I dug up some interesting maintenance information, a lot of it 747 specific, hosted by Boeing themselves. First off, they revised the schedule back around 2001. Here it is (and some more detail here):
747-400's D-check is 6 years, no matter what. There's some good discussion here, but I'm still wondering if a plane like line 1416 would really need a full D check in two years, or does the long term storage it's in stop that clock fully or partially. It also has become apparent that a stored frame like 1416 isn't really untouched. It probably goes though all kinds of periodic maintenance, like engine runs, tire rotations, system checks, etc., while it sits there in the desert.
On to the 747-8. Here's a great doc that's somehow eluded me up until now. There's a lot of good info in there, but one of the big cost benefits for a new 747-8 owner is the reduced maintenance schedule. 'A' checks are every 1000 hours. 'C' checks are every 10,000 hours or 24 months. 'D' checks are every 8 years for the first two checks, and 6 years for each one after that. So 747-8s should have 'D' checks at 8, 16, 22, and 28 years (and so on). This will become evident over the next 30 years as 747-8s get parked at 16/22/28 year anniversaries like 747-400's are currently often parked at 12/18/24 year anniversaries.
747-400's D-check is 6 years, no matter what. There's some good discussion here, but I'm still wondering if a plane like line 1416 would really need a full D check in two years, or does the long term storage it's in stop that clock fully or partially. It also has become apparent that a stored frame like 1416 isn't really untouched. It probably goes though all kinds of periodic maintenance, like engine runs, tire rotations, system checks, etc., while it sits there in the desert.
On to the 747-8. Here's a great doc that's somehow eluded me up until now. There's a lot of good info in there, but one of the big cost benefits for a new 747-8 owner is the reduced maintenance schedule. 'A' checks are every 1000 hours. 'C' checks are every 10,000 hours or 24 months. 'D' checks are every 8 years for the first two checks, and 6 years for each one after that. So 747-8s should have 'D' checks at 8, 16, 22, and 28 years (and so on). This will become evident over the next 30 years as 747-8s get parked at 16/22/28 year anniversaries like 747-400's are currently often parked at 12/18/24 year anniversaries.
RC554 first time in the air!
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