PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Maint. damaged Boeing aircraft investigated
Old 10th Jun 2004, 15:52
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Wino
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What ever they were doing and what ever machinery they were using there was contact with the aluminum skins of the aircraft. If you scratch it you weaken it. and create a weak point that will crack.

Do it in enough places and you total the aircraft because you would be faced with reskinning the whole aircraft, which is practically impossible.

I suspect they had some sort of automated machinery that was miscalibrated or something similar.

There are many ways of stripping paint off an aircraft, some chemical (with fierce envirnmental problems if you are in a country that cares about that) some via impact. sandblasting,( which leaves a contamination problem) I've seen CO2 (dry ice) beads used as well which later evaporate eliminating the contamination problem, but causes other problems. The impact ones are the cleanest, but improper technique will have you cutting metal. You can also have contact from the spray nozzles



Cheers
Wino
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