Missing Winglet on an Airbus?

[Station Zero]

Sharkets are probably no go for a number of reasons. Two I can think of, the sharket is attached internally of the wing, need to get into the fuel tanks to remove so no simple task compared to a wing fence on earlier A320s. The other reason is no way to turn of the Load Alleviation Function that is required for aircraft fitted with sharkets so would remain operational even if you removed the sharket mass from the wingtip.

[tdracer]

Originally Posted by DaveReidUK

I'd be surprised if there wasn't - ANA managed it for years:




Yes, I do know they were built like that.

DR, the story at the time was that ANA was going to use them as 'SR' aircraft - flying short haul around Japan - until they got to a certain number of cycles. When they got to the right number of cycles, they'd convert them to long haul (and install the winglets). I thought it was a clever way to maximize the utility of the airframe - maxing out on hours and cycles.
No idea if that actually came to pass or not.

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by tdracer

DR, the story at the time was that ANA was going to use them as 'SR' aircraft - flying short haul around Japan - until they got to a certain number of cycles. When they got to the right number of cycles, they'd convert them to long haul (and install the winglets). I thought it was a clever way to maximize the utility of the airframe - maxing out on hours and cycles.
No idea if that actually came to pass or not.

Yes, some (not sure how many) of the ANA aircraft had their winglets added in later life:





https://www.airliners.net/photo/All-...481D/1308615/L

https://www.airliners.net/photo/All-...481D/2645379/L

Conversely, a couple of ANA's 747s started life with winglets which were subsequently removed.