How do we figure out the lifespan of an aircraft?

Melinda Laubach-Hock, Director of the Aging Aircraft Lab explains the tests and procedures that are used to determine where and when aircraft will corrode, crack, and more.

Vocabulary: aviation, corrosion, metal fatigue, materials testing, inspection

An aircraft begins to age the moment it leaves the assembly line. Every takeoff, landing, and minute of turbulence in flight adds extra stress to an airframe. Some problems of aging are easily visible and corrected by routine maintenance, but others can remain hidden away.

Melinda Laubach-Hock, director of the Aging Aircraft Lab at the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University, describes how her lab first strips away the paint from a sample plane and then disassembles it piece by piece, looking for signs of cracks, corrosion, and metal fatigue. The lab has looked at everything from a Cessna that made regular tourist flights over the Grand Canyon, to a massive KC-135 military refueling craft, and everything in between.

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