411A, you are right. I have no aviation mechanic experience other than working at BFGoodrich Aerospace years ago as a "Mechanic's Assistant" where the most complicated thing I did was repair corroded 727F floor panels, climb in fuel tanks and paint dynatrol corrosion inhibiter (must be where the brain damage came from)! I also assembled new Boeing wing sections years ago.
But niether of those positions taught me anything about how long it takes an airliner to corrode or what is a normal or abnormal time frame for corrosion and cracking to occur. Without having that actual knowledge, the idea of 8 year old airplanes corroding seemed alarming to me.
How old were those 707s when the cracking and corrosion were found?
I'd like to think that 50 years later we have better corrosion inhibiting technology, but aluminum is aluminum and green paint is still just green paint- so I guess nothing has changed in that department!
Is 8 years not ridiculously premature for corrosion to occur? I really have no idea. If it WAS normal I don't think that the airlines would have submitted a report to the FAA to report these abnormal occurences of premature corrosion...?