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For the past thirty-five years the United States Air Force used the USAF Aircraft Structural Integrity Program (ASIP) to maintain safe and economical operation of aging aircraft. That program has been supported over the years by Air Force laboratory programs in the areas of fracture mechanics, corrosion prevention, flight loads, nondestructive evaluation, human factors, and maintenance and repair. These efforts provided the Air Force with the technology required to support the operational aircraft maintenance programs based on damage tolerance. There has also been a mutual need to develop the capability to estimate the time of onset of widespread fatigue damage that could degrade the damage tolerance capability of aircraft. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the USAF aging aircraft program and its associated efforts.

The C-141 aircraft have had a long and useful life in the inventory of the United States Air Force. The issues associated with the extension of the life of this aircraft is typical of the problems faced in the extension of the life of any aircraft. One of the main issues is the corrosion damage in the aircraft. Another of the main issues is widespread fatigue damage. The presence of either of these problems could be life limiting or, at least, incur a significant economic impact to correct the problem. It is the purpose of this paper to examine the life extension issues related to structural integrity for the C-141 aircraft.