We are hearing a lot about old aircraft, on this thread and on a number of similar currently open.
I have worked on aircraft, military, GA and airline for many years... some new and some old.
I have worked on brand new military aircraft,and also a fleet that had been retired from civil use before going on to a new lease of life. One had the highest landings of it's type in the world.
Similarly I have done the same with airliners. the oldest of it's type then replaced with brand spankers.
We are talking GA, - is that different..?
Ok
I worked on these when they were brand new 30 years ago, - I am still working on them..some the exact same machines.
I honestly cannot see too many differences, the machines I work on all conform to their Type Certificates etc, some are even better than they were new. I know my machine must be close. Years of mods and a couple of modern improvements.
I concede that cosmetically this is not always the case.
As regards the ageing aircraft programme, yes.. the inspection schedules have been modified as we know that the originals were never intended to cater for the life span these machines are now achieving.
The big thing is that a lot of thought has been put into it and known problem areas have been identified.
Now the big thing is accidents, or rather crashes.
I have seen many, many new machines destroyed.. and it was not due to the age of the structure of the machine.
I have lost many friends and personally knew some of the aircraft that have crashed over the years.
I have worked in many hangars and spoken to guys that worked on aircraft that were lost, before my time. Almost without exception the story was he same.
The engineers don't blame the machine for the loss..
One exception, in my experience.... one machine, where the wings departed in flight, even that had a history.. and a story.
That was a 1940's machine and the attach bolt was a known problem... I think that was a major engineering slip-up, perhaps coupled to an overstress situation. I am not aware of contents of the full report.
But I look in my logbook and see the aircraft and guys no longer with us. There must be close to 20 names of instructors or check pilots now departed;
Wire strikes, tree strikes, overweight takeoff, lost, lost and since discovered, weather related, turbulence related, CFIT, fuel exhaustion, fault finding over FTFM, flying up dead end valleys, low level manoeuvres (beat up) and I guess inexplicable stupidity.
I was about the scene through the '70's, saw many new machines arrive, assembled and put into service. GA was humming.. but there were crashes, and many of them.
I am sure that when my time comes and I ask these guys about it, how many do you think will be blaming the aircraft ?
I am thinking that most will accept that they had one close call too many.. They were good men, and honest. I am sure they will front up with the truth.
F1 drivers know the risks and stats.. they still drive.