Bits seemingly missing on the left wing
 

Hi,

on my last flight from Atlanta to NYC a few days ago, the left wing seemed to have been missing a piece, see the images of the same section of the wing on the left and right side. Is this normal? I am a reasonably frequent flyer and I've never seen anything like the photo of the left wing seems to show. Just curios!



http://slosar.com/left.jpg

http://slosar.com/right.jpg

Flap track fairing. Not 'normal', but either fell off during first part of flight or was removed before flight. Aircraft would then be operated 'without' under a dispensation. No perceived operating problems apart from higher fuel consumption.

Flap fairing.......... perfectly allowable if its in the CDL ( Config deviation Manual )

Would be some kind of penalty though...... weight and performance , cruise fuel burn higher.

A couple of years ago I went to Kefalonia and as we boarded the aircraft (Boeing 757) for the return flight, the Captain said something like

"Ladies and Gentleman, as some of you have already noticed, one of the fairings on the left wing is missing. There is no need to be alarmed, it just got slightly damaged a couple of days ago so has been removed for repair.

The aircraft will still fly perfectly well and is absolutely safe."

Thanks everyone!

It is, indeed, a flap track fairing!

There is a weight penalty for take-off entered through the performance page as a 'correction' (can't remember the code off the top of my head!)

Also there is a percentage fuel burn increse associated with it.

Looks awful but no handling degradation. :-)