§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what categories his Department used to define the damage caused to its aircraft which have crashed; and when his Department instituted these categories. [10405]
§ Mr. SpellarFor administrative purposes, aircraft are assigned one of five damage categories. These are defined as follows:
- Category 1—damage repairable on site by established first-line maintenance personnel.
- Category 2—damage repairable on site by established second-line maintenance personnel.
783 - Category 3—damage repairable on site but beyond unit technical resources. Assistance from a repair and salvage unit or civilian contractor is required.
- Category 4—damage is not repairable on site and the aircraft must be removed to a established repair depot or civilian repair organisation.
- Category 5—aircraft is damaged beyond economic repair or is missing.
Records show that the first use of the numeric system appeared in 1956.