Here’s a question for you. If you took two brand new airplanes, fresh out of the factory, and stored one in the hanger to spend its days in rest and quiet and never let it get off the ground, while the other one started flying and flew for the next 50 years, which would be more airworthy at the end of those fifty years? The one that rested for fifty years, or the one that flew a tough schedule for 50 years and was fueled and maintained the way it was designed?
The answer, of course, is that the plane that flew and continued to fly will be in more flyable condition at the end of those fifty years. Why? Because it’s doing what it is designed to do — FLY! The more an airplane flies the way it is designed to fly, and fueled and maintained the way it is designed to be maintained, the longer it will keep flying.
Commercial Airlines know this. There are a lot of small air services and foreign countries flying Boeing 737s that were first introduced in 1967 and still getting full value from that well known “workhorse”. When a commercial airline buys a new plane, they usually sell the old ones to private owners, to small airlines, or to foreign countries.
The military knows this, too. Military airplanes become obsolete, but not because they are old and don’t fly anymore. They are replaced by newer and more up to date aircraft that fly higher, faster, and have more firepower or carrying capacity. What happens to the old aircraft? Some are given to the Reserves or the National Guard, while others are sold. Many are sent to the airplane graveyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. Some remain flyable. The dry climate slows the rust and decay that happens if left [stored] in a normal climate. Some are refurbished and returned to operation if needed. Others are used for parts. They all rust out over time through lack of use.
If you see a relationship between airplanes, you will understand that the above is a metaphor for human movement and function. If we move, fuel and maintain ourselves the way we are designed, then we will keep functioning properly for a long, long time. If we don’t move, fuel and maintain ourselves the way we are designed, then just like the airplane that doesn’t fly, we will rust out, get brittle and decay as we age.
That’s what happened to the new airplane that had been stored in the hanger for fifty years. Just like humans who don’t move their bodies the way they were designed to move, it started rusting out, fluids leaking or pooling at the bottom of the lines. The wings aren’t stressed and became brittle and subject to stress problems if they are flexed in the air after such a long time of disuse. No one wants that airplane. No one will buy it. It might be used for parts.
Wasn’t it Teddy Roosevelt who said: “I’d rather wear out than rust out.”? Isn’t that true for all of us? Keep moving and using the proper fuel. When we maintain ourselves the way nature intended, we will continue “flying” for a long, long time.
Thank you for reading.