A Fundamental Principle of Aeronautical Engineering Has Been Overturned (tohoku.ac.jp)

A 43% drag reduction is massive if this is applicable to modern planes.

43% less friction means 43% of fuel saved. Am I reading that right because it will change the world if true.

Discussed previously (132 comments):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48260117

Are we just expected to understand Japanese ? There's no English version

Australian company Mako has been applying ribbed micro-surfaces to aeroplanes for a few years now, with extremely promising results.

They talk about reducing skin friction drag but due to the translation I'm not sure if that's what this article is referring to as well.

Fluid mechanics was my jam before my software engineer days! Unfortunately, I think the FAA strict regulations will prevent any of the good innovations. But you can do this thing called flow control where you can control where the boundary layer detaches on the wing. You can achieve different L/D ratios and save a TON of fuel cost. NASA supposedly was going to try it on the X-37B but civilians never knew if they did or not.