Local pilot Brian Ross is a big fan of Aviation Partners winglets after adding the efficiency-improving devices to all four of his employer’s Hawker Beechcraft Hawker 800s. Ross is director of operations for Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), the soft-drink distribution company that is partially owned by Coca-Cola. CCE’s Hawker 800s are hangared at a corporate facility at Fulton County Airport/Brown Field. Aviation Partners (Booth No. 1739) has delivered about 2,500 sets of winglets, about 2,000 of which are installed on airliners.
Having flown Hawkers for 25 years, Ross has logged plenty of before-and-after performance numbers. The winglets were installed on the CCE Hawkers earlier this year, and fuel savings are averaging 10 percent on the 800s and 8.5 percent on the 800XPs. The reduced fuel consumption is a result of the winglets enabling the Hawkers to climb directly to altitudes 3,000 to 4,000 feet higher than Hawkers not equipped with winglets.
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