ac greatest % of life in the air

What ac has spent the greatest % of it's life in the air- excluding the ac
that crashed on it's first flight. Thanks Pat

Which SINGLE a/c or which TYPE a/c?

"patrick mitchel" wrote in message ...
What ac has spent the greatest % of it's life in the air- excluding the ac
that crashed on it's first flight.

I'll vote for the C141A/B. I know that when they were new at
Charleston, we used to turn them around in a couple of hours and send
them back to SEA.

Regards,
Dick

Dick Latshaw wrote in message
om...
"patrick mitchel" wrote in message
...
What ac has spent the greatest % of it's life in the air- excluding the
ac
that crashed on it's first flight.

I'll vote for the C141A/B. I know that when they were new at
Charleston, we used to turn them around in a couple of hours and send
them back to SEA.

Regards,
Dick

single ac- I recall reading of a 747 that had spent some remarkable portion
of it's time in the air, earning it's keep- I believe it was a Braniff plane
and the article was in "flying" magazine Pat

C-141 a/B a total slacker compared to almost *any* commercial aircraft.

In 1993 we did a study using AFMC and NTSB/FAA flying hours/calendar hours
to build reliability and maintainability models . . . the absolute *worst*
commercial liner was at least a full order of magnitude higher utilization
than the absolute *best* utilized military aircraft.

Steve Swartz

Well, o.k., 7.3 times higher; not quite an order of magnitude but pretty
damn high


"Dick Latshaw" wrote in message
om...
"patrick mitchel" wrote in message
...
What ac has spent the greatest % of it's life in the air- excluding the
ac
that crashed on it's first flight.

I'll vote for the C141A/B. I know that when they were new at
Charleston, we used to turn them around in a couple of hours and send
them back to SEA.

Regards,
Dick

"Leslie Swartz" wrote:

C-141 a/B a total slacker compared to almost *any* commercial aircraft.

In 1993 we did a study using AFMC and NTSB/FAA flying hours/calendar hours
to build reliability and maintainability models . . . the absolute *worst*
commercial liner was at least a full order of magnitude higher utilization
than the absolute *best* utilized military aircraft.

Did this include the 60's and 70's? They went overhead in three's all day every
day for years. I don't recall if they were coming from McChord or Ft. Lewis.
Maybe both. I caught a ride on one at McChord in about '70. Great airsick
machines when loaded with guys sideways in the webbing benches and just a
couple of tiny windows and a pilot who likes to lose altitude by slipping.
Everybody was fine till the last couple of minutes :-)

-- Charlie Springer

20 years of data 1970-1990

Generally speaking, military aircraft rust out before they wear out; vice
versa for civil fleet.

Main result of the finding was that R&M models for civil fleet were pretty
much N/A for military.

Basically a similar missioned/similar sized civil aircraft clocks 5-10
flight hours per flight hour for military aircraft over the same period.

This may have changed, now that ANG/AFRES optempo has increased so much.
But I doubt if they are anywhere near equal yet.

Steve

"Regnirps" wrote in message
...
"Leslie Swartz" wrote:

C-141 a/B a total slacker compared to almost *any* commercial aircraft.

In 1993 we did a study using AFMC and NTSB/FAA flying hours/calendar hours
to build reliability and maintainability models . . . the absolute *worst*
commercial liner was at least a full order of magnitude higher utilization
than the absolute *best* utilized military aircraft.

Did this include the 60's and 70's? They went overhead in three's all day
every
day for years. I don't recall if they were coming from McChord or Ft.
Lewis.
Maybe both. I caught a ride on one at McChord in about '70. Great airsick
machines when loaded with guys sideways in the webbing benches and just a
couple of tiny windows and a pilot who likes to lose altitude by slipping.
Everybody was fine till the last couple of minutes :-)

-- Charlie Springer

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 21:32:47 -0800, "patrick mitchel"
wrote:

What ac has spent the greatest % of it's life in the air- excluding the ac
that crashed on it's first flight. Thanks Pat



My guess would be some commercial aircraft somewhere

My guess would be some commercial aircraft somewhere

Ditto. Commercial aircraft only generate money when their landing
gear is retracted. So there is a large incentive to keep them flying.

On the other hand, most military aircraft actually get relatively
little flying time, except in times of war. This is why the KC-135
tanker fleet is scheduled to fly for at least another 10 years (over
50 years total) and why the B-52 will also be flying into the
forseeable future.

Martin

C124? Old Shaky had to spend a lot of time in the air, it was so slow!
Walt BJ