Consumable bushing for use with aircraft wing repair systems and methods

#As aircraft remain in service for several decades, oftentimes even beyond their expected service life, the wings of these aircraft may become corroded or otherwise damaged from prolonged service. This damage, which may include holes, tears, scratches, cuts, and/or the like in the skin of the wing, is particularly acute in high-speed aircraft. In high-speed applications, such damage may result in a change in the drag and/or lift coefficients of the wings, which may ultimately result in decreased performance, structural failure, and/or flight safety of the aircraft.

#In many applications, the skin of an aircraft wing is attached to an underlying wing structure (e.g., spars, ribs, internal braces, and/or the like) by aligning a solid, undrilled skin portion over the underlying wing structure, and drilling fastener holes through the skin and into the underlying wing structure. Fasteners (e.g., rivets, JO-BOLTS, HI-LOCK fasteners, and/or the like) are then secured in the fastener holes to secure the skin to the underlying wing structure. While the number of fasteners ultimately used to secure the skin to the underlying wing structure varies in part on the size of the wing, many aircraft wings utilize thousands of fasteners to secure the skin to the underlying wing structure. Moreover, the fastener holes are often drilled by hand during the manufacturing process, resulting in a significant variation in the fastener hole pattern across different aircraft wings, even between aircrafts of the same model.

#Because of the high degree of precision required in aligning aircraft wing skins over the underlying wing structure and the high degree of complexity involved in aligning thousands of hand-drilled fastener holes, aircraft wing skins have historically not been replaced once damaged. Instead, the aircraft is typically retired and/or scrapped. Alternatively, an entirely new wing may be fabricated and purchased at a high cost, again by securing the new skin to the new underlying wing structure in a manner as described herein. Such ensures that the necessary manufacturing tolerances of the aircraft wing remain intact; however, in many cases, the underlying wing structure remains structurally sound even when the overlying wing skin has been corroded or damaged from prolonged use and thus this approach results in costly scrap of the original underlying wing structure that remains structurally sound.

#Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

#FIGS. 1A-1B include a flow chart illustrating example steps in a method for replacing an aircraft wing skin according to various embodiments;

#FIG. 2 shows an aircraft wing secured within an exemplary wing fixture according to various embodiments;

#The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

#Various embodiments are directed to a method for replacing a wing skin of an aircraft wing and for precisely locating the relative positions of the fastener holes of the original wing components (e.g., the original wing skin and/or the existing underlying wing structure). In various embodiments, after a wing is removed from an aircraft, it is mounted within a wing fixture to securely hold the wing in place to ensure that the wing does not flex during the wing skin removal or replacement procedures, and to facilitate performing tasks on the wing while it is removed from the aircraft. As utilized herein, those portions of the wing that have been removed from the aircraft are referred to herein as “original” or “existing” components in order to distinguish these components from the new and/or replacement components utilized throughout the process.

#After mounting the wing within the wing fixture, the fasteners securing the original skin to the existing underlying wing structure are removed, and the original wing skin is removed from the existing underlying wing structure. The wing fixture is specially configured to isolate the original skin and the existing underlying wing structure from the surrounding environment and to still further retain both securely relative to one another, as the fasteners are removed. The specially designed wing fixture holds the original skin and the existing underlying wing structure rigidly in a manner so as to prevent any twisting or warping of existing underlying wing structure once the original skin is removed. In certain embodiments, the wing fixture holds the original skin and the existing underlying wing structure in a vertical configuration, allowing technicians clear access for fastener and skin removal, as illustrated in FIG. 2. As may be seen therein, the wing is supported primarily through the base of the center section of the wing fixture via a fuselage attach rib. It is secured both top and bottom at the leading edge and trailing edge by bolts attached to actuators and support brackets. Special wing tip adapters are utilized to secure the wing tips. All of these components are configured to collectively permit the wing fixture to allow the wing to “relax” in the fixture prior to tightening the securing bolts, which prevents any artificial “set” due to structure and/or changing environmental conditions.