Patent ID: 7708281

Claim:
A method of sealing a joint between components in an aircraft comprising the steps of: i) identifying the sealing gap to be sealed, wherein the sealing gap is the difference between the distance between the mating surfaces of the components in the region where a sealing material is most compressed and the maximum distance between the mating surfaces of the components; ii) selecting a suitable sheet or film sealing material which includes a polysulphide sealant and a reinforcing element and has a fractional maximum sealing thickness and a fractional fully-compressed thickness and selecting a suitable thickness of that sealing material, based on a consideration of the fractional maximum sealing thickness and the fractional fully-compressed thickness of the sealing material and on the sealing gap; iii) locating, between the mating surfaces of the components to be sealed, the suitable thickness of the suitable sealing material; and iv) fastening the components together.