How do fighter jets stay in formation?

In a formation, a pilot must keep one hand on the throttle to make very minute adjustments to stay at the exact speed with other aircraft. One slight variation in throttle, bearing or attitude of an aircraft endangers the complete formation as they may crash into each other.

What’s the point of scrambling a fighter jet?

In military aviation, scrambling is the act of quickly mobilising military aircraft. Scrambling can be in reaction to an immediate threat, usually to intercept hostile aircraft.

Does the wing tip affect the dihedral effect of the aircraft?

This effectively pushes the wingtip vortices farther apart from the centerline of the aircraft and increases the effective AR, albeit by a small amount. This, at least theoretically, reduces lift-induced drag by a small amount (see Section 15.5.18, Corrections of the lift-induced drag ). The tip has no influence on dihedral effect.

What is the purpose of a sharp termination on a wingtip?

The sharp termination forces the wingtip vortex to form and reside on the outboard side of the tip (rather than above, as for the round tip). This effectively pushes the wingtip vortices farther apart from the centerline of the aircraft and increases the effective AR, albeit by a small amount.

What are the different types of wingtip treatments?

Two wingtip treatments have received substantial attention from airplane manufacturers and operators: winglets and raked wingtips. These two types of wingtips are shown schematically in Figure 5.66. The winglet case presents a non-planar wing because the tips of the wing are not in the plane of the major portion of the wing.

What is a raked wing tip?

The raked wingtip presents a case of leading and trailing edges which are not straight although the wing remains planar. Figure 5.66. Two popular wingtip treatments: (a) winglet and (b) raked tip.