wingtips

Thanks to folding wingtips and a pair of GE9X jet engines from General Electric, the largest ever created, the massive 777X made four-engine jets obsolete virtually overnight.

Anyone who has made a paper airplane knows that folding the wingtips upward makes your plane look better and fly farther, though the reasons for the latter might be a mystery.

A turbine was mounted to a pod assembly on the Piper plane's wingtips. The aircraft was flown first without the turbines and then with them; the results were measured in terms of drag and power.

The company said that the winglets, developed by Aviation Partners Boeing, a Seattle-based joint venture of Aviation Partners Inc and the Boeing Company, are eight-foot vertical extensions of the aircraft's wingtips that have proven to significantly reduce fuel consumption, improve payload/range capability, lower aircraft noise and emissions, and dramatically improve take-off performance from difficult airports.

Passengers on US domestic and international flights are used to seeing F-16 fighters on their wingtips.

Wingtips, fifth over the final flight, finished with a flourish to finish a close third behind the Andrew Leigh-ridden Blacklough.

The new aircraft features a photograph of Denver-born polar bear cubs on each side of its tail and on its wingtips.

LAST DAY IRISH ENTRIES 1.30: JCB Triumph Hurdle Darroun, Dysios, Hisaabaat, His Excellency, Shadow Catcher, Ut De Sivola, Wingtips 2.05: Vincent O'Brien County Handicap Hurdle Moon Dice, Sailors Warn, The Bull Hayes, Dirar, Alderwood, Plan A, Redera, Citizenship 2.40: Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle Boston Bob, Ipsos Du Berlais, Mount Benbulben, Sea Of Thunder, The Bosses Cousin 3.20: Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup China Rock, Quel Esprit, The Midnight Club.