Fittings for attaching the vertical tail stabilizer of an aircraft

A method of installing a fitting which is adapted to fix a vertical tail stabilizer of an aircraft to a frame of the aircraft in an area of a rear fuselage and to a skin of the rear fuselage that surrounds the frame, the method comprising:

• positioning a first composite piece of the fitting through an aperture in the skin of the rear fuselage of the aircraft, the first composite piece having lugs to attach to the vertical tail stabilizer;
• fixedly attaching horizontal walls of a first pair of angular composite pieces of the fitting directly to the skin of the rear fuselage of the aircraft via mechanical attachment;
• and
• fixedly attaching vertical walls of the first pair of angular composite pieces of the fitting directly to the first composite piece via mechanical or chemical attachment.

An aircraft comprising:

• a rear fuselage having an internal frame and a skin surrounding the internal frame;
• a vertical tail stabilizer;
• and
• a fitting coupling the vertical tail stabilizer to the internal frame and the skin of the rear fuselage, the fitting comprising:
• a first composite component having lugs coupled to the vertical tail stabilizer and having a pair of opposing walls transverse to the lugs fixedly attached to the internal frame of the rear fuselage;
• and
• at least one pair of additional composite components fixedly attached directly to the skin of the rear fuselage and fixedly attached directly to the first component such that the first component of the fitting is fixedly attached to the skin of the rear fuselage via the at least one pair of additional composite components.