US 9,850,006 B2 · Aircraft wing repair methods

Abstract

A wing skin, which was secured to a wing structure by a plurality of fasteners extending through the wing skin, is removed from the wing and aligned with a template. Template holes are drilled through the template corresponding to each of the fastener holes of the wing skin. The template is then aligned with a new wing skin, and pilot holes are drilled through the new wing skin corresponding to each of the template holes. The new wing skin is then aligned with the wing structure such that the pilot holes permit access to corresponding fastener holes of the wing structure. A mill bit is then positioned through each pilot hole and aligned with the center of the corresponding consumable bushing in the fastener hole of the wing sub-structure, and the skin pilot holes are milled to form fastener holes in the new wing skin aligned with existing sub-structure.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A method of repairing an aircraft wing, the method comprising the steps of:

drilling pilot holes in a new skin, wherein each of the pilot holes correspond to template holes on a skin template, wherein each of the template holes correspond to each fastener hole of an original skin;
aligning the new skin with an existing underlying wing structure such that each of the pilot holes is aligned with a corresponding fastener hole of the existing underlying aircraft wing structure such that a portion of each fastener hole of the existing underlying aircraft wing structure is accessible through the corresponding pilot hole of the new skin;
aligning a mill bit with the portion of each fastener hole of the existing underlying wing structure such that a portion of the mill bit extends through the corresponding pilot hole of the new skin;
and
milling material from around an entire perimeter of each pilot hole of the new skin to form fastener holes in the new skin that align with the fastener holes of the existing underlying wing structure.

2 more elements

A method of creating a replacement aircraft wing skin to repair an aircraft wing, wherein the aircraft wing comprises an original wing skin secured to an underlying wing structure by a plurality of fasteners extending through fastener holes of the original wing skin and corresponding fastener holes of the underlying wing structure, the method comprising the step of:

drilling, in an automated manner, pilot holes in a new skin, wherein:
the pilot holes correspond to each of a set of template holes on a skin template that correspond to each of a plurality of fastener holes extending through the original wing skin, and
the pilot holes are positioned such that, when the new skin is aligned with the underlying wing structure, the entirety of each pilot hole is positioned within a circle aligned with a perimeter of the corresponding fastener hole of the underlying wing structure, and
milling material from around an entire perimeter of each pilot hole of the new skin to form fastener holes in the new skin that align with the fastener holes of the existing underlying wing structure.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Aircraft wing repair methods

Life of this patent

Aircraft wing repair methods

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims22