With wind-tunnel tests underway, Boeing continues to refine its 747-8 wing design as it marches toward firm configuration in the third quarter and the start of major assembly in early 2008. The inboard portion of the wing has been altered and the wing "re-twisted away from the side of the body outward," says Vice President Jeff Peace, the 747 program manager. Triple-slotted trailing edge flaps have been replaced by double-slotted inboard and single-slotted outboard flaps. If Boeing had had current computational fluid dynamics and aerodynamic analysis tools available when the -400 was designed, it would have had the same design because it is more efficient, he says.
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