What is the max amount of hours a plane can fly before it has to say goodbye to the skies?

Question

I know planes are only allowed to fly a certain amount of hours before they are "retired" and was just curious to see if anybody out there knew the exact amount, i guess it may differ by the airline(s).

Answer 1

lilo is right on Boeing's recommendations. Also included is whats called a GAG Cycle Ground Air Ground. For instance planes flying in Islands like Hawaii or Indonesia wear out much faster then other planes because they are making a lot more take offs and landings everyday in comparison with other Airliners. Mostly in the the end it's Metal Fatigue and Lack of Economy that kills a Airliner then anything.
BUT
If your willing to spend enough money you can keep them in the air forever. Just takes enough Refurbishments, Parts, and most of all a GOOD team of Mechanics that are willing to work on an outdated airframe. For instance there are still Flying Mustangs, Corairs, B-29's even Old WW1 fighters.

Answer 2

Well I know the Planes are usually leased from companies so they may be paying them of for 20-40 yrs and depending on if newer Planes are developed and it would be cost effective and what the customer wants that is when they would look to buy, replace a airplane. I dont think they look at the exact amount of hours cause if maintained which a every airline does planes can last for a very long time

Answer 3

The useful life of most airplanes is not measured in hours, landings, or miles flown, but by the amount of money you wish to spend to keep it airworthy. A passenger aircraft might be retired by one company, only to be picked up by a freight company and continue to fly. The maintenance is done on a schedule, so that all parts are repaired or replaced at different times, so the aircraft can remain airworthy. There is a point somewhere, just like driving your car, that the amount of money to keep it legal exceeds the utility of the vehicle.
Then the aircraft is retired, and most airworthy parts are used up on newer craft.

Answer 4

As long as they can pass the airworthiness tests, they can legally fly passengers.

Years back, a B-737 with about 25,000 hours on it was flying at its normal altitude, when the cabin pressure became too much for the old bird, and part of the roof peeled back, with eight people being sucked out of the plane.

That incident taught the FAA that PRESSURIZATION CYCLES are more important than aircraft hours in operation when it comes to wear-and-tear on the airframe.

Answer 5

Differs more by the manufacturer and the specific airframe.
Large transport category aircraft (airliners) tend to have a cycles limit - the number of times they can takeoff and land - rather than an hours limit.
General aviation planes, as long as maintenance procedures are adhered to, have no real life limit. They can be repaired and/or rebuilt indefinitely.

Answer 6

Of course it all depends in the mantainace of each plane but the hours of flight of commercial planes should be around 300, 000 hours of effective flight, that is in years about 30 to 34 years of course it can be a little bit larger by replacing a lot of parts in it but is very expensive thats why many airlines prefer to buy new aircrafts in expect of making a major mantainance.

Answer 7

this value is setup by manufacturer. for example, our helicopters are running through 3000 flight hours general overhaul. this should enable them to fly next 3000. the overhaul is costly ,almost as expensive as a brand new helicopter.
other data that influence the number of flight hours is besides airframe (which is in fact immortal if treated with care, kept away from high g loads) the engines have their operational hours limits, and so do propeller blades, rotor blades, gearshafts.

Answer 8

I believe its not just the number of flying hours they look at, but also the number of take off and landing cycles too.

Answer 9

It depends how good the maintenance has been. Some
are done at 9000 hours, some at 30000 hours.

Answer 10

general rule of thumb, boeing recommends 20 years with 15 000 hours