Thierry Dubois is a freelance writer specializing in helicopters, business aviation and aerospace technology. He earned a degree in fluid dynamics from an engineering school in Toulouse, France in the mid-1990s. At an unexpected crossroads, he found his first job in journalism. In 1997, he started working for French aerospace weekly Air &amp; Cosmos in Paris. This lasted until 2000, when he moved south to Lyons. He then became a freelancer, working for various aerospace publications and has been part of the AIN team since late 2000. In addition to writing about business aviation, Thierry shares responsibility for the rotorcraft section. He also is a regular on-site writer for AIN’s daily editions at international airshows such as the Paris, Farnborough, Dubai and Singapore shows, as well as at EBACE in Geneva.
In 2007, he won the Honeywell award for “Best systems or technology submission” at the Aerospace journalist of the year awards. In 2013, he won an Aerospace Media Award for the "Best Safety, Training &amp; Simulation Submission."
In other activities, Thierry moderates international conferences on aviation technology topics. Thierry is married and has three children, who seem to begin enjoying the mountains–as their parents do.

Writer

Thierry Dubois

German aerospace research center DLR has just completed a series of wind-tunnel tests on a wing segment that incorporates both a morphing leading edge and a laminar profile for reduced drag. The trials took place between August 27 and September 7 at the TsAGI institute in Zhukovsky, near Moscow. Airbus, EADS Innovation Works and Cassidian Air Systems partnered with DLR on the project.


The morphing leading edge would replace slats as a high-lift system. It cuts drag and noise during the landing phase by eliminating the gap between the slat and the rest of the wing. The leading edge can droop by up to 20 degrees via integrated actuators.


DLR says it tested the system’s operation and performance under “realistic conditions.” Leading-edge high-lift devices account for about one third of the lift produced during landing.


In the quest for laminar airflow, DLR researchers have made surfaces “as flat as possible” to reduce drag by up to 12 percent.


The dual goals present conflicting requirements, however. The structure needs to remain elastic to morph to the required shapes. Conversely, it needs rigidity to maintain the laminar profile, explained DLR department head Hans-Peter Monner.


A glass-fiber-reinforced material proved most suitable. The skin on the front edge of the wing is just curved, not stretched, thereby limiting stress on the material, the DLR chief said. Designers positioned layers one on top of the other, creating “a structure that has a customized rigidity distribution.”


DLR and its partners have begun considering further developing the concept to meet industrial requirements such as lightning protection, de-icing and the ability to withstand bird strikes.


Wing morphing or warping, one of the fundamentals of early aviation, has attracted renewed interest in recent years. For example, NASA tested an F/A-18 fighter with a wing warping system, enabling outer wing panels to twist up to five degrees. Finally, European manufacturers have tested it on helicopter rotor blades and Boeing plans to employ a form of the technology in a so-called adaptive trailing edge on its 737 <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/2012-09-21/boeing-american-airlines-showcase-ecodemonstrator">ecoDemonstrator</a>. That device works with an actuator that can deflect the last four percent of the airfoil up or down, thereby cutting fuel burn by making the wing more aerodynamically efficient and reducing takeoff noise by improving the airplane’s climb performance.

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