Large Scale Aircraft Repairs with Photogrammetry and Laser Tracker

Publication Details

Abstract

Boeing supports Aircraft on Ground (AOG) operations to repair damaged airplanes in service. The paper will outline two case studies of large scale repairs:
1. 707 E-6B Mercury Doomsday Plane Tail Replacement.
An E-6B Mercury Command and Control Aircraft was being towed outside a storage hanger in February 2019. The tug driver and spotters failed to clear the hanger door before starting their turn and clipped the vertical tail causing severe damage to the tail, pressure dome and other primary attach structure. Assistance for metrology was required to assess the current condition of the aircraft and to position the necessary tooling for the repair.
2. 737 Next Generation Left Hand Wing Rear Spar and Lower Wing Skin Panel replacements.
A 737-800 Next Generation, Fly Dubai Aircraft, sustained Left Hand Wing Tip Damage when the plane was struck on the ground by another aircraft. The damage was such that the Rear Spar, Lower-Center Skin Panel, a few Ribs and the Wing Tip required replacement.
A shift from standard optics and golden rivets is making way to the use of Laser Trackers and Photogrammetry systems to develop coordinate systems for maintenance, monitoring and repair of in service aircraft. Multiple station laser tracker positions are used to measure key aircraft features and tied together with common targeting that can be used with photogrammetry systems to measure contour. Through the multiple technologies, large scale, volumetric coordinate systems are derived and used to ensure the aircraft are in optimum shape before, during and after repair. Leica AT960 Laser Trackers with T-Probe and Gravity Leveling Capability, Leica AT930 Laser Trackers and API T-3 Laser Trackers were used along with GSI INCA 3 Cameras for both projects. V-STARS and Spatial Analyzer software were used for all data reduction and reporting.