortex tranquilizer The purpose of this invention is to influence the behavior of the airflow near the wingtip, where the higher pressure air from below the wing swirls up over the end of the wing, to arrive at the lower pressure area above the wing. This process will be dis... | 03/22/1983 |
| 4272043 | Fluid stream deflecting members for aircraft bodies or the like Devices to reduce the drag experienced by aircraft and other travelling bodies, comprising sail-like members mounted on the body surface. These members project into the local stream that forms close to the surface during motion, and tend to divert that lo... | 06/09/1981 |
| 4247063 | Flight control mechanism for airplanes Retractable wing-tip mounted vanes are actuated from the normal cockpit controls of an airplane to provide both roll control and direct lift control. When not required, these devices retract into wing fairings. Simple to manufacture and operate, these con... | 01/27/1981 |
