Why don't airliners have painted wings?

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

May the force be with you
Joined
Aug 8, 2013
Messages
16,076
Display Name
Display name:
Sixer
Curious. I feel like I recall they were painted when I was a young child and they stopped to save on weight or something. But I'm not certain.

You never see painted wings.
Most GA aircraft do tough.

If it is a weight issue, how much weight would we save if ours were not painted.
 
Most are painted. Ours are all painted. Except for the leading edges which are heated.
 
Or do you mean painted white?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
They always just look like pieces of sheet metal to me. If they're painted why not fancy color schemes
 
Vinyl wraps weigh about half of paint, and cost about a third the price. (only one data point, but his RV-7A looks awesome)
 
Are you sure they are painted?
They all look like bare metal to me.

I just Google imaged it.
 
Here's what I flew. Leading edge unpainted but rest of jet painted.

upload_2017-2-14_21-5-32.png
 
Hmmmm then I guess the question is why do all the airlines paint their wings grey
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Curious. I feel like I recall they were painted when I was a young child and they stopped to save on weight or something. But I'm not certain.

You never see painted wings.
Most GA aircraft do tough.

If it is a weight issue, how much weight would we save if ours were not painted.
Click to expand...
It's a corrosion prevention issue. They are painted, except for anti-iced leading edges, every one I've worked on.
 
Depends on the airline and to a small extent the manufacture. For the aluminum skinned planes, AA has long forgone paint. Other's go for paint, but there's a weight/longevity tradeoff. Of course, some things (like the GLARE) have to be painted.
 
I heard that the paint interferes with the AoA indicators. Makes the pilots believe that they're seeing blue donuts when they look out over the wings.

This, coincidentally, is also why the Royal Air Force had blue donuts painted on their planes during WWII. The Germans never stood any chance.

Oh, and painted wings:

40018.jpg
 
Last edited:
flyingron said:
Depends on the airline and to a small extent the manufacture. For the aluminum skinned planes, AA has long forgone paint. Other's go for paint, but there's a weight/longevity tradeoff. Of course, some things (like the GLARE) have to be painted.
Click to expand...

AA has gone back to paint with the new corporate color scheme (aluminum grey). Too many composite surfaces on the new planes.
 
LDJones said:
Grey is the fastest color.
Click to expand...

That's good.
I'll have to remember that, if I get anything painted.
A very long time ago, a friend painted a P-51C on his aircraft and everything that was not P-51C was painted light blue (sides and bottom of the wings and forest green around the outside of the "wings" on top, complete with pilot in the "cockpit". He was a really creative guy, and a very talented artist and the plane caused a lot of problems at the airfield. He would announce "Mustang inbound" and then putter into view 1/2 hour later.
Unfortunately he wasn't as good a pilot as he was an artist, and managed to auger it in while flying through the mountains in Arizona.
 
4288986922_cff14581cf.jpg
 
is this what 6PC is looking at?

view-out-window-of-southwest-airlines-wing-and-clouds-D5MY1R.jpg


Maybe because that part of the wing isn't visible from the terminal and doesn't advertise like the rest of the airplane?

southwest-737-700-wl-n922wn-09-sports-illustrated-2009ldg-sna-m2lr.jpg
 
All Boeing and Airbus planes are entirely painted. The new ones are using a large percentage of carbon fiber now also which is grey to black in color and must be painted. And yes, the paint adds weight.
 
Shepherd said:
That's good.
I'll have to remember that, if I get anything painted.
A very long time ago, a friend painted a P-51C on his aircraft and everything that was not P-51C was painted light blue (sides and bottom of the wings and forest green around the outside of the "wings" on top, complete with pilot in the "cockpit". He was a really creative guy, and a very talented artist and the plane caused a lot of problems at the airfield. He would announce "Mustang inbound" and then putter into view 1/2 hour later.
Unfortunately he wasn't as good a pilot as he was an artist, and managed to auger it in while flying through the mountains in Arizona.
Click to expand...
Pics or it didn't happen!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top