A330 & A340 Have A New Wing
 

Learned at the PARIS airshow that the new A330's & A340-300 have a new wing ( IE to solve the horrid performance problems of old ). Apparently, the leading edge was re-done to move the high speed shoke somewhere else ..where it would produce drag ..

What was wrong with the 330 performance ? FL370 at gross weight, will beat the crap out of a 767 for cruise, height, payload and range. Looks cool too :cool:

Have to agree with javelin on the A330 wing. The only horrid performance I've seen from it is when you try to go down. You can almost hear it screming 'let me fly, let me fly'. And true, it looks VERY cool.

So let me get this right:

A330/A340 had a wing.
Now A330 and A340 have another wing.
A340-500 and -600 have yet another wing.
And Emirates' A340-600s will apparently have yet another wing (for more TOW).

How many wings does one need?

YOU SAID:

A330/A340 had a wing.
Now A330 and A340 have another wing.
A340-500 and -600 have yet another wing.
And Emirates' A340-600s will apparently have yet another wing (for more TOW).


The A340-100, 200 & early 300 all missed their perfromance guanantees by a long shot when the aircraft delivered. Then, AIRBUS ( with egg on its face ) instituted a Product Improvement Programe to try to shore up these shortcommings - in particular they reskinned many of these birds to integrate the "add-on" localized aerodynamic fixey's into the basic and stable aircraft definition - like adding the low drag Boeing styled rain-gutters, & new wing aerodynamics to solve engine/wing shock drag/buffett.

Yet - the newest A330s have a new recontoured leading edge as well ..