Between June 15 and August 20, technicians from the Brazilian Navy's Naval Air Group (GAerNavMan) carried out, for the first time, the 3rd echelon repair on the extrados of Wing Nose of an AF-1C attack and intercept jet Skyhawk (TA-4KU), due to cracks in the right wing of the N-1022 aircraft.
During the inspection carried out on the AF-1C, the military found cracks in the aircraft's wings. After a careful evaluation by the engineering sector, it was found that this repair could be carried out by GAerNavMan soldiers. During the process, it was necessary to mold some plates and adapt them to achieve the ideal format, as well as to develop tools to carry out the work.
The repair was carried out with the placement of an external patch on the right wing and the reinforcement of stiffners in the internal part, according to the recommended procedure, informs the Naval Air Force Command. Although foreseen in the manual, it was the first time that a structural repair was carried out in this region of the Wing Nose, at the 3rd echelon level in AF-1 aircraft, thus increasing the capacity of this maintenance group.
According to Air Force Magazine, the VF-1 Falcão squadron, a unit that employs A-4/AF-1 jets from the São Pedro da Aldeia Naval Air Base (RJ), has six Skyhawks, four of which are single-seat AF-1Bs (N-1001, 1008, 1011 and 1013) and two dual-seat AF-1Cs (1021 and 1022), and should receive its last AF-1B (1004) from Embraer by the end of this year.
