An aircraft is disclosed having a wing, the wing having a fixed wing with a wing tip device moveably mounted about a hinge at the tip thereof. The wing tip device is operable between a flight configuration, and a load alleviating configuration for load alleviation during flight. The aircraft includes a restraining assembly operable between a restraining mode in which the wing tip device is held in the flight configuration using a restraining force such as by a brake, and a releasing mode in which the restraining force on the wing tip device is released, such that the wing tip device may adopt the load alleviating configuration.

An improved winglet design is presented for aircraft wherein the winglet configuration is well suited for aircraft wings having moderate to no aft swept, or wings having forward swept. The winglets (302) are located at the outer end of each wing (300) and curve upwardly as they extend outwardly from their intersection (304) with the wings (300). The curvature profile (303) of the winglets (302) when viewed from the rear (or front) of the aircraft at least approximates a specified curve profile made up of more than one curved section, e.g. the winglet trailing edge profile (305) having a perpendicular projection onto a plane normal to the winglet inner or root chord (342), said projection creating a winglet profile curve approximating a compound curve composed of two arc segment (306, 307). The two arc segments are tangent to each other at there point of connection (306b, 307a) wherein the arc segment (306) at the lower portion of the winglet connects to the outer end of the wing (300) and is tangent with the wing's reference plane (331). This lower arc segment (306) of the winglet profile connects to and is tangent with a second arc segment (307) forming the profile of the upper portion of the winglet (302). A unique design specification for the plan form or developed shape of the winglet that is suitable for wings having nominal (less than 15 degrees) aft sweep, or have neutral, or forward sweep is also provided.

A rotor which comprises at least one blade and at least one fluid routing device that is mechanically connected to one of the blades so that a fluid inlet thereof is placed in a lateral edge of the blade. The fluid routing device has a continuous channel with an inlet facing the opposite direction of rotation of the blades and an outlet. The continuous channel is sized and shaped to conduct fluid passing via the inlet. The fluid routing device includes a flow directing element that is mechanically connected to the outlet so as to direct the conducted fluid to adjust fluid flow in or on the mechanically connected blade.

A split winglet configured for attachment to a wing tip of a wing. The split winglet may include an upper winglet extending from the wing tip above a chord plane of the wing and a ventral fin projecting below the chord plane. The upper winglet and the ventral fin may include tip configurations. At least one of the upper winglet tip configuration and the ventral fin tip configuration may be provided by a curved blade cap attached thereto. The curved blade cap may include a leading edge having a first curve with a first radius, and a trailing edge having a second curve with a second radius different from the first radius. The curved blade cap may also include a distal segment oblique to the first curve and the second curve.

A split winglet has a leading airfoil (LA) comprising a LA leading edge, a LA trailing edge, a LA upper surface, and a LA lower surface. The split winglet also has a trailing airfoil (TA) comprising a TA leading edge, a TA trailing edge, a TA upper surface, and a TA lower surface. The split winglet further has a base connected to each of the LA and the TA, the base being configured for connection to a tip of a main airfoil.

An aircraft is provided and includes a fuselage, first and second wings extending outwardly from opposite sides of the fuselage, proprotors operably disposed on each of the first and second wings to drive vertical take-off and landing aircraft operations and horizontal flight aircraft operations and a refueling system including at least one fuel tank disposed in at least one or more of the fuselage, the first wing or the second wing and a refueling apparatus. The refueling apparatus is coupled to the at least one fuel tank such that fuel is movable with respect to the at least one fuel tank during aircraft ground and aerial operations.

A split winglet is disclosed having a first generally upward projecting wing end, and a second generally downward projecting wing end. The second generally downward projecting wing end may be integrally formed with the first generally upward projecting wing end to form a winglet assembly or may be separately attached onto an existing upwardly curved winglet.

An aircraft (5) including a wing (3) and a winglet (1) at the end of the wing, the winglet including: a root (7); a tip (9); a transition region (11) extending away from the root; and a wing-like region (13) extending from the distal end of the transition region to the tip. When the aircraft wing (3) is under the worst-case static loading, the tip of the winglet is located at the maximum spanwise extent of the winglet (1), but when the aircraft wing (3) is under the no-load condition, the wing-like region (13) is canted inboard such that the tip (9) of the winglet (1) is located inboard of the maximum spanwise extent of the winglet.

An aircraft wing assembly including: a wing having a wing box structure with an upper wing cover and a lower wing cover, and a wing tip device attached to the outboard end of the wing, the wing tip device including an upper cover and a lower cover, wherein a gap between opposing edges of the wing tip device lower cover and the lower wing cover is at least 5 mm, a seal assembly aerodynamically seals the gap, wherein the seal assembly includes a bridging component on an interior side of the gap, and a seal which fills the gap and is supported by the bridging component.

An aerial vehicle adapted for vertical takeoff and landing using a set of wing tip mounted thrust producing elements for takeoff and landing. An aerial vehicle which is adapted to vertical takeoff with the wings in a horizontal flight attitude then transitions to a horizontal flight path. An aerial vehicle which uses different configurations of its wing tip mounted, VTOL enabling rotors to reduce drag in all flight modes.