2024-11-05 | Interdisciplinary thesis lab Green Skies - Creative design(s) from EOL aircraft parts and materials repurposing and reusing aircraft parts and materials into new products, LDE CfS & NLR; AETHOS; Collins Aerospace

Many aircraft parts are designed for a predefined lifetime. This design lifetime can be limited by e.g. the number of use cycles, certification, economic or even branding considerations. As a result, the materials and parts are often still in sound physical condition to use in another application. In very few cases, products are repurposed and considered for alternative reuse. For example, turning the cockpit into a simulator, or using a wing section as table or building roof. However, these examples fall short of using the unique material qualities effectively, hardly contribute to processing the volume of end of life aircraft materials, and do not communicate the potential for such reuse.