THE swirling turbulence caused by jets taking off and landing
can be a danger for planes in their wake
(see “Back to school”).
But a couple of rollers fixed to each wing could solve the problem.
When an aeroplane flies through the air at high speed, a region of low
pressure forms directly behind the plane. Air from above and below the wing gets
sucked in to fill the space, creating a disruptive swirling vortex.
Guo Wei and his colleague Prasad Patnaik at the National University of
Singapore have come up with a simple fix involving two horizontal rollers…
