A winglet for attachment to a wing portion of an aircraft is disclosed having a winglet tip and a winglet root opposite from the winglet tip. The winglet has an opening for receiving therethrough a connector for connecting the winglet to a wing portion in use. The winglet has a retainer internal of the winglet for use in retaining the connector relative to the winglet. The retainer has a hole that extends along an axis that passes through the opening for receiving therethrough a portion of the connector when the connector is located through the opening. The retainer includes a body for reacting against a retention component with which the connector engages in use.

A winglet for attachment to a wing portion of an aircraft is disclosed having a winglet tip and a winglet root opposite from the winglet tip. The winglet has an opening for receiving therethrough a connector for connecting the winglet to a wing portion in use. The winglet has a retainer internal of the winglet for use in retaining the connector relative to the winglet. The retainer has a hole that extends along an axis that passes through the opening for receiving therethrough a portion of the connector when the connector is located through the opening. The retainer includes a body for reacting against a retention component with which the connector engages in use.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a curved planar wingtip for a straight wing and a curved planar wingtip for a swept wing of an aircraft. The curved planar wingtips include a member that extends from the end of the wing in a direction aft of the wing trailing edge while remaining substantially planar with the wing. The curved planar wingtips curve continuously from leading and trailing edges of the wing to form a tip located aft of the wing. Other embodiments of the curved planar wingtip are configured for a horizontal or vertical tail. Yet another embodiment includes a curved wingtip that extends aft of a trailing edge of the wing by a distance greater than the curved wingtip extends above a top surface of the wing.

A strake for a turbine engine nacelle may comprise a forward portion coupled to a turbine engine nacelle inlet, and an aft portion coupled to a turbine engine nacelle fan cowl, wherein the aft portion is configured to move between a first position and a second position, and the aft portion engages the forward portion in response to the aft portion moving to the second position to secure the fan cowl with respect to the inlet.

A strake for a turbine engine nacelle may comprise a forward portion coupled to a turbine engine nacelle inlet, and an aft portion coupled to a turbine engine nacelle fan cowl, wherein the aft portion is configured to move between a first position and a second position, and the aft portion engages the forward portion in response to the aft portion moving to the second position to secure the fan cowl with respect to the inlet.

An aircraft (1002) including a wing (1001), having a fixed wing (1005) with a wing tip device (1003) moveably mounted at the outer end thereof. The wing tip device (1003) is moveable between: a flight configuration; and a ground configuration about an axis of rotation. The wing tip device (1003) and the fixed wing (1005) meet along an interfacing cut line (1035). The interfacing cut line (1035) includes a curved section (1039) cent red on the axis of rotation (1011), the radius of the curved section constantly increasing as the cut line passes around the axis (for example a spiral shape).

The disclosed embodiments relate to methods and systems for avoiding a collision between an aircraft on the ground and an obstacle using a three-dimensional visual indication of the area or plane of winglets on the wingtips of the aircraft. The method includes receiving a video image from a camera positioned in one of the winglets, the video image representing a field of view through which the winglet of the aircraft will pass along a present heading of the aircraft. Next a processor determines a three-dimensional area or plane within the field of view through which the winglet of the aircraft will pass. An overlay is displayed within the field of view to assist the pilot in avoiding collisions with obstacles.

An active wing extension includes a body portion substantially parallel to a wing of an aircraft, as if it were an extension of the wing. The body portion is attachable to an aircraft wing and includes multiple controllable airflow modification devices coupled thereto. By virtue of having multiple controllable airflow modification devices, the wing extension is capable of adjusting control surfaces of the multiple controllable airflow modification devices in response to in-flight conditions, to reduce wing loads, improve wing fatigue characteristics, increase range, and/or increase efficiency.

A wing tip device for a fixed wing aircraft is disclosed having an alular-like projection, a first leading edge region having a first sweep angle, a second leading edge region outboard of the first leading edge region in a spanwise direction and having a second sweep angle greater than the first sweep angle, a third leading edge region outboard of the second leading edge region in the spanwise direction and adjacent a tip end of the wing tip device and having a third sweep angle greater than the first sweep angle. The second leading edge region is adapted to generate a first vortex, and the third leading edge region is adapted to generate a second vortex which builds towards the tip end of the wing tip device.

A spoiling apparatus for triggering a turbulent transition by autonomous disturbance and spoilers. The spoilers are mounted in multiple grooves in the circumferential direction of a navigating body, when a flow autonomously undergoes a turbulent transition, the spoilers remain in the grooves, the surface of the navigating body is free of protrusion, thus causing no additional flow resistance. A rated critical Reynolds number is set, in a case of a reduced flow speed and reduced density, the flow is a laminar flow, at which time the pressure applied to the spoilers by the flow is reduced, and the spoilers are ejected under the effect of compression springs. When ejected, the spoilers disturb the flowing of the bottom layer of the flow, and trigger the laminar flow into a turbulent flow. By setting the rebounding force of the compression springs, the spoiling apparatus is turned on automatically when a disturbance-triggered turbulent transition is required and is turned off when not required, thus implementing the autonomous control of turbulent transitions.