Wingtip vortices, a form of wake turbulence, are invisible, rapidly rotating air generated by aircraft wings when creating lift, posing an extreme hazard, especially from heavy aircraft to smaller ...

An experimental Airbus concept shows airplanes flying in formation to save fuel. This concept carefully capitalizes on wake turbulence, which engineers have fought against for more than a century.

Recent research demonstrated that, although most wing shapes used today create turbulent wake vortices, wing geometrics can be designed to reduce or eliminate wingtip vortices almost entirely. In the ...

aircraft, part of the Autonomous Formation Flight (AFF) project based at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., flew the mission in early December. During the 96-minute flight, the ...