Scanning Of AeroPlane Wings For Stress / Damage / Dents

[mn300]

Hello

Can anybody please tell me how Aeroplane Wings are checked for stress, damage or dents?

Does the air craft industry use a machine or scanning method which can analyse the condition of the metal wings?

I would be very grateful and interested in hearing from anybody who can help me.

Mike

 

[KENAT]

Do you mean Non Destructive Testing (NDT) or are you talking general visual surface inspection or what?

Sounds a bit like and interview question I got when applying for jobs while still at uni.


KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[SWComposites]

General inspections are done visually. Detailed inspections of fastener holes are done with eddy current and other NDI methods.

 

[FieldTeam]

Symmetry / alignment checks as described in the aircraft SRM would give you indication as to damage to aircraft wing and structure. The SRM would also have dent and damage evaluation limits and repairs.

 

[40818]

Symmetry/alignment checks would only be able to give an indication as to major structural movement, and it is as said earlier a visual/manual type inspection.

Some scanning methods have been developed for composite wings, thermography, ultrasonics etc, whereby a machine does the looking, though i believe a trained operator knows what to look for. I remember seeing a video on this once.
Generally, and currently, the inspection intervals for the aircraft part are determined firstly by design principles of F&DT, crack propagation etc, so you can calculate how many cycles a crack will take to move from a developed state to a length that can be seen during maintainace and before failure.

 

[FieldTeam]

Seeing that this is a totally generic question, it deserves only the most basic answer...which would be to refer the person to the structural repair manual.

Is this in reference to a routine inspection or has something happened that would lead someone to a more detailed inspection (Hard landings, dragged engine, ect...)?

"Analyze the condition of the meatl wings"? - how about dye penetrant, ultra sound, xRay, eddy current or even mag partical? Is it a hole, spar, web or skin that is in question? I would think that scanning withn a machine (laser maybe) without a baseline wing to compare would pose a whole set of new problems that would cost some pesos to figure out.