What the **** are these for...?

[siznaudin]

I know they're called "canalisers" (ok, ok .. "canaliZers"), but what function do they serve?

 

Answers through the post in plain brown envelopes, please......

 

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[Guest Darren Masters]

I assume you mean the fins on the engine cowling? They are sometimes called strakes. They enable the aircraft to approach slower than it usually does and also assist throughout turbulence. Call them a vortex generator if you will. Most Airbus' have them.

 

 

[siznaudin]

Thanks Darren; I have to admit that my feeble mind has never been able to fully come to grips with vortex generators - they seem (to me) like an add-on when something didn't quite work the way it should have in the first place. I know they are attached to lift and control surfaces to break up the boundary layer and all that, but in this case, how come it's the Airbus's that needed them? They're the biggest vortex generators ever, I suggest....

 

I also recall seeing the stern section of an Armstrong Whitworth Argosy looking a little like a hegehog's backside, festooned as it was with "vortex generators". :biggrin:

 

Cheers,

 

Geoff.