Courtney Mil
A big thank you !
Mr Ratman clearly has not taken the trouble to read or understand my posts on the subject especially the part of post #45 that said that while reviewing maintenance practices the life of components could be moved in ether direction.
The problem with maintaining old aircraft is that some of the manufacturers assumptions about component life was based on hours flown in the type of service that the aircraft was designed for. In 1944 the manufacturer of a military transport aircraft components would never have expected them to be on the shelf for more than a few years and set the service life with this in mind, in 2015 I find myself with new and unused parts with serviceable labels dated in the mid 50's that if I took Mr Ratmans view would be OK to fit to an aircraft.
I take great care to look at old but unused parts as the passing of time could well have rendered the bit of paper that says it is serviceable worthless.
On the other hand some components had been given calendar lives for military service ( to fit into servicing schedules ?) that should have been based on cycles or flying hours and result in over maintaining the aircraft for no reward in reliability. The DHC-1 is a prime example of this, following the withdrawal from military service and DH support becoming the type certificate holder maintenance practices have been reviewed and maintenance data changed to be more appropriate to the operational conditions of the fleet in private hands.
As someone who is currently certifying the maintenance of two pre 1945 aircraft to public transport standard ( one on an AOC ) I have found the UK CAA very supportive of the flexible attitude all aspects of maintenance to ensure that it is appropriate to the current service environment of the aircraft.
I do hope that this realistic attitude to maintenance at the CAA will continue and they are not forced by the lawyers to retreat in to a position dogmatic adherence to inappropriate or out dated maintenance practices.
Last edited by A and C; 30th Dec 2015 at 13:30.