I’ve heard that planes, vehicles, equipment, etc. are not built for long term disuse. What is it about occasional use that may leave for example a plane in better condition than if left in a hangar all year?

Question

I’ve heard that planes, vehicles, equipment, etc. are not built for long term disuse. What is it about occasional use that may leave for example a plane in better condition than if left in a hangar all year?

In: 37

Answer 1

In complex machines like that there are lot of moving parts, and generally speaking a machine needs to be able to apply friction-reducing lubricants and heat-conductive oils to those parts to…reduce heat and friction on those parts. If something moves regularly the engineers can design that movement to continually apply fluids to the part and remove dirt and debris. When that something fails to move regularly it can lose lubrication, dirt can get stuck to it, it can rust or otherwise seize up. So that when you suddenly try to move it again it could move slowly, not as far as needed, generate a lot of heat, break something, etc.