FLYER Forums

condor17 wrote:It was lucky that on a walk around , that I noticed one winglet was missing . Can we go like this ? MEL says ok ; but ask for an engineer .... Reluctantly one came out to explain that speedtaping over the gaps and open parts was Not needed.

Don't the passengers get a little concerned when part of the wing appears to be missing?

One advantage of the 747 is if you can see one wingtip, the chances are you can’t see the other.

It's fairly tricky to see both sides from the back.
But when I was on a 747 out of Boston for LHR I saw the rear of a panel by the inner aileron lift by about six inches as we took off. Obviously not attached.
As the speed increased it settled back down so wouldn't have been a problem until landing. Didn't fancy returning to Boston and it had got dark so couldn't be seen. Waited a bit then talked to one of the cabin crew who got one of the flight crew to talk to me. I described what I saw, including diagrams on napkins.
Obviously not a serious problem and I heard nothing more, which seemed a shame. I would have appreciated hearing, just a thanks and yes, you were right, there was a broken bit, it's fixed now.

6 pages in and I have to say -

This thread is no good without a picture!!!!!!

Ah! That’s better.

Paul ,
"Don't the passengers get a little concerned when part of the wing appears to be missing?"

Not half as much as the crew do ...

PS. lovely 'foto which reg is it ?

rgds condor , old sad spotter ..

"G-CIVE" is visible just behind the (retained) winglet.

That was just off the web. They’re painting G-BYGC.

Funny that. One of the Cessnas my brother and I learnt to fly in was G-AYGC. He went on to fly 744s for BA.

did we ever find out why one winglet good, zero winglets bad?

mmcp42 wrote:did we ever find out why one winglet good, zero winglets bad?

I remember you putting that question Mike . And I haven't a bloody clue ! The only pointer I can think of is that one has to bear in mind that AMM's/Mel's are probably compiled with at least as much Boeing lawyer input as Boeing engineer input.

Flying without winglets definitely has no safety implications . It'll just use more fuel . But in reality , you will only need to remove a winglet if it's been clobbered .

And to paraphrase Oscar Wilde ; To clobber one winglet is just bad luck . To clobber both of them is probably a sacking offence . [ sorry ]

Maybe because Boeing never tested that config ...to save money in certification flights ... as the chance of both out is low ?
Therefore if not tested , it's not approved .. Thus we don't do it , unless force majeure' .
rgds condor

condor17 wrote:Maybe because Boeing never tested that config ...to save money in certification flights ... as the chance of both out is low ?
Therefore if not tested , it's not approved .. Thus we don't do it , unless force majeure' .
rgds condor

Probably true, although they certified the -400SR without winglets.

G-BYGC in Dublin paint facility as we speak. Should be out sometime next week. BA uses Dublin facilities for 744 repaints at the moment.