Can dimpling the skin of a jet airliner increase fuel efficiency?

[Psi 5]

I've had this idea for a while. I can't see anything wrong with it. Maybe someone here can tell me if it's unsound.

The idea is based on the dimpling of a golf ball. To my knowledge the dimpling of a golf ball reduces air friction and let's it go farther. I even heard of someone dimpling a bat so they could swing faster. Some golf club heads have dimples too.

My idea is to dimple the skin of a jet airliner. Since they pretty much cruise at a constant airspeed the dimpling could be optimized for that speed to reduce air friction and increase fuel efficiency. Is there some physics reason why this wouldn't work?

 

[Danger]

Aircraft are pretty well thought-out from an aerodynamic aspect already. The main concern that I would have regarding dimpling is that it would mess up the lift factor of the wings and control surfaces.

 

[Psi 5]

Possible but dimples don't keep a golf ball from lifting. Also the fuselage isn't a lifting surface.

 

[ZapperZ]

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/aerodynamics/q0215.shtml

Zz.

 

[FredGarvin]

Also the fuselage isn't a lifting surface.

It depends. The space shuttle is a lifting body.

EDIT: Deleted. The link Zapper posted says it better than I can.

 

[FredGarvin]

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/aerodynamics/q0215.shtml
Zz.

Damn. That was the link I was looking for! I knew I had seen it before!