How many hours does a plane usually last?

Question

ive never really understood why a planes "mileage" if you will is measured in hours. when do you get a new plane? how many hours?

Answer 1

It really depends upon the type of aircraft and the use of the aircraft as to how many hours that they aircraft will fly. Planes go through a lot of routine maintenance which allows them to fly for quite a while. Although I came upon one aircraft that if after 10,000 hours the aircraft could no longer be flown, because it was and aerobatic type plane and the would have been too much stress on the aircraft (that is an extreme situation though)

Answer 2

That really depends on the plane itself.
A Cessna 172 can last for 50-70 years.
Look at how long the Concorde was around for.
14 built almost 50 years ago, flying about 400,000 miles.

The average medium sized commercial plane (such as the 737 or A320) can last up to 30 years and can fly for about 300,000 miles.

A Boeing 747 can last for about 15-20 years, and fly for about 1,200,000 miles

Answer 3

Aircraft with proper maintenance stay in use for many many years. Their typical "mileage" unit is hours normally based on engine hours. That measurement is more precise for aircraft than miles. Overhauls are scheduled for engines in periods of 100 hours. There is also an annual inspection of an aircraft's structure. It all depends on whether it is personally used or used in commerce, as in rental or charter flights. By they way, I flew in a DeHavilland Beaver this summer built in 1957. It has had a lot of good maintenance and electronics upgrades.

Answer 4

In theory, there is no limit to the life a plane. As you can easily replace parts as they wear out. For aircraft with pressurized cabins, it's a little different, as there is much more stress on the structure and skins.

Typical values on light aircraft in general aviation:

RECOMMENDED engine overhaul (Lycoming) is 2000 hours
Magnetos inspected/overhauled every 500 hours
Prop is every 500(?) hours
ELT battery is every two years
Annual inspection every year, unless used in flight training or rental, then includes a 100 hour inspection.

Answer 5

Almost every single part of an airplane has to be replaced over time, so after many years it will be unlikely to have much original equipment. Exact logs are kept on how many hours the airplane has been flown and most parts need to be replaced or examined after a certain amount of hours.
So theoretically the lifespan of an airplane is nearly unlimited. But companies stop making parts for older models and technology becomes outdated so I would say that most planes don't last longer than 30 years.

Answer 6

A Boeing 747 can travel up to 35 billion statute miles (56 billion km) - More than 20,000 hrs......last up to 25 to 30 yrs......



And also depends on aircraft maintenance and pilot's usage on the aircraft.......including the ATC (air traffic control)
and harmful elements like....hijacker, suicide bomber.........


1) if the aircraft maintenance did not properly maintain the aircraft
2) pilot's careless usage to the aircraft.....
3) The ATC's command to the pilots.........
4)Terrorist attacks...........

can lead to the aircraft to become w/o (written off) or early retirement
because of human error.......


or a state of event that cannot be expected........like mother nature!!!!

very lethal to passenger and the person to use this ... huh!!!!?


if you take care of it.......
airplane will take care of you and it last long...
your life become longer......and the aircraft will retire and preserve to the museum..........


and if you are careless......airplane will kill you...bringing you to the graveyard and aircraft will go to the scrapyard...!!!!
in short...R.I.P



it is not the years or hours to buy a brand new AIRCRAFT..........
it depends on the airline owner...........
and financial stability to the company.........
and customers population...........


that's all

Answer 7

I don't know about all aircraft types, but C130s, for example can fly usefully well into 30000 hrs. By then, they will need new wings and significant airframe repairs, which are very expensive and time consuming. So the airframe is usually the limiting factor, and the expense required to renew airframe life is often beyond what companies will pay.

Answer 8

In addition to the above comments, the FAA as "timed-out" certain structual parts of an airplane.

For example, on a Cessna Conquest II (twin engine-turboprop) the main spar in the wing has a time limit of 20,000 hours total time.

These time can vary in other parts of the world.

Answer 9

Longer than you, if they are kept up properly. One answer said 30 years. I got news for you, there are more planes flying older than 30 years than there are newer than 30 years.
The determining factor in when do you get a new one is: Is this going to cost more to keep up than the cost of a new one? Unless you are the extremely sentimental type you will get the new.

Answer 10

It depends the type of aircraft a Jet will last for a very long time as will a prop and the prop will have to change every so and now