Fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are huge priorities in the aviation industry – passenger airliners chew through amazing quantities of fuel. Take the Boeing 747, which guzzles somewhere ...

Recent research demonstrated that, although most wing shapes used today create turbulent wake vortices, wing geometrics can be designed to reduce or eliminate wingtip vortices almost entirely. In the ...

Floating in the sky, miles above our heads, are long and gentle streaks of wind, generated by circular patterns of air that rotate around a plane’s wing when it creates lift. The phenomena are called ...

This dramatic image shows a U.S. Coast Guard C-130J from Air Station Elizabeth City, NC. The USCG is flying a version of the C-130 since the first one was delivered to Air Station Elizabeth City in ...

CC0 Usage Conditions ApplyClick for more information. If a 'wingtip vortex' - a concentrated air turbulence created by another plane - was responsible for bringing down Delta Airlines Flight 1141 on ...

Yuma, Ariz. - In successfully conducting military operations, the United States has relied upon air superiority as an indispensible means of delivering equipment, supplies, and troops to remote areas.

Aircraft generate wake just like boats do in the water. Unlike the water, you can't see wake in the air but should always anticipate it. [Credit: Shutterstock] “Caution, wake turbulence.” This warning ...

It's common to see line-shaped clouds in the sky, known as contrails, trailing behind the engines of a jet airplane. What's not always visible is a vortex coming off of the tip of each wing--like two ...