How long do planes last for??

Question

Just wondered! I recently flew with Thomsonfly and their planes were previously owned by Brittania so they must be old, they looked old inside too! Thanks x

Answer 1

If you know the regestration share it over here, we can find out precisly how old an aircraft is.

For how long they "last" for, that is acually very hard to answer. A well maintained aircraft can fly for a very long time, and as safley as a brand new aircraft. Some DC-3's are used in Alaska and Canada to haul Cargo and People are in excess of 70 years. They fly regularly day after day. What's the secret? Mantinence.

Some 737's are flying with around 90,000 cycles on there airframe.( Aloha's 737-200's come to mind) A cycle is an entire flight's presurization regime.

Answer 2

I don't know about civilian aircraft, but the British Military aircraft are built for 6000 flying hours (hours in the air). This can be extended due to airframe strengthening (my last post was on Jaguars which went up to 6500:00 Flying Hours).

In special circumstances aircraft can be restored or made airworthy again, but it requires a lot of maintenance to keep an aircraft airworthy past it's 6000:00 hour point.

Look at the restored Vulcan. It took years to restore it!

Answer 3

As long at they are maintained.

With that being said, sometimes the cost of maintaing them is more expensive then it is to replace them.

Commerical aircraft have different checks that need to be done after so many flight hours or cycles  I.E.. A check, C check..

Some checks are very long, and very expensive to complete, such as a C check where they basically X ray the entire aircraft and disasemble it. This can cost millions of dollars, and that money would  be better spent on a newer a/c, so these aircraft, although nothing wrong with them are parked and canablized for parts, just because the company doest want to spend the money to have it checked.

Also with rising fuel costs, and the biggest factor in an airlines bottom line, they want to get more efficient aircraft to help curb their fuel costs, thats why you dont see very many Dc-8's flying, as they guzzled fuel, compared to modern high bypass jetliners..

Answer 4

Everything in the UK has to have an airworthiness certificate,,some aircraft from before WW2 still fly,,the answer is that they can fly for as long as they are maintained in an airworthy state,,

Answer 5

My fathers 1948 Stinso is still flying!  Also there some 1920's biplanes that are still flying!

Answer 6

as long as they are well maitained I guess about  30 years

Answer 7

Some planes, such as the Dakota, can last 50 years.  

Planes tend to get passed down to obscure airlines as they get older.  Quite a few airlines are prohibited from flying to the UK.

Answer 8

Depends how well you maintain it my instructor had one that was from 1960 his 172 is from 1977 and it looks brand new and runs great.

Cheers

Answer 9

The average airliner lasts about 20 years or about 40,000 hours in first line airline service.  They rarely last more than 30 years before going to cargo or charter companies.  Also wear on the aircraft is kept track by cycles (number of flights).  On smaller jets, there will be more cycles per hours, so they will wear out faster.

That being said I've worked on aircraft that are in daily airline service that are over 60 years old (Grumman Goose built 1944) and had over 100,000 hours and 150,000 cycles (Convair 580 turboprop, built 1952).  The highest time jet I've personally seen was a 737 with 68,000 hours and 80,000 cycles built in 1984 for Alaska Airlines.  Older 737s must be modified with reinforcements after they pass 50,000 cycles to prevent the roof from coming off like the Aloha Airlines 737.

The only other limitations are the maximum airframe hours and cycles in the Type Certificate which are far more than most airlines will fly them.

Answer 10

Jets last for as long as the owner is willing to put money into them.

I recently discovered a plane I used to worked on as few as 5 years ago was retired to a museum. (Reminding me that I need to send a letter to the museum.)

I've worked on, handled and fueled many aircraft that were older than I am.

I was convinced I'd overdone it the night before when I saw 737-200's in Southwest livery at an airport I used to work at. They were being converted to freighters and you couldn't walk through the hangar for all the seats because Southwest wanted the seats back.

Unless your ticket specifies the aircraft type as a Comet Mk3 or something of similar age, I wouldn't worry about it.

Anectdotally, a group of buffs were trying to get a Convair 880 flying again, (they must like spending money on fuel.)

In the world of piston aircraft, it's also a matter of money and love. There's a Bleriot from 1909 still flying and many others. I was a supervisor at an FBO when a retired airline pilot brought in a beautifully restored Beech staggerwing built in the mid-1930's, and happened to be the only person in the FBO knew where we had towbars for it.

If you're willing to spend the money, an airplane will last forever.

Fly the Friendly, (if aging,) Skies!

JT

Answer 11

They typically last until a cheap low rent airline like ValueJet crashes one one into the everglades....

They were flying old Delta hand me downs, but they regrouped from the catastrophy, reorganized and boaught new planes and renamed themselves, Airtran.......

That crash was attributed to old oxygen canisters in the cargo hold that somehow touched off a smoldering fire....and the piltos couldn't make it back to Miami and were overcome by the smoke.

Answer 12

Some are as old as the Ark..

Answer 13

For what it costs to make one, I should imagine they last a very long time if regularly serviced.

Answer 14

they can be made to last more than a lifetime

the B-52 was made in the 50's and is still in service, and will not be retired until at least 2050, so thats a hundred year service life

Answer 15

Proper maintenance of a well-designed aircraft can extend the life of a plane far beyond expectations. The US Air Force fleet of Boeing B-52 bombers are now over 50 years old and expected to soldier on for another decade or more as newer designs are brought into the inventory (though many have already been retired due to airframe fatigue, battle damage, etc).

Boeing's 747 is another great design; upgrades & good maintenance means these planes can fly for another 20+ years.

And there are quite a few aircraft that were built in the 1930s & 1940s that are still flown regularly.

Answer 16

How long is a piece of string?

Answer 17

Planes can last for as long as they are cared for to last. Today, many foreign airliners are still flying aircraft from the 50's, and some of these jets fly better than some of the modern ones today! As for general aviation, if you look at fly-ins, many people have "old relics" of aircraft that should be in a graveyard, but through TLC are kept up in the air. Hope that helps!