What is the service life cycle of a commerical airplane?

T

tim

New member
I have recently flown on the new airbus A380-800 and was amazed by how quiet and spacious it was.

However it did get me thinking, what is the life-cycle of an airplane of this type. Lets take a route such as London to Singapore.

Does plane A, fly to singapore drop of its load, refuel, reload and fly back to london- then does it rest and is it inspected.

Or does it fly that route continuously for a set number of hours then its gets a maintence.

Then after a certain number of hours gets full service??

I am just really interested to know how many flights these planes make between maintence and services?

P.s I have tried looking on the net, but can't find a good source of info.
Thanks all for the answers, roughly speaking how long till a plane needs an A, B C and D service in terms of Hours and cycles?
 
Airliners have lifetimes expressed in hours of flight and cycles (one takeoff and one landing counts as a single cycle). Maintenance is conducted in increasingly involved sessions over increasingly long intervals. Minor checks are performed frequently and require only a short time; major checks are performed only after quite a few hours or cycles and require that the aircraft be immobilized for a time. It's all very carefully planned out by the manufacturer in accordance with air regulations.

Checks are often referred to as A, B, C, and D, in increasing order of duration and complexity. An A check is performed every 100 hours or so, and takes a few hours. A D check is performed every few years, and can take days.

Cycles are important in addition to total hours because each cycle puts certain stresses on the aircraft that are independent of total flight time. For example, each flight involves a pressurization cycle, which puts stress on the airframe that gradually increases wear and tear—and this stress is roughly the same no matter how long each individual flight might be.

So, how long the airplane flies between maintenance periods depends on what you call maintenance. Some things are looked at after every flight; others are checked only every five years or so, or only after a certain number of cycles.

Aircraft can fly for many decades as long as they are properly maintained. A 30-year-old aircraft flies just as well as a 3-month-old aircraft. And aircraft do not get tired, so as long as they are not undergoing maintenance, they are flying, with airlines scheduling things so as to minimize the amount of time that any airplane spends on the ground. A plane on the ground is losing money; a plane in flight is making money.
 
Good answer by Techwing. To give you some idea of the numbers transport airplanes are usually designed with a "service life" of about 50,000 flight hours or 75,000 cycles. At the end of that time the operator can apply to the regulatory agency that licensed that airplane to have the service life extended. This usually involves a thorough inspection of all of the structural components and replacement of any needed parts.
 
Airliners have lifetimes expressed in hours of flight and cycles (one takeoff and one landing counts as a single cycle). Maintenance is conducted in increasingly involved sessions over increasingly long intervals. Minor checks are performed frequently and require only a short time; major checks are performed only after quite a few hours or cycles and require that the aircraft be immobilized for a time. It's all very carefully planned out by the manufacturer in accordance with air regulations.

Checks are often referred to as A, B, C, and D, in increasing order of duration and complexity. An A check is performed every 100 hours or so, and takes a few hours. A D check is performed every few years, and can take days.

Cycles are important in addition to total hours because each cycle puts certain stresses on the aircraft that are independent of total flight time. For example, each flight involves a pressurization cycle, which puts stress on the airframe that gradually increases wear and tear—and this stress is roughly the same no matter how long each individual flight might be.

So, how long the airplane flies between maintenance periods depends on what you call maintenance. Some things are looked at after every flight; others are checked only every five years or so, or only after a certain number of cycles.

Aircraft can fly for many decades as long as they are properly maintained. A 30-year-old aircraft flies just as well as a 3-month-old aircraft. And aircraft do not get tired, so as long as they are not undergoing maintenance, they are flying, with airlines scheduling things so as to minimize the amount of time that any airplane spends on the ground. A plane on the ground is losing money; a plane in flight is making money.
 
Good answer by Techwing. To give you some idea of the numbers transport airplanes are usually designed with a "service life" of about 50,000 flight hours or 75,000 cycles. At the end of that time the operator can apply to the regulatory agency that licensed that airplane to have the service life extended. This usually involves a thorough inspection of all of the structural components and replacement of any needed parts.
 
Commercial jets are used anywhere from 11 to 18 hours a day. Every preflight, maintenance can be called, every five days (at our airline) and airworthiness release needs to be signed off by maintenance (not much of an inspection but deeper than a preflight), then you get into A, B, C and D checks depending on total time, airframe.

The DC-3 is still working and she's 75.
 
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