Shrink film packaging for an assembled aircraft or portion thereof and method of making the same

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Briefly stated, the present invention comprises shrunk-on packaging for an assembled aircraft or portion thereof, and a method of making the same, utilizing heat shrinkable polymer film.
The method comprises the steps of covering the exposed jagged or sharp edges and discontinuities, exposed irregularly shaped areas, and exposed heat-sensitive components of the aircraft or portion thereof, with a foam material.
The foam material provides cushioning to prevent puncturing of the film, heat insulation for the heat-sensitive components and anchoring areas for securing the film to the aircraft or portion thereof.
The aircraft or portion thereof is wrapped with a plurality of separate sections of heat shrinkable polymer film.
Adjoining sections of the film are at least partially overlapping to provide a generally continuous covering.
The next step involves applying heat to the heat shrinkable film sections to shrink the film to tightly conform to the aircraft or portion thereof to provide a generally airtight covering, to fuse together the overlapping film sections and to fuse portions of the film to adjoining foam material.
Next, elongated strips of heat shrinkable material are applied along seams formed by the fusing together of the overlapping film sections.
Finally, heat is applied to the elongated strips to shrink and fuse the strips to the film sections on both sides of the seams to seal and reinforce the seams.
The shrunk-on packaging is the package formed utilizing the foregoing method.