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Old 11th May 2016, 15:25
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Airbubba
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Rockytop, Tennessee, USA
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Folding wingtips seem an accident waiting to happen. Use of them allows aircraft to be packed in tighter ... Hmmm. Non-folding aircraft directed onto a folding-sized stand, unfold them too soon on departure, forget to fold on arrival, time wasted on the taxiway folding/unfolding, have them not deploy fully properly, etc, etc. We shan't even think about attempting to depart with them folded.
I remember reading a Boeing article on the original 777 wing folding design years ago that said the indications and procedures would be designed to make the chance of a wingtips up takeoff less than one in a billion.

The U.S. Navy has done the wingtips folded takeoff many times:

https://theaviationist.com/2014/02/1...-folded-wings/

Two of my retired airline colleagues were at the USAF 57th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Keflavik in 1978 when an F-4E made it around the pattern, in burner, with wingtips folded. The locking lugs were left out of position after a trip to the paint shop.
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