Turbulence and Airframes
 

I am a very regular flyer to and from Ghana to the UK with BA and KLM, sometimes 4 times per month, of late (i take it to be seasonal) the turbulence has been something hellish for long periods during the flights, in fact last night we had to land in Madrid to refuel before heading onto LHR due to the prolonged turbulence and additional demand it put on supplies.

My question is this, when a plane has taken a real bumping like that (possibly on the inbound leg only hours before also), does it get subject to any additional checks after landing or is it all in a days work for the planes.

At the end of the day the 777s airframes are not getting any younger.

There are load limits that the aircraft will have to remain within, and if any are exceeding it will flag on the computer and the aircraft will be subject to addition checks and inspection. As long as these limits are not exceeded and there is no reason that the captain thinks warrants extra care, it is service as usual.

It is often a difficult choice for the captain to decide if the limits have been exceeded. A safe pilot will often report the event for maintenance to inspect, the norm is to pull the FDR or allready have this info uploaded by use of condition monitoring systems to the company. It is usually a quick inspection prescribed by the MFGR

Many thanks for your replies