• During flight, aircraft wings encounter adverse conditions besides take-off, landing & turning.
• The wings are equipped with movable flaps and ailerons that require complex mechanism to displace and/or rotate the whole assembly.
• The efficiency achieved by an aircraft depends on the shape of the wings and their sections. Hence, each aircraft is limited to a maximum lift during take-off & landing.
• The present invention provides a high-lift device, which operates as a simple external attachment that increases efficiency, range of flight and better fuel saving of any given aircraft.

An external skin with several microfiber composite (MFC) strips attached at different spanwise locations is attached to the leading edge of a wing and takes its shape.

• Electrical actuation of one or more MFC strips changes the curvature of the external skin resulting in a change in the aerodynamic coefficients of the wing.
• The change in shape is used to control (delay/prevent) flow separation at high angles of attack. This shape is predicted using a de-cambering technique.
• Using the external skin, an aircraft can operate at high angles of attack at an enhanced coefficient of lift (CL) and increased range without any serious safety concerns and drag penalty (FIGs.1- 4).