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Ph*ck it !!! From now on, I'm taking the bus from Miami to San Jose!

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You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!

To expand on what Irish Drifter said about aircraft maintenance, aircraft go through "phase" inspections. These are usually at 100 hour intervals (at least in the Air Force).

The type and extensiveness of the inspection varies depending on the number of hours. Each inspection gets progressively more involved until everything is removed and the plane is given an NDI (non-destructive inspection) where it is actually X-rayed for internal cracks.

Many of the F-15s I worked on ('77-'81) were relatively new and still had to have large patches added to the sides of the intake due to minute cracks. You would be amazed at how thin the skin of an F-15 is. Stress cracks and fractures do occur due to the high Gs the aircraft goes through.

Engines are inspected and removed for overhaul based on their own schedule of runtime regardless of how many hours are on the aircraft.

Other components (ie. avionics [comm/nav, radar, instruments, flight controls, electronic counter measures], hydraulics, electrics, fuels, environmental control systems, weapons, etc.) also go through different inspections, modifications and replacement.

Ah, the good old days on the flightline. Kicking chocks and passing gas.

No wonder I retrained into programming!

Wit thanks for that information. Even though I was in the USAF I was not involved in any aircraft maintenance function and really have no knowledge of the terminology.

I did spend a couple years in the commercial aviation field scheduling airplanes to be in the right place for scheduled maintenance checks as close to the maximum amount of hours they could fly before the mandatory check.

Your post points out how similar commercial and military aviation is. Different terminology but basically the same procedures.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine