Allowable Damage Charts!!!!!! 1

You're correct about definition of allowable damage limits/charts, but make sure you read all the text to go with the chart.

Without seeing the chart, I can only recommend to make sure the paper/approval trail is complete. The structural repair manual must link the part and damage limit chart/repair specifically, and the damage must be in specified locations on the part. And then the technicians must have adequate training to complete the repair.

I know I'm stating the obvious, but the responsibility is allways with whoever is willing to sign their name on the line that the repair is applicable (and approved).

Hi... I am extremely familiar with this problem... +18yrs as an ALC and AFMC-Field engr [PACAF]; and (now) engrg work on military acft at a major contractor [KC-135].

Maintenance terms/definitions are poorly controled and enforced in the USAF vocabulary... and unfortunately poorly applied to T.O.s

I stressed the following:

Maintenance: act of removing, installing, calibrating, adjusting, cleaning, lubricating, inspecting, etc....

Repair: eliminating affects of physical damage to a component or "fixed" assembly, so as to restore the item to a serviceable condition, per established technical procedures/practices.

NEGLIGIBLE DAMAGE: minor nicks, scratches, dents, cracks, corrosion, etc that are acceptable with NO repair required [unlimited]. NOTE: these limits are usually different from part-to-part and/or acft-to-acft.

NON-NEGLIGIBLE DAMAGE: Damage that will require repair, since further deterioration is inetitable.

MINOR DAMAGE: NON-NEGLIGIBLE DAMAGE that does not immediately affect airworthieness.

MAJOR and CRITICAL DAMAGE: requires immediate evaluation and repair(s), and/or recurring inspection(s), due to airworthieness concerns.

DAMAGE LIMITS: accumulation of NON-NEGLIGIBLE DAMAGE [dents, scratches, corrosion, disbonding, cracks, etc], may, up to a specified maximum... when repair becomes MANDATORY. NOTE: this criteria allows continued safe and economical use of a part or assembly in-service with some damage... up to a point where either airworthieness, OR future repairability, is compromised.

REPAIR LIMITS: Specifies a MAXIMUM ammount of NON-NEGLIGIBLE DAMAGE [length and qty of cracks, area of corrosion, depth/area of dents, depth/length of gouges, etc...] that can be repaired using a specified method. Any damage exceeding this criteria requires:
(1) Repair per another procedure... or...
(2) Repair/overhaul by a higher-level repair organization [IE: Depot]... or...
(3) Engineering evaluation and disposition... or...
(4) Condemnation/replacement.

Regards, Wil Taylor