Paragon Purchasing Blog

When assembling an aircraft, there are a multitude of fasteners that come together to maintain the structural integrity of the airframe and other parts. At their most basic, fasteners are a type of hardware component that joins two or more materials or parts in a permanent or non-permanent fashion. Types of fasteners can include screws, nuts, bolts, clamps, rivets, and more. When securing the body of an aircraft, fastening a crankshaft, or joining other system components together, various types of rivets are used due to their fastening properties. In this blog, we will discuss the various types of rivets, and how they are used for aircraft.

Why do some aircraft feature a small vertical section at the tip of their wings? Well, those upturned tips are called winglets, additions to the wing that are designed to prevent vortices from forming. In this blog, we’ll explore what winglets are, and why they are so important.

A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft that achieves flight by using wings to produce lift. They are called “fixed-wing” because their wings are stationary, as opposed to rotary-wing aircraft, which generate lift by rapidly spinning rotors or blades. To work properly, the wings of an aircraft have to attach to a structure. In the case of fixed-wing aircraft, the aircraft wings are attached to the body of the aircraft, known as the fuselage. There are three types of fixed-wing aircraft fuselage structures: Truss, Monocoque, and Semimonocoque.

As with any part that is to be installed on an aircraft, it must meet some type of FAA qualification to be legally installed on aircraft and considered airworthy. An important certification of compliance regarding aviation parts is being approved as a “Standard Part”. Standard parts are components and materials that conform to an established industry or US government published specification. This can mean they meet specifications such military standard, aviation standard, or nas standards, and the qualification and approval of these articles is given by the FAA.

Every light on an aircraft has its own purpose. They can be broken down into two categories based on what it makes visible, either aircraft or pilot visibility. Lights that improve aircraft visibility are lighting systems that help make the aircraft more visible to other aircraft while in flight. Lights that improve pilot visibility are lighting systems that make it clearer for the pilot to look out the flight deck windows.