Swing wing tip system, assembly and method with dual load path structure

An aircraft having fail-safe load paths for one or more wings, the aircraft comprising:

• at least one fuselage;
• one or more wings having a swing wing tip assembly, the swing wing tip assembly comprising:
• an unfixed wing tip portion movably connected to a fixed wing portion of the one or more wings;
• a dual load path structure providing fail-safe load paths comprising dual wing skins and a rotation joint to carry load in a fail-safe manner for the one or more wings and dual load path structure configured to transfer load from the unfixed wing tip portion to the fixed wing portion, the dual load path structure comprising:
• dual wing skin plates comprising an upper wing skin with a separate titanium plate portion attached to the upper wing skin and a lower wing skin with another separate titanium plate portion attached to the lower wing skin, the separate titanium plate portions being flush with the respective upper wing skin and the lower wing skin;
• and
• the rotation joint coupled between the dual wing skins and configured to rotationally couple the unfixed wing tip portion to the fixed wing portion, the dual wing skins positioned across both sides of the rotation joint, the rotation joint comprising:
• a dual rotation pin element having a center rotation axis;
• and,
• dual rotation elements configured to rotate about the center rotation axis;
• and,
• dual channel segments coupled between the dual wing skins;
• an actuator assembly operatively coupled to the rotation joint to actuate the rotation joint enabling rotation of the unfixed wing tip portion with respect to the fixed wing portion about the center rotation axis at a selected operation condition;
• a controller system operatively coupled to the actuator assembly to control actuation of the rotation joint and rotation of the unfixed wing tip portion;
• and,
• a navigation element positioned near a hinge line between the fixed wing portion and the unfixed wing tip portion and operable to be exposed and activated in response to rotation of the unfixed wing tip portion.

A method for providing fail-safe load paths for a wing of an air vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

• operatively coupling a swing wing tip assembly to a wing of an air vehicle, the swing wing tip assembly comprising:
• an unfixed wing tip portion movably connected to a fixed wing portion of the wing;
• and,
• a dual load path structure providing two separate load bearing paths comprising dual wing skins and a rotation joint to carry load in a fail-safe manner, and the dual load path structure comprising:
• dual wing skin plates comprising an upper wing skin with a separate plate portion attached to the upper wing skin and comprising a lower wing skin with another separate plate portion attached to the lower wing skin, the separate plate portions being flush with the respective upper wing skin and the lower wing skin;
• and,
• a rotation joint coupled between the dual wing skins, the dual wing skins positioned across both sides of the rotation joint, the rotation joint comprising a dual rotation pin element having a center rotation axis and dual rotation elements configured to rotate about the center rotation axis;
• operatively coupling an actuator assembly to the rotation joint;
• operatively coupling a controller system to the actuator assembly to control the actuator assembly to actuate the rotation joint;
• and,
• transferring load from the unfixed wing tip portion to the fixed wing portion via the dual load path structure to provide fail-safe load paths for the wing.