PinnacleFO

pinnacles are the newest of the bunch i think and the most i have seen is 24000 cycles.

andy171773

Aw i flew it on 9/22/08!

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DrivingAloft

What about the E145 and the E-JET family? what's the limit on those??? out of curiosity..

and by the way, the douglas aircraft company has made the finest airplanes in the world. I don't think there's a limiter on the DC9 and DC8 family. Some people claim that the dc8 could fly for as long as you keep them maintaining them...

ToiletDuck

DC3 has no limits.

windowseat

RJs are bush league. N906HA oldest flying Dash-8 in the world since 1985.

DrivingAloft

That is true, but I wouldn't count unpressurized airframes since they are in a different category.

TonyWilliams

A typical Beech Baron has no limit also, but the P-Baron is 10,000 hours. The all composite Beech Starship also had a relatively low hour limit.

They are arbitrary numbers (to begin with) that are the basis for how much testing (read money spent) to certify the airframe. Boeing has certainly had a few spectacular pressure vessel failures!

As to Douglas being the best, let me assure you (as a former employee) that they weren't "the best". Whatever limits they may not have probably have more to do with the cottage industry nature of the certification process.

Superpilot92

nwa dc9s can go to around 104,000 cycles before the bulkhead has to get overhauled. the ones that are still flying have alot of cycles left. It was told to me by the fleet manager that they could go till around 2020. The limiting factor isnt the cycles but the nav capabilities since vor's are being decommissioned.

The DC9 is a beast and they definitely dont build them like the used to

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RAHPilot5

Northerners

TonyWilliams

Northwest just retired it's last 3 cockpit crewmember 747... 105,000 hours. Still flying charter until it gets chopped into little pieces in November.

I guess Boeing does ok, too.