A comparison of aircraft to bird. What are the small airfoils 2/3s, port and starboard, from shoulders?
January 6, 2011 by Action Warrior
Filed under aviation pictures
See pictures:
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00KS9C
The beak is the nosecone, the eyes are the windows, the legs are amazing retractable gear, wonderous morphic wings, ingenious rear stabilizer, winglets, and an amazing onboard computer; in fact, if that computer ever failed the bird could not fly.
So my question, what are the airfoils that are 2/3s out from the shoulders attached to and above the wing? (You can see them really well in the first picture.)
Is there an analogy in aviation?
Wow! Beautiful picture, MM. Those feathers are located about where the slats would be on a plane so equipped. But the way they turn up – they remind me of winglets that planes have on their wingtips. Wish I knew what the eagle really used them for.
they could be vortex generators.
Excellent inference, Ray K! Spot on!
Its called the Alula. Checkout the link MM, I’m no ornithologist, Wikipedia can explain it better.
And they really do taste like chicken!
Good shot, I saw one fly from a tree and over the Kenai to snag a trout about 100 yards from our boat. In-f-ing-credible.
SPOILERONS not quite a spoiler not quite an aileron. If you look at a Raytheon Beech jet 400 you will notice that they don’t have any ailerons. they have spoilerons. This is how the “bird” changes (warps) the wings to stall one wing and lift the other. Quite amazing, I never made the connection to the eagle but I see Beech Jets all the time!
Awesome pics, dude. But I have no idea about the feathers.