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Aviation glossary

Scrapping

Also: part-out, aircraft dismantling, breaking up, aircraft recycling

Manufacturing and maintenance

The dismantling of a retired aircraft to recover its usable parts and recycle the rest of the structure for its materials.

What it is

The process begins with the part-out. Valuable components such as the engines, auxiliary power unit, landing gear, avionics and flight control surfaces are removed. Each is inspected and, backed by its traceability paperwork, can be sold as a used spare and fly again on another aircraft. The engines are often worth more than everything else put together.

The structure is then cut up and the materials sorted. Aluminium and titanium alloys are recycled, and much of the aircraft's weight can be reused or recycled. Types with a lot of carbon fibre, such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, pose a new challenge for recyclers.

Specialist sites exist at places such as Tarbes in France and Teruel in Spain, and the aircraft is removed from the aircraft register.

On Vuelopedia

Scrappings appear among the recorded events in an aircraft's record.

Related terms

RetirementThe permanent removal of an aircraft, or of a whole type, from an operator's fleet, whether for sale, conversion, preservation or scrapping. DeregistrationCancellation of an aircraft's entry on a state's register, for example because it is exported to another country, withdrawn from use or scrapped. Desert storageThe parking of out-of-service aircraft in arid regions, where low humidity slows corrosion and land and space come cheap. APUSmall gas turbine, usually in the tail cone, that supplies electrical power and compressed air when an aircraft's main engines are shut down. MROThe industry and range of work that keeps aircraft airworthy: line maintenance, heavy checks, engine overhauls and component repairs.
Whole glossary

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Scrapping. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/scrapping

MLA

“Scrapping.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/scrapping. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Scrapping.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/scrapping.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Scrapping. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/scrapping (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_scrapping,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Scrapping}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/scrapping},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/scrapping}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/scrapping |title=Scrapping |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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