MATERIALS IN AVIATION: posted by Laura Findlay

The manufacturing of aviation is completely dependent on the materials used.  Materials must have all the correct properties.  The structure of how they are manufactured together must also be completely accurate.  As we all know, airlines do completely everything in their power to engineer and construct the safest aircrafts possible, but in some cases, the materials fail. 

On February 24^th, 1989, United Airlines Flight 811 Boeing 747 was climbing to altitude, there was a manufacturing malfunction.  The cargo door failed and opened after a short period after take off.  Because of the materials of the side of the fuselage being too weak to resist the impact, the passengers were affected and nine people lost their lives.  Fortunately, the remaining passengers landed safely and were barely injured.  The cause of the event has to do with the two step locking system of the cargo doors.  The first step is the c-shaped latches that rotate around pins of the door frame.  Then L shaped arms called locking sectors are locked onto the bottom of the door.  There are also pins that run up and down the sides of the doors.  The doors were meant to be updated to a new system because the FAA noticed their was a malfunction with this system, but the deadline to complete the conversion was not passed yet, so they had not technically done anything wrong. 

These malfunctions can easily be avoided with the correct information of materials, manufacturing, and maintenance.  Luckily, the error of the locking system on all the aircrafts has now been updated and there will be no longer the c-shaped latches or L arms used.  The material of the fuselage is also being updated for a safer, more efficient aircraft construction.  When the fuselage of planes was originally constructed of wood frames covered in fabric, but then monoplanes became popular, and metal frames improved strength, so now the aircrafts are all metal with metal covering all surfaces.  There is still advancements going on to this day with composite materials being used for the fuselage on the Boeing 787.  The weight of the composite materials is lower so the operating costs of the plane are lower.  The advancements of the materials of aviation has definitely improved the safety of all air travel and will continue to become a great asset to understand and appreciate the importance of materials in the manufacturing of aviation.