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Marc's avatar

I find much to agree with this post. By the way, that "artist's depiction" is very real, that's one of the wingtip vortices present on every aircraft in flight, caused by mixing of the upper and lower surface air flow at the end of each wing. They helpfully flew a crop-duster through red smoke to make it more visible, but you can also see them when planes takes off or land on a foggy days. Those wing tip fins (called winglets) airliners have sprouted in recent years are intended to extract a bit more lift and thrust from the energy that would otherwise be lost forming those vortices at cruise speed.

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Chris J. Karr's avatar

Thanks for capturing the "is everyone insane, or just me?" feeling that's been haunting me this past month.

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