Methods for manufacturing composite aircraft, parts and a family of composite aircraft

A method of reducing the number of composite parts required to manufacture an aircraft comprising:

• providing a mold of a portion of an aircraft;
• providing a moveable detail for a portion of an aircraft, said moveable detail being configured for detachable fixing within said mold;
• and
• detachably fixing said moveable detail at a first location within the mold;
• such that the mold and said moveable detail may be removed from a composite part after curing by detaching the moveable detail from the mold and removing the composite part from the mold, thereby permitting the fabrication of a composite part of a shape that could not be removed from a single mold once cured and reducing the number of composite parts required to manufacture an aircraft;
• wherein the moveable detail is configured to be detachably fixed at a second location within the mold to manufacture a second composite part.

A method for simplifying manufacture of composite parts for an aircraft comprising:

• providing a first mold of a first portion of an aircraft;
• providing a second mold for a second portion of an aircraft;
• and
• providing a moveable detail for a common portion of a plurality of composite parts of an aircraft, said moveable detail being configured for detachably fixing within said first mold to form a first combined mold for a first composite part and said moveable detail being configured for detachably fixing within said second mold to form a second combined mold for a second composite part, thereby reducing the number of molds required to fabricate the plurality of composite parts of an aircraft.

A method for manufacturing composite parts for an aircraft, the method comprising:

• providing a mold of a portion of a fuselage of an aircraft;
• providing a moveable detail of a spar tunnel of the fuselage, said moveable detail being configured for detachably fixing within said mold at a first and second location within the mold;
• and
• detachably fixing said moveable detail at a location within the mold such that the moveable detail may be repositioned within the mold, thereby permitting the location of the center of gravity of the aircraft to be adjusted relative to the aerodynamic center of lift of a wing of an aircraft during a manufacturing operation.