23rd Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, 8-13 September, 2002, Toronto, Canada
Paper ICAS 2002-8.6.1

PATCH REPAIR OF CRACKS IN THE UPPER LONGERON OF AN F-16 AIRCRAFT OF THE ROYAL NETHERLANDS AIR FORCE (RNLAF)

W. G. J. ‘t Hart, J. A. M. Boogers
NLR, the Netherlands

Keywords: repair, adhesive bonded repairs, flight simulation fatigue testing

Cracks were detected in the flange of the upper right longeron 16B1111-21, FS 186.90 – FS 247.89 of an F-16 aircraft of the RNLAF. The National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) was asked by the RNLAF to consider the possibility of a bonded patch repair. This paper reports on the analysis of the cracks in the longeron, the bonded patch repair, supporting spectrum fatigue tests, and the patch inspection results during the remaining life of the F-16 aircraft.

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