“Active Winglets Hold The Key To Increasing Aircraft Fuel Efficiency”

Tamarack Aerospace Group, Inc. has announced that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) granted a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for its ATLAS brand Active Winglet system to be installed on the Cessna (model CE525) CitationJet and its variants; the CJ; CJ1; CJ1+. EASA certification for the Cessna M2 will follow in March, 2016. US certification by the FAA for all four variants is expected by this summer.

Nick Guida, inventor and founder of Tamarack Aerospace, explains, "This technology is truly game changing, Active Winglets set a new standard as they are two to three times more efficient than previous designs. We are very excited to have certified our product on the Cessna Citation and we are already planning modifications to larger aircraft for which we have predicted similar improvements in fuel economy."

Winglets, the small upturned sections at the end of an airplane’s wings, hold the key to increasing aircraft fuel efficiency. The downside of all traditional (passive) winglets; include compromised winglet size; a payload penalty related to the addition of strengthening structure; and not least, the additional costs and downtime required to open the wings for the installation of the added structure.

Tamarack’s ATLAS brand Active Winglet technology incorporates a load alleviation device. As a result, the ATLAS system allows winglets to be designed to maximize fuel savings and are not at all compromised in size or shape for reasons of wing loads and added structure. No additional strengthening structure is needed and without the need to open the wings for added structure, the downtime and costs of installing Active Winglets is greatly reduced.

Certification of Tamarack Aerospace’s Active Winglet technology culminates a three year effort that included more than 300 hours of test flights on its testbed aircraft N86LA, a ‘straight CJ’ C525-0012, built in 1992. During that time the jet has consistently flown at Max Takeoff Weight to its ceiling limit of FL410 in around 30 minutes or less. At max continuous thrust the block fuel burn on these flights averaged an amazing 96 gallons per hour. Tamarack’s ATLAS™ equipped CJ set an Unofficial World Record flying 1,853nm non-stop while landing with required fuel reserves, after a 6 hour 16 minute flight with only a 26kt tail wind. The ATLAS Active Winglet system increases aircraft stability and smooths out the bumps of inflight turbulence. The ATLAS system will also allow an increase in max zero fuel weight as well as provide better high/hot take performance.

Deposits are now being taken for all US and European registered aircraft. Installations will be handled exclusively at Textron Aviation Service Centers.

(Image provided by Tamarack Aerospace)

FIM: www.tamarackaero.com