Posted on 04/17/2011 6:31:10 AM PDT by Racehorse
A well-maintained plane can fly for decades. Older planes do need more repairs, but experts say an aircraft's age never has been the cause of a passenger death. Pilot training and fatigue, as well as frequency of aircraft maintenance, are larger safety issues.
The average age of jets flown by U.S. airlines is 11 years old, slightly above the world average of 10 but far shy of the 28 for Venezuela's fleet — the oldest of any country with more than a handful of jets.
Theoretically, a jet could continue flying indefinitely as long as an airline maintained it, says Bill Voss, president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation. The costs eventually would be prohibitive, though. Deciding when to mothball an airplane is usually a matter of the economics of the individual airline.
Older planes need more frequent inspections, and bigger and costlier repairs. That means less time in the sky carrying paying passengers. Besides being cheaper to maintain, newer planes offer substantial fuel savings, and passengers enjoy features such as personal TVs.
“Aircraft become impractical a long time before they become unsafe,” Voss says.
SNIP
Age isn't the only factor when it comes to safety. Each takeoff and landing cycle — and the pressurization and depressurization associated with it — adds stress to the skin of the plane. Aircraft that fly short, frequent routes go through more of these cycles than planes flying long distances. In 1988, a 19-year-old Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-200 that had made frequent, short hops among the Hawaiian islands lost a large part of its roof. Corrosion and metal fatigue were to blame.
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
Holy cow! You mean to tell me that over thirty years operating costs go up? Who knew. This is an outrage. I demand an investigation. /s
And how ‘bout them Warthogs? A-10 Thunderbolt: 1972 - 2028 (and beyond?).
I would love to fly one of them warties
They turn on a dime.
Breathtaking to see one flying sideways through a mountain pass laying down fire.
They said it was going to be much cheaper than even when the first flights took place. Even if you took into account 30 years of operating costs and compared those with an adjusted 30 year cost projection it was supposed to be much cheaper.
I *love* that band!
Lol...I plumb forgot about that! But they LOOKED new!
-I'm reminded of the days when we were going to haul Alan Cranston's "nuclear freeze" in the B-1---
-I'm reminded of the days when we were going to haul Alan Cranston's "nuclear freeze" in the B-1---
1967-1968, all our F-100s went through that, 16D's,2 F's, with only a few minor blips. But, they were in pretty rough shape before they were reset. Believe they said they were 1,000 hrs. past their expected life. Left silver, came back camo.
Standing a top a mesa and watching a B-52 fly through a canyon is astounding.
When i was in jr high school i was told a shuttle would be taking off once a week.
Guess that never happened....
They do. Regularly scheduled depot-level maintenance.
Actually, the NexGen long-range bomber is in the works.
AOA’s and RDT&E are in full swing.
A-10s fly over our house three or four times a week. They appear to cue up on the new Hwy 5 bridge over Lake of the Ozarks.
Increased prices as a result of supply and demand as well as the suppliers having to go on “risk” for items that take years to procure and there may be no guarantee that the program would be alive, therefore, increased prices to cover possible cancellation and loss of up-front revenue.
I never get tired of watching them fly.
I can only imagine.
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