Tamarack Aerospace Group (Booth No. 4171) revealed during its press conference yesterday that it is taking deposits at NBAA’12 for its active technology load alleviation system (Atlas) active winglet system for the Cessna Citation CJ1. “We're accepting $10,000 refundable deposits here at the show,” said Brian Willet, vice president of sales and flight operations for the company. “The cost of the Atlas kit is estimated to be $196,000, and we are projecting it will take 80 manhours to install the active winglets,” he continued. The company is providing demonstration flights in its technology demonstrator CJ1 during the NBAA show.

The Atlas employs a Tamarack active control surface (Tacs) actuator mounted near each winglet. The Tacs actuator drives small moveable surfaces mounted outboard on the wing trailing edge, near the winglets, and these surfaces move to counteract and alleviate the load on the wing. The result is a much lower bending moment on the wing, allowing addition of winglets without having to beef up wing structure.