Flight Safety looks at recent

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The issue of ageing aircraft continues to be in the aviation safety
spotlight. And it’s there, centre stage, for the simple reason that a

developments in addressing large percentage of the 13,347 aircraft on the Australian register (total
as of 23 November 2008), are not getting any younger. According to

this ongoing problem for a large the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report, ‘How old is
too old?’: ‘Very few new aircraft entered service, and much of the

percentage of the Australian existing fleet remained on the register’. While the report was based
on 2005 figures, the picture is substantially the same based on late
2008 figures.
fleet, and home grown
What does the term ‘ageing aircraft’ mean? Chronological age

technology to monitor aircraft obviously, but also factors such as the number of flights and the
number of hours the aircraft has flown. When we think of ‘ageing

structural integrity which aircraft we often think first of the structure fatigue and corrosion.
But other parts such as wiring, seals and hydraulics also deteriorate

is being adopted by major in their own ways.

The following table shows different measures of age, and the

international airlines. particular safety concerns relevant to each.
 9

AIRCRAFT
AGEING AIRCRAFT
Measure age by … if the concern is …
years since type certification the antiquity of the design standard
regulatory corporate memory
years since manufacture corrosion of metals
perishing of rubbers, plastics, seals, electrical insulation
rot of woods and fabrics
breakdown of glues

years since production stopped technical and spares support

industry familiarity
hours of flying fatigue of wings and tailplanes
wear in engines and other moving parts
number of flights fatigue of pressurised fuselages, landing gears and flaps

Source: Steve Swift – principal engineer, airframes CASA

 AGE
AGEING AIRCRAFT – THE
FIGURES TELL THE STORY
FIGU
As of 23 November last year, there were
13,4477 aircraft on the Australian civil aircraft
registeer. Of these, 773 were aircraft above
5700kkg, and 12,674 were in the general
aviatio
on (GA) category, or below 5700kg.

The air transport category aircraft fleet (those

above 5700kg) for the most part are of more
recentt manufacture, with an average age
of 15.44 years. This applies especially to the
mediu um size multi-engine turbofan aircraft
with a maximum take-off weight of between
50,000 0 and 100,000kg. This is largely as a
result of the demise of Ansett, and the entry of
the neew low-cost carriers, Virgin and Jetstar,
with thheir newer fleets of Airbus, Boeing 737s
and Embraers. Jetstar’s fleet of Airbus A320s,
10 321s and 330s, for example, has an average
age of 3.5 years; while the oldest of Virgin’s
fleet mainstay, the B-737 was manufactured
in 2001, and the bulk of their Embraers (12
out of the 15) were manufactured in 2008.
FSA JAN–FEB09

The smaller, multi-engine turboprops, with a

maximum take-off weight of 27,000kg or less,
are slightly older. In 2005, according to the
ATSB report ‘How old is too old?’ they had an
average age of 18 years.

However, it’s a different story for the GA fleet,

which represent 12,674 of the aircraft on the
register. The average age of such GA aircraft
is 28.3 years, with 3,240 or 25.6 per cent
falling into the 31–40 year-old category, and
2,766 or 21.8 per cent being 41 years plus. In
other words, almost 50 per cent (47.4) were
manufactured more than 31 years ago.

An analysis of figures from the 2008 report Air

transport services in regional Australia: trends and
accesss Report 115, by the Bureau of Infrastructure,
Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE)
shows that of the piston-driven aircraft, the
types with the highest number of passenger
movements at regional airports are, in order,
the Cessna 404, the PiperPA31-350, the Cessna
402 and the Piper PA31. The Cessna 402s and
404s on the register have an average age of 30.2
years, while the Piper – PA31s (the whole type)
have an average age of 31.3 years.
‘CASA has a long and proud history of contributing Manufacturers may decide not to support
to the international ‘old aircraft’ debate–indeed certain older aircraft, resulting in the possible
CASA personnel were major contributors grounding of aircraft used for passenger
to the writing of the International Civil transport. Many newer aircraft are too
Aviation Organisation’s Continuing Airworthiness large to be operated economically on low
Manual. And they contribute regularly to the density routes. Even where newer aircraft
International Committee Aeronautical Fatigue were purchased, it may prove difficult to
(ICAF) - see ‘For more information’ for the attract qualified operational personnel
‘Diamond’ papers. The third, First Diamond, on to maintain and operate them at levels
which are viable from both a safety and
the thorny issue of inspection thresholds, is due
economic perspective.
for presentation at the next ICAF conference in
May, in the Netherlands. More recently, CASA It may also be difficult for smaller operators
has been undertaking a number of initiatives to to buy newer generation aircraft suited to
address the challenge. their particular needs, as manufacturers have
increasingly retreated from traditional 9-19
seat aircraft production as they cater to the
AGEING AIRCRAFT ONE OF increasing global regional aircraft market.
THE RISK AREAS In 2007, CASA advised the regional airline
CEO Bruce Byron’s study: An assessment of sector that increased focus is being placed
trends and risk factors in passenger air transport, by CASA airworthiness and structures 11
published in mid-2008 after more than a year experts on the adequacy of continuing
of research and taking submissions from all airworthiness programs for the ageing fleet.
sectors of the aviation industry, identified the Due to the uniquely high utilisation of small

AGEING AIRCRAFT
issue of (ageing) aircraft as the first of five main passenger aircraft in Australia, CASA is
risk areas, as well as: assessing options for aircraft types that are
not supported by manufacturer approved
Airports and infrastructure
instructions for continuing airworthiness
Airspace and air traffic management (ICA) or guidance from the relevant foreign
Personnel National Airworthiness Authority.
Government agencies. A reduction in flying hours (and resulting
The report went on to say: ‘Not only are reductions in revenue) could result in a
these aircraft continuing to age, but many are reduction in the level of resources available
also being used more intensively due to the to the charter and low capacity regular
Australian resources boom. While it is possible public transport sectors to meet challenges.
to operate this fleet safely, there are a number Emerging risks over the next three to five
of potential safety issues to consider: years for these sectors include:

Smaller passenger transport organisations Critical shortages in experienced managers CASA is

operating ageing aircraft will need to deal with and operational personnel
assessing
aircraft ageing and fatigue issues that have Ageing aircraft fleets
not been encountered before. Consequently Growing, potentially inhibitive costs and
options for
there can be no certainty about the quantity resources devoted to compliance with aircraft types
or type of maintenance required to ensure a environmental and security requirements
high level of safety that are not
Increasing interface with larger aircraft at
It may be difficult to recruit sufficient, non-towered airports. supported by
qualified personnel to implement necessary Many participants suggested that with manufacturer
maintenance. Increasingly, environmental limited capacity to invest in newer aircraft
concerns relating to emissions controls and and technology, and with fewer experienced approved
engine and aircraft efficiencies will place managers to provide guidance, this sector instructions
greater operational pressures on operators of faces significant challenges that will need
ageing aircraft. to be managed. In 2006, CASA identified
 the low-capacity RPT sector as having the highest risk profile and in
2007, adjusted surveillance methods of a number of operators in this
category to align with that of the larger carriers.

Following the release of this review last year, working parties

have been set up to examine these five areas in more detail, to
make recommendations for risk mitigation, and advise CASA on
implementation strategies. The chairs of the five groups come from
the Aviation Safety Forum membership, which provides strategic,
high-level advice to CASA on aviation safety issues. Owen Batchelor,
with more than 42 years in the industry, and a range of experience in
areas as diverse as aircraft engineering, flying operations and aviation
safety regulation, is chairing the ‘aircraft’ working group. The group
will examine issues relating to both new and ageing aircraft: New
aircraft, as the review identified, also pose some new potential risks
for aviation safety, such as:
‘Oversight of the low-cost carrier concept, with low-cost carriers
using non-traditional airline models relating to operational
concepts, type, passenger demographics and country of origin
safety culture.
12
The ability of operators and organisations to obtain, train and manage
appropriately skilled pilots, engineers and support personnel.
CVM - Dr Dennis Roach displays the CVM The potential for unanticipated operational, maintenance and
sensor. Photo: Sandia
procedural issues associated with the use of new technology.
FSA JAN–FEB09

We are planning to The increased complexity of organisations operating multiple

aircraft types.’
develop a policy, have it The introduction of the A380, for example, as the last issue of Flight
informed by these bilateral Safety (November-December 2008) explains, has brought with it the
necessity for a completely different way of operating to cope with its
discussions and, if all goes multi-faceted technology and grand scale.
to plan, resolved shortly However, in looking at the other side of the coin – ageing aircraft - the
thereafter. ‘aircraft’ group, Owen says, will not be involved in day-to-day issues of
ageing aircraft maintenance, but will adopt a more strategic, overview
approach to the issue, and develop a series of advice/briefing papers for
CASA. Membership of each of the working groups will be restricted to
a smaller number of specialists, each having the appropriate expertise.
The first meeting of the ‘aircraft’ working group is scheduled early
in 2009.

The issue is also being addressed through the regular meetings held
with civil aviation bodies around the world on issues of aviation safety
- bodies such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). According
to CASA’s deputy CEO, strategy and support, Shane Carmody, since ‘a
large number of the ageing aircraft [in question] are of American origin
(Cessnas, Pipers and Beechcraft, for example), ageing aircraft was a
topic at the last bilateral talks in Taipei and is firmly on the agenda for
the FAA bilateral which Australia hosts in April 2009. ‘We are planning
to develop a policy, have it informed by these bilateral discussions and,
if all goes to plan, resolved shortly thereafter,’ he explained.

CORROSION PREVENTION & CONTROL

RESEARCH 13
Two Australian tertiary institutions are also due to begin research into
aspects of corrosion prevention and control, co-funded by CASA., and
managed by CASA’s research committee. The first of these, looking at

AGEING AIRCRAFT
corrosion inhibiting compounds (CICs), is being undertaken by RMIT
in Melbourne, and will examine the influence of CICs on the life of
critical structural joints typical of those in small civil airliners.

This study will endeavour to identify the potential structural risks arising
from the increasing use of corrosion inhibiting compounds in aircraft.
While the use of these CICs can provide substantial benefits in retarding
corrosion development, and can reduce some forms of corrosion-
linked degradation in the joint, there is concern that in some cases, the
structural fatigue life of joints can be reduced by their use, and perhaps
more importantly, that cracking may occur in additional, unanticipated
locations, preventing crack detection.

It is expected that the results of the research should also be transferable

to large airliners and general aviation.

The second corrosion prevention and control project will be conducted

by the Monash University’s Cooperative Research Centre for Integrated
Engineering Asset Management (CIEAM), to examine corrosion sensor,
corrosion-fatigue interaction and the effect of corrosion preventative
compounds (CPC). Through the use of representative test specimens
that reproduce fleet cracking, and validated corrosion and fatigue
damage prognosis tools, preventative inspection programs can be
developed to retire or repair unsafe structure.

The project will also develop a simple test specimen for ranking CPCs,
and provide advice on their use. It is hoped that this research can
prevent the loss of aircraft and lives from known corrosion fatigue
effects prevalent in ageing aircraft structures, both civil and military.
 NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR OLD PROBLEM That accident inspired Davey to apply his
work on remanufacturing cathode ray tubes
(CRT) to aircraft structures. According to Mark
Vellacott, the managing director of Structural
Monitoring Systems (SMS), the Perth-based
company now commercialising CVM, ‘One
day Ken Davey saw that the vacuum in a
CRT was decreasing quickly, and traced this
back to a leak through a crack in the glass of
the tube.’

Comparative vacuum monitoring, where

sensors are mounted on aircraft structures
at sites where flaws are expected to develop,
grew from that original observation. Dr Dennis
Roach from the Sandia National Laboratories
in the United States, who along with SMS,
Two historical aviation accidents – one which took place twenty years
the FAA, Boeing and a number of US airlines
ago and one which occurred forty years ago, have been influential in
worked on validating the technology, explains
driving significant developments in the approach to ageing aircraft.
14 how the CVM sensor works. It’s ‘a thin, self-
Last year was the twentieth anniversary of an ‘ageing aircraft’ adhesive rubber patch, ranging from dime
landmark, the explosive decompression accident involving Hawaii’s to credit-card-sized that detects cracks in the
Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-200. (See ‘Geriatric Jets’ Flight Safety underlying material. The rubber is laser-etched
March-April 2008.) Corrosion and fatigue cracking caused six metre with rows of tiny, interconnected channels, or
FSA JAN–FEB09

of fuselage to blow off in flight, leading to the death of an attendant. galleries, to which air pressure is applied. Any
That aircraft, 19 years old, with 35,496 flying hours and 89,680 flight propagating crack under the sensor breaches
cycles, was reaching the end of its economic life (designed for 20 years the galleries, and the resulting change in
according to Boeing), and had exceeded Boeing’s flight cycles (75,000). pressure is monitored.’
The Aloha Boeing was the catalyst for focusing attention on the issue
Potentially, CVM has applications both for
of aircraft structural integrity, driving change in the management of
existing aircraft, and for new-build aircraft.
ageing aircraft.
On ageing military and civil aircraft, CVM
The second, on 31 December 1968, was the impetus for retired airline pilot, can be retrofitted to provide in-situ structural
Ken Davey’s development of comparative vacuum technology, or CVM. inspections, thereby eliminating the need for
Twenty-six lives were lost when Vickers Viscount VH-RMQ plunged into a strip and rebuild to carry out an inspection.
the ground near Port Headland, Western Australia while operating for In fact Boeing has included CVM in its Common
MacRobertson Miller Airlines. The resultant inquiry found the cause to be methods NDT manual. The technology has
metal fatigue – an undetected crack through the main wing spar. Ken the potential to substantially reduce fleet
Davey was a pilot for the airline in 1968 and had flown VH-RMQ the maintenance and repair bills, estimated to
day before the starboard wing failed in flight, killing all on board. represent one-quarter of fleet operating costs.

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CVM is one of several structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies strategies. According to Vellacott, ‘Traditional
under assessment. Others examples Sandia describe as ‘piezoelectric NDI doesn’t work well on GLARE, because of
transducers which can interrogate material over long distances … the interleaved metallic layers’. But, he says ‘The
conducting paint whose resistance changes when cracks form underneath,’ future is in integrating this technology into new
and acoustic emission, where transducers ‘listen’ for acoustic signals aircraft designs’, with the potential to reduce
generated by cracks, delaminations or fibre breakage. What many of weight, because there is no longer the necessity
these technologies have in common is the work being done to incorporate to have reinforced sections, in turn saving on
the monitoring system into the structure of the aircraft. ‘SHM systems materials and fuel. ‘The integrity of the part can
can be arrayed in similar fashion to the human nervous system, with be monitored safely by the technology.’
sensors concentrated in key areas where loads are highest’. As Roach
CASA, with other regulators, has closely
says, ‘SHM is becoming more viable as the technologies mature’.
followed SHM’s development. ‘We want to
It is this aspect which excites Mark Vellacott. SMS has been working with have the safety standards ready when the
Airbus which has given CVM its ‘Technology ready’ certification. At the technology’s ready. We want manufacturers
Airbus Dresden test facility, CVM sensors were mounted on the full-scale and airlines to have a clear regulatory pathway
A380 fatigue test rig. Airbus also evaluated CVM for qualification of the A380 to get SHM onto aircraft as soon as it’s safe
aircraft’s GLARE (GLAss fibre REinforced aluminium) materials and repair and cost-effective, Steve Swift concluded.

15
Fo
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m re
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nfforma
m tiion
‘Geriatric Jets’ Flight Safety Australia, March- www.casa.gov.au/fsa
April 2008

AGEING AIRCRAFT
‘Time flies’ Flight Safety Australia, www.casa.gov.au/fsa
November-December 2003

How old is too old? The impact ATSB report, published www.atsb.gov.au/publications/
of ageing aircraft on aviation February 2007
safety’
Rough diamond. Two regulators Bob Eastin (FA
FAA) & Steve Swift Downloadable from www.casa.gov.au
review damage tolerance. (CASA) 2005
Airworthiness/technical pa
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