Folding wing arrangement with latch assembly

An aircraft wing, comprising:

• a fixed wing;
• an outboard wing section outboard of the fixed wing;
• and
• a hinge assembly connecting the outboard wing section to the fixed wing,
• wherein, the aircraft wing is configurable between:
• a flight configuration for use during flight and a ground configuration for use during ground-based operations, in which ground configuration the outboard wing section is rotated away from the flight configuration about a hinge axis of the hinge assembly, such that a span of the aircraft wing is reduced,
• wherein, the hinge assembly comprises:
• a fore set of interleaving lugs and an aft set of interleaving lugs;
• a fore hinge pin and an aft hinge pin, extending through the fore and aft sets of interleaving lugs respectively, thereby forming a hinge having a hinge axis coaxial to longitudinal axes of the fore and aft hinge pins;
• and
• an actuator sandwiched between the fore sets of lugs and the aft sets of lugs, and positioned coaxially with the hinge axis, the actuator being configured to rotate the outboard wing section about the hinge axis to move the aircraft wing between the flight configuration and the ground configuration;
• a plurality of fore latching arms and a plurality of aft latching arms extending inboard from the respective sets of lugs on the outboard wing section;
• a fore latch receiver and an aft latch receiver extending inboard from the respective lugs on the fixed wing, such that when the aircraft wing is in the flight configuration, the fore and aft latch receivers are interleaved with the respective fore and aft latching arms;
• and
• a locking and latching unit (LLU), positioned inboard of the actuator and located between the fore and aft latch receivers of the fixed wing;
• wherein the LLU comprises an aft latch pin and a fore latch pin, the fore and aft latch pins being moveable between retracted positions in which the fore and aft latch pins are housed in the LLU, and respective extended positions in which the aft latch pin extends rearwardly through aligned holes in the aft latching arms and the aft latch receiver, and the fore latch pin extends forwardly through aligned holes in the fore latching arms and the fore latch receiver, and
• wherein when the aircraft wing is in the flight configuration and the fore and aft latch pins are in the extended positions, the outboard wing section is latched to the fixed wing.

An aircraft wing, comprising:

• a fixed wing;
• an outboard wing section outboard of the fixed wing;
• and
• a hinge assembly connecting the outboard wing section to the fixed wing,
• wherein, the aircraft wing is configurable between:
• a flight configuration for use during flight, and
• a ground configuration for use during ground-based operations, in which ground configuration the outboard wing section is rotated away from the flight configuration about a hinge axis of the hinge assembly, such that the span of the aircraft wing is reduced,
• wherein, the hinge assembly comprises:
• a fore set of interleaving lugs and an aft set of interleaving lugs;
• a fore hinge pin and an aft hinge pin, extending through the fore and aft sets of interleaving lugs respectively, thereby forming a hinge;
• and
• a rotary actuator located between the fore sets of lugs and the aft sets of lugs, the actuator being configured to rotate the outboard wing section about the hinge axis to move the aircraft wing between the flight configuration and the ground configuration;
• wherein the aircraft wing further comprises a latch assembly, the latch assembly comprising an aft latch pin, deployable in an aft direction, and a fore latch pin, deployable in a forward direction, the latch assembly being configured such that when the aircraft wing is in the flight configuration and the fore and aft latch pins are deployed, the outboard wing section is latched to the fixed wing,
• wherein, the fixed wing has a front spar extending outboard from a root to a tip of the fixed wing, and a rear spar located aft of the front spar and extending outboard along the aircraft wing from the root to the tip of the fixed wing, and the latch assembly is located:
• inboard of the rotary actuator,
• aft of the front spar,
• fore of the rear spar, and
• within an outer mold line of the aircraft wing.