US Patent Issued to Airbus Operations on April 21 for "Method of reducing aerodynamic loads on an aircraft located on the ground" (British Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,606,294, issued on April 21, was assigned to Airbus Operations Ltd. (Bristol, Great Britain).

"Method of reducing aerodynamic loads on an aircraft located on the ground" was invented by Simon Way (Bristol, Great Britain).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for reducing aerodynamic loads on an aircraft located on the ground includes moving a wing tip relative to a fixed wing to an on-ground configuration in which the span of the wing is reduced. The wing tip includes an airflow channel, which is in an open configuration in which airflow through the channel between upper and lower surfaces of the wing tip is enabled, when the wing tip ...