Thank you, I was going to post this up...randy331 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 11, 2018 12:53 pmAloha flight 243 may have needed pulled out of service sooner for reasons other than fuel efficiency.Little Mouse wrote: ↑Sat Aug 11, 2018 12:00 pm Planes have millions of miles put on them if anything they are replaced for newer more efficent fuel cost engines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8G0dviUr5U
Aluminum isn't used in aircraft because of it's fatigue properties. It's weight.
Aircraft go through constant inspections looking for the inevitable cracks will show up.
Randy
Aircraft are very definitely closely monitored on a "cycle" basis as well as runtime and everything, including the airframes themselves, get "lifed" out on a regular basis. Flight 243 was interesting because the short hop flights in Hawaii put many pressure cycles on the airframe in a short period of time.
With every accident like this, we learn and readjust operating procedures to suit.
Growing up, I was into mountain biking, and it was in the era of ultralight handlebars. The rule of thumb was you never used a handlebar for more than a season, then you threw it out. Magazines were cycle-testing handlebars and rating them on cycles per failure (carbon fiber, incidentally, was determined to be nearly immortal as long as you didn't nick it). Some bike manufacturers who made aluminum frames, notable Cannondale (or "Crack-n-fail" as we joked) had different ratings for their bikes and would advise weight limits and frequent replacement on the lightest ones.
Of course, this was before full suspension became common, so it was a goal to have a sub-20lb bike. I think mine was in the 23lb range, but I wanted something I could ride on a regular basis, so nothing crazy like 28 spoke wheels or titanium chains.