Airbus engineers have applied for a US patent on a wing root fairing technology the company says can reduce the drag penalty that comes from installing larger engines on existing airframes.

Wing root fairings are commonly added between the aircraft fuselage and the wing, especially in low wing configurations where a fairing shows greater benefit, but not all shapes change airflow in a ...

Figure 1. Laser-stimulated fluorescence imaging of a pterosaur fossil reveals flight-related soft tissues. The imaging revealed a muscular wing root fairing that smooths airflow around the wing-body ...

The flying reptiles known as pterosaurs are the closest relatives of dinosaurs and were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight. However, many details of pterosaur flight anatomy and ...