Unless you are the civilian owner of an F-14, you cannot change the wingspan of your airplane. If you’re a manufacturer, however, you can, and the same privilege extends to that miniature of a manufacturer, the amateur builder. Extending span requires adding strength to the spar or finding unnoticed extra strength in an existing spar. Or you can just start over and build a new wing from scratch.
Recent years have seen a general drift toward longer spans and higher aspect ratios. The Beechcraft Bonanza has a span of 33.5 feet and an aspect ratio of 6.2; the Cirrus SR22, which might be seen as today’s Bonanza, has a span of more than 38 feet and an aspect ratio of 10.1. The trend is generally toward greater aerodynamic efficiency, partly in response to fuel costs and partly because the increasing use of turbocharging leads to higher cruising altitudes, where longer wings are more at home.
