Washing aircraft is a routine maintenance chore that is intended to reduce corrosion damage by
removing corrodents. However, this exercise incurs costs that, when applied to a fleet, are substantial.
The US Air Force (USAF) algorithm for setting wash intervals was based on an environmental severity
index and an implied set of economic assumptions. A novel approach is described based on a corrosion
model, explicit economic parameters, maintenance records and ground-based corrosivity measurements.
A time-averaged maintenance factor can be calculated from maintenance records of aircraft washed at a
regular interval. This factor depends on the age and type of aircraft, the care given other than washes,
the corrosivity the plane is exposed to and the diligence of the maintenance efforts. The economic
parameters considered are the cost per wash, the cost of unavailability during a wash and the charge rate
for maintenance. To accommodate variations in corrosivity between repairs, the maintenance factor can
be calculated for each period that corrosivity is measured.