Flight cycles
Also: cycles, FC, take-offs and landings
A unit of aircraft use equal to one take-off and one landing; the main measure of fatigue in the fuselage and in many engine parts.
What it is
On every flight the fuselage is pressurised and swells slightly like a balloon, with a pressure difference of a little over half a bar between inside and out, then relaxes again after landing. The landing gear absorbs the touchdown and the engines swing from cold to full take-off temperature. Repeated loads of this kind cause fatigue, which depends far more on the number of flights than on how long they last.
A short-haul jet flying six to eight sectors a day therefore piles up cycles much faster than a long-haul aircraft making one or two. Manufacturers set structural life goals in cycles, and many critical engine parts, such as turbine discs, have cycle-based life limits and must be replaced when they reach them.
The ratio of hours to cycles tells the story of how an aircraft has been used and has a real bearing on its value when it is sold or leased.
On Vuelopedia
In the aircraft record, the flight log for aircraft operating in the US shows the number of flights each year, which gives an idea of the cycles they build up.
Related terms
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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Flight cycles. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/flight-cycles
MLA
“Flight cycles.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/flight-cycles. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Flight cycles.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/flight-cycles.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Flight cycles. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/flight-cycles (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_flight_cycles,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Flight cycles}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-09},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/flight-cycles},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/flight-cycles}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/flight-cycles |title=Flight cycles |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}