Most commercial aircraft structures are made out of aluminum. When aluminum is put under cyclic load it will eventually fatigue and develop cracks that can lead to catastrophic failures. Regular inspections are supposed to be conducted on commercial aluminum aircraft to ensure they are flight worthy, but there are regularly whistleblowers who say some airlines pressure them to do minimal maintenance on the aircraft so they can get it back in the air making money. Whenever a commercial plane goes down unexpectedly, pilot error is usually what’s blamed (probably for liability reasons) but I wonder what percentage are actually due to inadequate inspection/maintenance.
Smh. Good to know.
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Just to clarify, most of these reports are related to ground maintenance between flights and not necessarily airframe inspection; still makes you wonder though.
When it comes to matters like this, it's always best to expect the worst. Or, at least, stay skeptical.
