I had an unsettling feeling about the way many people circulated ages of planes of domestic airlines operating in Nigeria. I had learned a long time ago, that in the airline industry, age isn't the main factor for putting a plane out of the sky, but quality maintenance. Let us re-educate our selves about the mis-information being bandied around recently


BY SCOTT MAYEROWITZ

Published 12:01 a.m., Saturday, April 16, 2011

How old is too old for an airplane?

Most travelers don't think twice about it — although there's something unsettling about easing into your seat and finding the armrest still has an ashtray built in.

But fliers may be more worried than usual after a 5-foot hole opened in the roof of a 15-year-old Southwest jet earlier this month. Southwest quickly grounded 79 of its older Boeing 737s for inspections.

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.

Nearly one out of every four planes flown today by U.S. airlines is more than 15 years old. That's about the same share as a decade ago, according to aviation consulting firm Ascend. The government requires more frequent inspections as an airplane or certain parts get older. The Federal Aviation Administration doesn't set a mandatory retirement age for planes.

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.

On April 1, a Southwest Boeing 737-300 with 118 people on board rapidly lost cabin pressure just after takeoff from Phoenix after the plane's fuselage ruptured, causing a 5-foot tear. Passengers reached for oxygen masks as the pilots quickly brought the plane down to an altitude with more oxygen in the air before making an emergency landing at an Arizona military base.

No one was seriously injured. While the incident still is being investigated, the jet had been pressurized and depressurized 39,000 times in its 15 years and metal fatigue is suspected. Cracks subsequently were found on five other Southwest jets with more than 30,000 cycles.

That came as a shock to the industry. Boeing engineers had forecast that the planes wouldn't need to be inspected for metal fatigue until at least 60,000 cycles.

“It reminds us that as much we know about metal structures, we haven't figured it all out yet,” Voss says.

Flying is the safest form of public transportation. John M. Cox, an aviation safety consultant and former commercial pilot, says regulators do a good job of making sure airlines perform proper maintenance.

“A '55 Chevy in the right hands could go hundreds of thousands of miles,” he says.

But that isn't much comfort to some passengers. After all, if the Chevy breaks down, you simply pull off to the side of the road.

Emily Kahn of Portland, Ore., says she now does more research before booking a flight and is willing to pay more for a newer model of plane.

“When the magazine rack in front of me is falling apart, it's not the best feeling in the world,” Kahn says. “It makes me think they aren't spending enough time inspecting this plane.”

Of the 5,363 jets used by U.S. airlines today, almost 1,300 are more than 15 years old and 235 of them were built before 1988, the year the government banned smoking on most domestic flights.

At least one site, airfarewatchdog.com, provided travelers this week with instructions on how to find the type of plane assigned to a route. “If you have a choice, why not go with a newer model?” founder George Hobica says.

Passengers can check the make and model of a plane by entering the flight number on sites such as flightaware.com and flightstats.com. The airlines also usually provide that information on their websites. However, aircraft can be changed at the last minute. And none of the sites specify the age or maintenance history of a specific plane.

Some airlines have much younger fleets than others. Virgin America, which only started service in August 2007, is flying planes that average just 3.4 years. Allegiant Air, which bought MD-80s once flown by Aeromexico and SAS Scandinavian Airlines, has an average fleet age of 21.5 years.

Ascend aviation analyst Andy Golub notes that Allegiant picked up its used jets for bargain prices, meaning the company has plenty of cash on hand.

“They have more than enough money to make sure that those aircraft are superbly maintained,” Golub says.

Even within an airline, there can be big differences. Delta Air Lines has an average fleet age of 16 years. Its 737-700s average less than 2 years old. But it also has more than 30 DC-9s that date back to the 1970s. They are the oldest commercial passenger planes flown today by a U.S. airline. Delta plans to retire those jets next year.

Not even new planes have spotless safety records, of course. The last two U.S. fatal airline crashes — a Continental Express flight to Buffalo, N.Y., and a Delta Connection flight out of Kentucky — were both on relatively new planes, 1 and 5 years old respectively.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/In-aircraft-years-how-old-is-too-old-1338825.php#ixzz1x5X5K9Z9
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How old is the plane you're flying on?

February 01, 2010|By A. Pawlowski, CNN

Most U.S. air travelers fly on planes that have been in service for a decade or more. Will they flock to the Boeing Dreamliner?

Few people expect luxury while flying, but these days, even the basics seem to be in bad shape.

It's not uncommon to find your tray table broken, the in-flight entertainment system not working and your seat cushion worn -- all of which can make you think, how old is this plane anyway?

It won't be an issue for passengers who board the shiny new Boeing 787 Dreamliner when it enters commercial service -- perhaps sometime next year if everything goes smoothly during its testing period.

Most Americans likely won't see the plane for a few years after that. Most Dreamliners have been ordered by airlines outside the United States.)

The fuel-efficient aircraft will boast all-new interiors with state-of-the-art lighting, bigger windows, roomier overhead bins, higher humidity levels in the passenger cabin and "more personal space," according to Boeing.

But for now, the reality for many U.S. air travelers is that most of their journeys take place on planes that have been in service for a decade or more and show it, though in ways that have no impact on their safety -- like worn interiors, broken creature comforts and less than spotless conditions.

That doesn't stop some passengers from wondering if interior wear and tear translates to something more ominous.

"It's inevitable you draw the link, even subconsciously sometimes, between whether a plane is cosmetically well maintained with whether it's safe," said Joe Brancatelli, who flies dozens of times a year and runs JoeSentMe.com, a Web site for business travelers.

"That is a very tenuous link, it's more psychological than reality, but people make that link."

Aging fleets

In fact, it has been a while since most Americans have experienced that new plane smell.

The average age of the fleet of the seven large U.S. passenger airlines -- including American, Alaska, Continental, the merged Delta and Northwest, Southwest, United and US Airways -- is about 14 years old, according to The Airline Monitor.

It found American and Delta/Northwest had the oldest fleets, at about 16 years on average. As of the end of 2008, a small percentage of the merged Delta/Northwest's planes dated back to the late 1960s.

U.S. fleets are among the oldest in the world, said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia.

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-02-01/travel/planes.age.dreamliner_1_plane-oldest-fleets-passengers?_s=PM:TRAVEL
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FAA will set 'retirement age' for passenger jets

By ERIC TORBENSON / The Dallas Morning News mailto:etorbenson%40dallasnews.com

Published: 12 November 2010 11:55 AM

In the wake of several incidents where holes opened on the fuselage of passenger jets, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that it will set a "retirement age" for jets to address fatigue issues.

Once regulators and plane makers agree on a maximum age for a plane type, airlines may choose to retire older planes instead of undergoing what is expected to be much more rigorous and costly maintenance schedules. The new rules will be phased in over several years, making the impact on carriers difficult to predict.

"We've addressed the problem of aging aircraft with numerous targeted regulations and 100 airworthiness directives over the years," FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said in a release Friday. "This rule is a comprehensive solution to ensure the structural safety of today's airliners and the airplanes of tomorrow."

Holes in jets flown by Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. and Fort Worth-based American Airlines Inc. didn't injure any passengers but concerned some safety watchers. Similar cracks were found also on a jet flown by Chicago-based United Airlines Inc.

The initial inquiries into what caused the holes pointed to fatigue-related cracking, which occurs as jet fuselages expand and contract from pressurization with each flight.

The new rules wouldn't automatically retire any of the 4,198 planes being flown in the U.S., but rather would establish a strict set of maintenance inspections and guidelines to ensure that cracking doesn't become an issue.

Plane makers, such as Boeing and Airbus, will have up to five years to work with regulators on determining the "limits of validity" for each plane type; airlines will have more time after that to work through how they maintain planes under the new rules.

The limits proposed Friday by the FAA suggest the MD-80s flown by American Airlines should fly no more than 50,000 "cycles" - one takeoff and landing. Boeing's popular 737 family models, which Southwest flies, were approved for 75,000 cycles.

Out of a fleet of 619 jets, American flies 247 MD-80s, which were an average of 18 years old in 2009. Some of its twin-engine Boeing 767-200s are older than its MD-80s, and the carrier is adding Boeing 737-800s at the recent rate of one every two weeks to replace its MD-80s.

In October, a Boeing 757 operated by American was forced to land at Miami International Airport after a hole developed near the front of the plane. The average age for American's fleet of Boeing 757s is 16 years.

American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said the carrier had a robust maintenance inspection program in place and it will comply with the FAA directive.

"American Airlines has a long history of maintaining its aircraft to the highest standards and working closely with the FAA to address any potential safety issues, and we will continue to do so," she said.

Southwest has among the younger fleets of the major airlines, with its 544 Boeing 737s averaging about 11 years old. The 737 where a hole opened up at the top of the fuselage near the plane's tail in July 2009 was 15 years old.

"We will review the new regulation and will comply fully with its requirements," said Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz. "Safety is and always will be our highest priority."

The FAA said that all planes develop tiny cracks in their skins as they age; it's when the cracks join together that they present a greater risk. Part of the challenge for regulators is that the same airplane can be flown and maintained far differently depending on operator, purpose and even location.

What the FAA and plane makers will have a harder time deciding is how newer planes with more composite components wear in comparison to metal planes.

Composites, which are used extensively in the newest planes such as Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and new Airbus jets, don't crack but do "delaminate" as they get older and can degrade. However, the materials are new enough that it's not clear how durable they will be over the long haul.

Friday's announcement links back to an incident in 1988 when an Aloha Airlines 737 lost an 18-foot section of its upper fuselage because of cracking. A volley of regulations aimed at preventing a similar incident steered regulators to this new rule.

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/headlines/20101112-FAA-will-set-retirement-age-7732.ece
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Indonesia eyes 10-year age limit on passenger planes

Wed Feb 28, 2007 5:03am EST

JAKARTA Feb 28 (Reuters) - Indonesia is considering slashing the age limit on leased commercial passenger planes to 10 years to modernise its ageing fleet and improve safety, the transport minister was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.

The Southeast Asian country has suffered a string of recent air and maritime accidents, which have been partly blamed on its often shoddy and ageing infrastructure.

"Our commercial aircraft are 20 years old. We will modernise, rejuvenate our aircraft by enacting an age limit on aircraft of 10 years old," Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa was quoted as telling reporters in Cirebon in West Java province on Wednesday.

He said that at the time of leasing the plane should be no more than 10 years old, Antara reported.

However, Hatta emphasised that the issue was still being discussed and would need to be ratified by ministerial decree.

"It is an important thing for passengers' safety and comfort. Moreover, the economic limit age for aircraft is 20 years."

Hatta said that currently the age limit was 35 years or 70,000 landings, Antara reported.

The administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has come under pressure to improve the country's poor transport safety record after a plane accident and two ferry disasters in the space of about two months.

A 17-year-old Boeing 737-300 operated by budget carrier Adam Air carrying 102 people disappeared on New Year's Day and is believed to have crashed into the sea off Sulawesi island.

The government also grounded Adam Air's six remaining Boeing 737-300s last week for safety checks after one of its aircraft cracked during a hard landing.

But the proposed age limit on planes could be difficult in to enforce in practice since many of the aircraft operating in Indonesia are well over 10 years old.

Air travel in Indonesia, home to 220 million people, has grown substantially since the liberalisation of the airline industry after the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.

The transport minister was also quoted on Elshinta radio's Web site as saying that the age of ferries should be limited to 20 years and trains 40 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNnKc-hMYSY&feature=related


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3PPHWPiOgI