14

Have a look at this picture: enter image description here

It's from Airliners.net (though I've modified it a lot) and shows some lines on the fuselage. What are they? Are they Lightning Diverter Strips like in this question ?

Community
  • 1
user13197
  • 11,437
  • 23
  • 89
  • 171

2 Answers2

24

No, they are just the boundaries between skin panels. See below for a picture of the 747-8 fuselage during assembly.

[Boeing 747-8 front from side[1]

Boeing 747-8 front from side (picture source)

And this is how the panels for the cylindrical section look like before they are joined:

Boeing 747-8 panel skins

Boeing 747-8 fuselage panels. The original picture (source) is named "wing panel skins", but these are really fuselage parts.

Peter Kämpf
  • 231,832
  • 17
  • 588
  • 929
0

These lines are skin laps. The vertical ones do not overlap, the horizontal laps overlap by three rows of fasteners.

DeltaLima
  • 83,202
  • 11
  • 272
  • 366
Jeffrey Hall
  • 11
  • The downvote wasn't mine but it would probably help if you explained what a "skin lap" is. The asker surely wanted to understand what they are, not just what their name is. – David Richerby Aug 23 '16 at 10:22