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To view this page ensure that Adobe Flash Player version 9.0.124 or greater is installed. Has the airplane been inactive or in storage for a long period of time? Airplane inactivity has a more severe impact than regular use. The same issues of material deterioration, lubrication, and part wear due to lack of movement can lead to accelerated aging. Has the airplane been used in a special usage role? A significant amount of time flying at low levels (for example, pipeline patrol or aerial survey) exposes the airframe to more frequent and higher gust loads. This in turn causes additional metal fatigue damage to the wings, empennage, and associated structure. Mountain flying is also a harsher gust environment and therefore more damaging. Operating the airplane with consistently heavy loads or for very short flights also induces additional fatigue damage. Any operation in aerobatic or high-g maneuvers is damaging. Unfortunately, metal fatigue damage is not “healing.” Severe usage early in an airplane’s life is just as damaging as similar usage to an old airplane. Just because the airplane was new when it flew in severe operations, unseen and undetected damage to the metal still occurred and will remain. This can manifest itself in a higher likelihood of cracking later in the airplane’s life. (Wood and composite structures don’t sustain fatigue damage the same as metal, but repeated loads still have long-term damaging effects.) Good records research enables an assessment of individual airplane history including particular and pertinent environmental and usage factors. When coupled with research results for the model type history, an individual airplane assessment becomes more meaningful.
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