Aircraft wing designs have constantly been reworked over the years. From the Wright brothers mulling over the likes of aspect ratios in their bid to achieve the first flight in the early 1900s, to ...

Airplanes are one of the best examples of thoughtful engineering. Most of the things you find on an aircraft have a special purpose behind them, and there will rarely be a feature that has been added ...

Today, aircraft wings are increasingly designed to prioritize stealth characteristics over raw speed—giving them a smooth, unbroken connection to the aircraft’s main fuselage. The wing of a fighter ...

Imagine looking out the window of an airborne airplane and seeing the wing rippling and twisting. You'd probably have a mini heart attack. Yet, this is what German engineers have created: prototype ...

Engineers are closing in on a long imagined goal in aviation, wings that can subtly change shape in midair instead of relying on rigid flaps and heavy hydraulics. The key is a family of “metals with ...

This view of an X-15 rocket-powered research airplane from the cockpit of its B-52 carrier aircraft is a perfect way to illustrate the juxtaposition of power and wing loading. The NASA B-52B ...

For decades, the overall shape of a passenger aircraft has remained largely the same, with a central fuselage flanked by a pair of wings that hold the fuel tanks and, most of the time, the engines. It ...