The intricate process of paint removal on the world's largest aircraft

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Fluctus channel. Whether military or commercial, nearly all aircraft are painted in one way or another. In the early days, paint jobs were more for identification. In World War I, nearly all planes looked the same, so they needed bright flags and tail numbers to identify one another. By World War II, these paint jobs were becoming more and more elaborate. Eventually, commercial planes began embracing unique paint jobs as well. Since the 1960s, it's rare to see an airline that hasn't covered its fleet in logos and brand imagery. Many different processes are used to paint aircraft, some of which are getting more and more advanced as time goes on. There are obvious challenges to painting or repainting a large commercial aircraft. The first is the sheer size of each plane. Indeed, while planes are capable of driving themselves even at low speeds, the resulting thrust from their propellers and jet engines poses a big safety hazard to people and objects on the ground. To prevent injury or accidental debris intake, airports and painting facilities use pushback trucks to move planes from place to place. These low-profile vehicles have powerful engines to generate the huge amounts of torque required to move a 200,000-pound aircraft with ease. This Airbus A380 is being repainted for Emirates Airlines, an airline carrier based out of Dubai. It took 34 people to work 6,000 total hours over two weeks to complete the project. The sheer amount of paint involved in covering a full-size passenger airliner can add a significant amount of weight to the plane. Therefore, the first layer must be carefully removed, using a combination of sanding, stripping, and heavy-duty chemicals that actually dissolve the paint to the point where it almost melts off the fuselage. the company name logo and brand colors are the standard paint job for a commercial aircraft sometimes an airline may decide to do something a little bit special in 2018 a multinational aerospace company Airbus had three of its A380s painted in an elaborate sea turtle design for Japan's All Nippon Airways the planes arrived at the painting facility bare with only the tail and engine cowls painted. The plane is then directed into a special hangar, with multiple ceiling-mounted cranes and equipment. Due to the sheer amount of paint being sprayed at a given time, technicians must wear fully enclosed suits as they apply the primer layer. As in any other repainting situation, primer is present to ensure better adhesion of the subsequent coats. It also increases paint durability and protects the fuselage below. A380s are 238 feet long and have a wingspan of more than 261 feet. Applying primer by hand is a time-consuming process, even with more than a dozen painters working on the project. Next, the white base coat is applied to virtually every inch of the surface. After that, sections of blue are completed on the nose and top of the fuselage. In order to create lettering and other sections of the complex design, special stencils are applied to different parts of the aircraft these stencils are actually designed and printed right at the Airbus facility the painters can now start adding the details throughout some sections are even hand painted just to ensure the correct effect all in all it took 21 days for the Airbus team to paint the 39,000 square feet of the aircraft's fuselage Considered the most elaborate paint job ever done by the manufacturer, a total of 16 different shades of color were utilized to get the final effect. The United States military uses a very similar painting process when it comes to large aircraft like this Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. This massive military transport craft is more than 240 feet long and boasts a 222-foot wingspan, making it similar in size to the A380. However, military planes are typically painted in only one or perhaps two colors. Military gray is the typical color used for cargo planes, as it allows them to blend into the distance when viewed from almost any angle. After the primer is applied, a team of painters will slowly cover the fuselage, wings, and engine cowls. Later, decals will be used to apply all identification markers, warnings, and other details. Over the decades, the United States military has utilized a number of different paint schemes for different planes. For a time, each squadron could decorate their planes as they saw fit. This led to some very unique color schemes that many people feel are important to preserve. This is generally known as heritage painting, and it's been applied to decommissioned aircraft that end up on display in museums and at air bases worldwide. Restoring these planes to their previous glory is often tasked to an air base's maintenance squadron. However, in certain cases, military historians and even civilians will perform the work in their off-time. These men and women will closely study photos of older aircraft, so that they can perfectly replicate the original paint scheme down to the tiniest detail. The colors and patterns used on certain aircraft can tell people a lot about its history. This F-4 Phantom II, for instance, was the primary fighter jet used by the United States during the Vietnam War. In many cases, these aircraft were painted with a green and beige camouflage scheme that helped them blend into the canopy jungle when viewed from above. At this base in South Korea, a team from the local maintenance squadron has begun restoring one of the old F-4s to this Vietnam-era appearance. The project involves sanding off much of the old paint and carefully laying down the primer on each section to be repainted. When finished, the aircraft was unveiled to a group of veterans and the press, many of whom flew planes just like this in the war. Over the past few decades, dozens of F-4s have been restored and refurbished in this manner. Few aircraft are more well-known for their unique paint jobs than the A-10 Thunderbolt. Since its introduction in 1977, hundreds of these subsonic attack aircraft have been painted with a shark-mouth design on the nose. Many experts feel this served to highlight the plane's GAU-8 Avenger rotary cannon, which fires huge 30-millimeter rounds at nearly 4,000 rounds per minute. This A-10, however, is being painted in the style of the Indiana Air National Guard's 122nd Fighter Wing, known as the Black Snakes. The unique design combines black and gray and replaces the recognizable shark mouth with a green-eyed snake, complete with fangs. After the restoration, the A-10 is virtually unrecognizable. It was also equipped with special Centennial decals on the engines. This was done to celebrate the Indiana Air National Guard's 100th anniversary. Not every military paint job is intended for display. In many cases, an aircraft will simply be given a new coat of paint to improve the look of the plane, while simultaneously preventing corrosion. Over time, exposure to the elements will not only wear the paint but also weaken the fuselage. Maintenance squadrons like those at this KSN paint facility start by sanding off the top coat of the plane. This allows them to see any damage or corrosion that might need to be addressed. They then recoat the paint in primer, followed by a top coat in two different shades of grey. As with the other painting projects, stencils are used to reapply identification information and warnings to the fuselage wings tail and nose at times tiny details will need to be filled in by hand still it's clear that most aircraft painters treat their jobs as a labor of love whether it's a newly renovated fighter jet or a giant commercial airliner a lot of care goes into each paint job that's the end of this video i hope you enjoyed it make sure to subscribe to this channel so you don't miss any of our new content. See you next time.