<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:222px;"><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_(2).svg" class="image"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_%282%29.svg/220px-Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_%282%29.svg.png" decoding="async" width="220" height="105" class="thumbimage" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_%282%29.svg/330px-Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_%282%29.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_%282%29.svg/440px-Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_%282%29.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="2367" data-file-height="1130"></a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_(2).svg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>Non-uniform lift distribution</div></div></div>
<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:222px;"><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_(3).svg" class="image"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_%283%29.svg/220px-Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_%283%29.svg.png" decoding="async" width="220" height="107" class="thumbimage" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_%283%29.svg/330px-Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_%283%29.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_%283%29.svg/440px-Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_%283%29.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1954" data-file-height="954"></a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_wing_lift_distribution_showing_trailing_vortices_(3).svg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>Realistic lift distribution</div></div></div>
<p>A uniform lift distribution over the wing of an aircraft would cause the shedding of two <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingtip_vortices" class="extiw" title="w:Wingtip vortices">wingtip trailing vortices</a> and a (stationary) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/starting_vortex" class="extiw" title="w:starting vortex">starting vortex</a>.
</p>
Note that in reality, lift distribution cannot be uniform, and that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/viscosity" class="extiw" title="w:viscosity">viscosity</a> causes decay of the trailed and starting vortices.
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ariadacapo" title="User:Ariadacapo">Olivier Cleynen</a>
CC BY-SA 3.0
<span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>