Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG
Good point.
And re: pilots - someone did point out that fuel weight is something very front of mind for planning trips as well. So it's something thought about more than not.
|
Some rough data to chew on (learned this in Aircraft design, prof used to work at boeing)
Boeing 747-400 weighs 400,000lbs empty
for a transatlatlantic flight it carries 400,000lbs of fuel
remaining payload available. 20,000 lbs (passengers, luggage, etc...)
Aircraft are sized and designed to fly certain distances with a given amount of fuel. If the trip is less than the max range, it flies with the appropriate amount of fuel.
someone mentioned winlets earlier...
at the end of a wing on a plane flying at ~0.8 mach there is usually a shock that appears on top of the wing near the tip. (air moves faster on top of the wing, and usually exceeds the speed of sound in transsonic flight). Winglets are used to reduce the downwash vorticies that are created by this shock at the end of the wing, which in turn reduces induced drag.
In short, adding winglets to your car wont do much.
disclaimer, im not a pilot.
just a senior aero engineering student.