helimatt
Key Veteran
Location: Lafayette, IN
| I own a Cessna 172. You can in fact inspect inside the wings for corrosion and must at every annual inspection. There are corrosion-inhibitors applied to the inside of the airframe at manufacture, and others that can be applied as a maintenance item to help prevent corrosion (Corrosion-X is one brand). Airframe corrosion is a real concern, particularly in areas near bodies of salt water, or industrial pollution. They store military and commercial aircraft in dry desert enviroments for many years with little airframe deterioration because you need moisture to being the corrosion process in the aluminum surface. Most airframe sheet material is Alclad which has a thin layer of nearly pure aluminum bonded to it- the pure stuff is very corrosion resistant, but the stronger alloys which make up the bulk of the thickness are more prone to corrosion. At seams and rivet holes you don't have the cladding.
Older Beechcraft Bonanzas have known and potenially serious issues with corrosion failures on key structural components, so having one of those old beauties requires special care and probably expensive replacement.
Aluminum rotor blades on some (many?) full-sized helicopters are retired for cause after a given number of hours due, in part, to possiblity of corrosion-induced fatigue.
Never, ever, ever, ever give up. |
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. But let's face it, ANY heli blade can be a vicious weapon.....
MooHaha!
