Quote:
Originally Posted by corby78
I'm not an expert on depot stuff, but what I do know (mostly from talking to maintainers) is that the jets go through a lengthy checkout. The moving parts are taken off, sanded, inspected/x-rayd, and repainted. They do the same for the fuselage. For the heavys I know it takes a couple months. I heard a crazy story once that they found a folding chair in one of the fuel tanks once from the last time it was in depot. wooops
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Not hard to believe. During an acceptance inspection on a KC-135 I was inspecting an engine strut. After depaneling the entire strut, I found a whole set of the panels that I just removed from the outside of the strut, inside the strut. The guy must have forgot where he had put the panels and just went and grabbed some more. Planes come back from depot with all sorts of crazy stuff wrong with them. Your description of depot is pretty accurate except that planes are usually there for around 6 months. They do so much stuff there and are so pressed for time it's no wonder things aren't quite right when we get them back.