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Airworthiness of long-life jet transport structures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

U. G. Goranson
Affiliation:
Boeing Commercial Airplane Company
John Hall
Affiliation:
Boeing Commercial Airplane Company

Extract

Boeing has recently completed a structural integrity reassessment of 707 aircraft models, and released a Supplemental Inspection Document (SID). Similar activities are now progressing for model 727. Structural reassessments are continuous over the operational life of all Boeing aircraft models and used for developing inspection information directed toward detecting structural damage before it becomes a serious problem in the fleet.

The fail-safe design concept requires interaction between the designer /manufacturer and the airline operators. Within this concept, maintenance and inspection are equally important as the basic design. It is important for operators to provide continuous vigilance of aircraft structure to detect damage and perform timely maintenance. Knowledge of damage that is occurring in the fleet is essential to the manufacturer to provide timely advice through service bulletins or other publications. This interchange is depicted in Fig. 1, and is the foundation of the fail-safe design concept.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1980 

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References

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