Fairing arrangements for aircraft

1. A fairing arrangement for bridging an aircraft fixed structure and a control surface hingedly mounted on and angularly displaceable with respect to said aircraft structure, said fairing arrangement including:

a first fairing portion located on said fixed aircraft structure,

a second fairing portion located on said control surface, and

an intermediate flexible seal member disposed between said first and second fairing portions and having a proximal edge region fixed relative to one of said first and second fairing portions and a distal edge region,

wherein said flexible seal member comprises a composite sheet element of rubber or rubber-like material incorporating a plurality of reinforcing plies across at least part of said sheet element, each ply comprising one or more fabric elements, whereby the flexible seal member is deformable to accommodate differential movement between said first and second fairing portions and said flexible seal member defines a surface which generally conforms to the adjacent portions of said first and second fairing portions.

2. A fairing arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plies extends across substantially the whole of the sheet element.

3. A fairing arrangement according to claim 1 wherein at least one of said plies comprises a plurality of fabric elements.

4. A fairing arrangement according to claim 3 , wherein each of said plurality of fabric elements is butted against a neighbouring fabric element in the same ply without significant overlap.

5. A fairing arrangement according to claim 3 wherein at least one of said plies includes a fabric element comprising a cloth strip element extending along the distal edge region of said flexible sheet element with the axis of maximum tensile strength of said strip element extending generally along the distal edge region.

6. A fairing arrangement according to claim 3 wherein at least one of said plies includes a fabric element comprising a cloth strip element extending along each of the side edge regions of the flexible sheet element which extend between said proximal and distal edge regions, with the axis of maximum tensile strength of said cloth strip element extending generally along the associated side edge region.

7. A fairing arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plies comprises a main fabric element extending over at least a central portion of said flexible sheet element to confer flexural strength to said seal member.

8. A fairing arrangement according to claim 7 , wherein said one ply, or at least one of said other plies comprises a buckle-reduction fabric element extending from the proximal edge of said flexible sheet element and of lesser extent than said main fabric element and arranged to prevent or reduce the possibility of the flexible sheet element buckling in that region in use.

9. A fairing arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein at least the distal region of the inner surface of the flexible sheet element comprises a layer of low friction material.

10. A fairing arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the distal edge of said flexible sheet element includes a bulbous lip or bead.

11. An aircraft wing including a fairing arrangement according to claim 1 .

12. A fairing arrangement for bridging an aircraft fixed structure and a control surface hingedly mounted on and angularly displaceable with respect to said aircraft structure, said fairing arrangement including:

a first fairing portion located on said fixed aircraft structure,

a second fairing portion located on said control surface, and

an intermediate flexible seal member disposed between said first and second fairing portions and having a proximal edge region fixed relative to one of said first and second fairing portions and a distal edge region,

wherein said flexible seal member comprises a composite sheet element of rubber or rubber-like material incorporating a plurality of reinforcing plies across at least part of said sheet element, each ply comprising one or more fabric elements and at least one ply comprising a plurality of fabric elements, whereby the flexible seal member is deformable to accommodate differential movement between said first and second fairing portions and said flexible seal member defines a surface which generally conforms to the adjacent portions of said first and second fairing portions throughout at least a major extent of the range of said angular displacement of said control surface.

13. A fairing arrangement for bridging an aircraft fixed structure and a control surface hingedly mounted on and angularly displaceable with respect to said aircraft structure, said fairing arrangement including:

a first fairing portion located on said fixed aircraft structure,

a second fairing portion located on said control surface, and

an intermediate flexible seal member disposed between said first and second fairing portions and having a proximal edge region fixed relative to one of said first and second fairing portions and a distal edge region,

wherein said flexible seal member comprises a composite sheet element of rubber or rubber-like material incorporating a plurality of reinforcing plies across at least part of said sheet element, each ply comprising one or more fabric elements and at least one ply comprising a plurality of fabric elements wherein each of said plurality of fabric elements is butted against a neighbouring fabric element in the same ply without significant overlap, whereby the flexible seal member is deformable to accommodate differential movement between said first and second fairing portions and said flexible seal member defines a surface which generally conforms to the adjacent portions of said first and second fairing portions.

14. In a fairing arrangement for bridging an aircraft fixed structure and a control surface, said fixed structure including a first fairing portion located on said fixed structure, said control surface including a second fairing portion located on said control surface, wherein said improvement comprises an intermediate flexible seal member disposed between said first and second fairing portions and having a proximal edge region fixed relative to one of said first and second fairing portions and a distal edge region adjacent to the other of said first and second fairing portions, wherein said flexible seal member comprises a composite sheet element of at least rubber like material incorporating a plurality of reinforcing plies across at least part of said sheet element, each reinforcing ply comprising one or more fabric elements, whereby the flexible seal member is deformable to accommodate differential movement between said first and second fairing portions and said flexible seal member defines a surface which generally conforms to the adjacent portions of said first and second fairing portions.

15. A flexible seal member for aerodynamically bridging a first fairing portion located on a fixed aircraft structure and a second fairing portion located on an adjacent moveable aircraft control surface, said flexible seal member comprising:

a composite sheet element of at least rubber-like material incorporating a plurality of reinforcing plies across at least a portion of said sheet element, each ply comprising one or more fabric elements, whereby said composite sheet element is deformable to conform to accommodate differential movement between said first and second fairing portions while generally conforming to adjacent portions of said first and second fairing portions.