The failure of an F/A-18 trailing edge flap hinge

During a flight over sea, the right-hand trailing-edge flap (TEF) from an RAAF F/A-18 separated. Although the flap was not recovered, the mode of failure suggested that the outboard hinge lug was first to fail. A fleet-wide inspection of the TEF outer hinge lugs disclosed two other cracked hinge lugs. Examination of these cracks revealed that they had propagated as the result of a combination of corrosion and fatigue, in that the corrosive environment appeared to have accelerated the fatigue crack growth rate. Laboratory experiments indicated that, in a salt solution, the 7050 aluminium alloy from which the lugs were manufactured is susceptible to corrosion fatigue and that the observed cracking matched that on the cracked lugs: corrosion fatigue was therefore suspected to have been a contributing factor in the unexpected failure. Quantitative fractography on the fatigue cracks, combined with several assumptions and deductions, including information about the failure size of the crack gained from witness marks found on the monoball bearing of the failed TEF, led to an estimate of the fatigue crack growth rate. This crack growth rate and the short service life clearly indicated the limitations of the then-current non-destructive inspection (NDI) technique, and a more sensitive inspection method was developed to assist in the maintenance of adequate RAAF flying hours between inspections. This failure investigation provided an excellent example of how fractography, laboratory experiments and NDI can be combined to determine a possible cause of failure and to establish remedial measures for the fleet.