Structural integrity of aircraft panels is an important design problem in high-performance aircraft and supersonic vehicle design. Aircraft panel vibration is the most studied problem in designing an aircraft. This can lead to excessive cabin noise, stability problems and structural failure. In this paper, the effects of aspect ratio change on nonlinear resonance of a thin rectangular aircraft panel clamped on all edges with forcing frequency near to the frequency of the first linear mode of the plate are investigated. The partial differential equation governing the motion of the aircraft panel is taken from Von Karman nonlinear plate theory. Increasing aspect ratio of the aircraft panel generally acts to excite higher modes of vibration and has the overall effect of increasing the frequency of the plate vibration. © 2018, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.