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Generally all the weight of the fusaage has to go through the wings anyway so it is structurally more efficient to put weight on the wings in the first place.

by Barbing7 hours ago|

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And they do that with fuel?! Neat!

by dghlsakjg6 hours ago|

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Yup.

On a 737 they can put about 8k pounds per wing.

Even little planes like Cessnas have wing tanks.

by Barbing4 hours ago|

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Wow wow!

Might see planes just a smidge differently now :)

by brucehoult3 hours ago|

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In sailplanes we add up to around 200 litres of water to wing tanks in single-seat gliders (empty weight typically around 280kg) to improve the high speed performance (typically up to 270 km/h these days) and ability to fly comfortably in turbulence.

It's surprising what you can fly formation with, even without an engine [1] :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0icOICQLTc

Dumping (most of the) water before landing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4Yv-V7eozk

[1] this particular glider does have a small engine for takeoff, but maximum speed with the engine extended is 180 km/h and here they are flying at 280 km/h.

by Barbing1 hours ago|

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What a rabbithole this is now :D

That glider next to the world's fastest aircraft (in 1953) dressed up for a fight, how about that.

And they can water the grass...

So several thousand $ to get trained and certified and finally be ready to get towed and soar...

but just a few hundred (California) to try for half an hour behind a pro in the cockpit--oh yeah!

...omg they let you fly the thing for another couple bucks!!!