Fastener Hole Producing Technology for Fracture and Fatigue Critical Aircraft Structure

The need to reduce weight and extend the fatigue life of aircraft structures led to the development of high-performance aircraft fastener systems. High-performance fasteners do not meet expectations, unless the quality of the fastener hole is controlled. This paper describes the action that was taken by the Lockheed-Georgia Company to improve hole producing technology, including portable gun-drilling, and to assure that this technology was applied in a production environment to the C-5 wing modification program.