If you sit on the seats near the wings and engines of the plane, you too must have seen a lot of interesting things on the wings and engines. One of these are small wings mounted on the engine of the aircraft, which are inclined downwards. Sometimes a ‘No Step’ warning is also written at this place. But have you ever wondered what their job is? Why are they inclined downwards? An aviation expert has told about this, which is very interesting.
These small fans are installed on the side of the engine in all commercial flights. These are known as nacelle chines or nacelle strakes. They are deliberately made delta shaped. These strakes regulate airflow. They don’t move at all. What actually happens is that when the plane rotates or goes upwards during takeoff, the huge engine stops and separates the air flow. This creates pressure. And the plane may stop. To reduce this pressure, these are installed so that the air flow remains till the wings. As the plane goes up, these small wings reduce the air pressure so that the plane can operate properly.
Are these installed on every plane?
According to experts, almost all jet airliners, whether commercial or military, have nacelle strakes. They are used in narrowbodies like the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 to the Boeing 777 and 787. Some aircraft models have two strakes on either side of an engine, such as the Boeing C-17 Globemaster and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. New generation aircraft models such as the Airbus A321neo and A350-1000 also have two nacelle strakes on either side of an engine.
FIRST PUBLISHED : May 23, 2024, 09:31 IST
