Importance

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Abstract

A sliding aircraft door assembly for selectively closing a doorway in a pressurized aircraft fuselage. The door assembly includes a door having a height and width at least as large as the vertical opening of the doorway. At least one elongate supporting and guiding rail is attached to the inner side of the door adjacent each of its upper and lower edges. At least one elongate supporting and guiding fuselage track is attached longitudinally along the length of the fuselage both along the upper and lower edges of the doorway and adapted for slidable interlocking engagement with the rails on the door. The fuselage tracks extend a sufficient distance along the fuselage past the doorway to enable the door to be moved to a position substantially fully opening the doorway. The elongate supporting and guiding rails and tracks each have profiles respectively interlocking with each other to prohibit movement of the door in a direction away from the fuselage but permitting sliding movement of the door along the fuselage, whereby the force exerted on the door as a result of the in-flight pressure differential exerted on the door increases the contact pressure between the supporting and guiding rails and tracks and thereby distributes the outwardly directed force exerted on the door over spaced locations along the fuselage.

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First Claim