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Indeed. You can see this clearly on modern wide-bodies at takeoff if you sit over the wing. The wings droop until the aircraft hits liftoff velocity--at that po
by hodgesrm 10y ago
Indeed. You can see this clearly on modern wide-bodies at takeoff if you sit over the wing. The wings droop until the aircraft hits liftoff velocity--at that point the wings lift up and you are wheels up a couple of seconds later. It's close to 10 feet at the tip on a Boeing 777, where the effect seems particularly pronounced.
It's also easy to observe wing movement easily during turbulence. I find it fun to watch but that's probably not to the taste of every passenger. On DC-10s you can also see the engines swinging on their mounts. That is a bit less enjoyable.
- jacquesm 10y agoThe wingtips don't 'lift up', the body drops relative to the wing. Essentially the wing goes from hanging from the body to the body hanging off the wing.
- hodgesrm 10y agoI guess it depends on the frame of reference. The change happens while the plane is still on the runway before lift off.