Northwest Aerospace News April | May Issue No. 2 | Page 21

length of the wing is increased, so is the
ability of loads on that wing to bend it.
Think of how easy it is to bend a long
stick versus a short one. To protect the
wing against damage from bending loads
the traditional solution is to make the
wing stronger, but the extra weight of
added wing structure can often erase the
benefit of the winglet.
This is the catch-22 of the passive winglets that
are seen on airliners and some business jets.
Brian Cox, Chief Operations Officer
(COO) of Tamarack Aerospace Group,
Inc. said that Nick Guida, CEO and
Founder of Tamarack Aerospace,
thought there might be a better way.
Guida’s idea was to “turn the winglet
off” before that extra wingspan could
generate too much wing bending force,
for instance in turbulence or steep
turns.
APRIL | MAY 2018 ISSUE NO. 2
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