JHZR2
Staff member
…. Yeah I know there are flat nose, hollow point, whatever bullets…
In all my flying which is a reasonable amount (halfway to million miler status on American, lots of flying on Delta too), I guess I never really looked at the “nose” of the aircraft I’ve flown on.
There was a bit of holdup on the tarmac on my last flight, and I noticed this:
I had always thought (or not looked close enough) that the nose of airliners like the 737 was symmetric and fully round to maximize aerodynamics. I was surprised to see how much of a notch there is.
And then… zooming in…
Really??!? OK… wow. Even my 1993 Mercedes hides the windshield wipers out of the way. Sure, an airliner doesn’t have a cowl, but I’m a little surprised the wipers look so… un-aerodynamic…
I guess maybe all these things amount to a rounding error when you consider the sheer size and mass of an airliner. And as I noted, I just was never very observant of any of this. But I’m still a bit surprised, especially if wipers out in the wind at Mach 0.85 or wherever the 737-800max flies at.
So, time for schooling. @Astro14 & @Cujet … obviously it is established and works…. But at minimum, don’t wipers get a bit shaky and noisy (?) when flying, given how they are parked like that? Or is there another reason why it’s irrelevant when flying in thin air a few miles up?
And are other airliners more of a symmetrical almost spherical front?
Dumb questions… sorry…
In all my flying which is a reasonable amount (halfway to million miler status on American, lots of flying on Delta too), I guess I never really looked at the “nose” of the aircraft I’ve flown on.
There was a bit of holdup on the tarmac on my last flight, and I noticed this:
I had always thought (or not looked close enough) that the nose of airliners like the 737 was symmetric and fully round to maximize aerodynamics. I was surprised to see how much of a notch there is.
And then… zooming in…
Really??!? OK… wow. Even my 1993 Mercedes hides the windshield wipers out of the way. Sure, an airliner doesn’t have a cowl, but I’m a little surprised the wipers look so… un-aerodynamic…
I guess maybe all these things amount to a rounding error when you consider the sheer size and mass of an airliner. And as I noted, I just was never very observant of any of this. But I’m still a bit surprised, especially if wipers out in the wind at Mach 0.85 or wherever the 737-800max flies at.
So, time for schooling. @Astro14 & @Cujet … obviously it is established and works…. But at minimum, don’t wipers get a bit shaky and noisy (?) when flying, given how they are parked like that? Or is there another reason why it’s irrelevant when flying in thin air a few miles up?
And are other airliners more of a symmetrical almost spherical front?
Dumb questions… sorry…