P-3 Orion Articles: October 1998

• 9 October 1998; NNS4204. P-3's new coating cuts corrosion, saves millions By NAVAIRSYSCOM Aircraft Division Public Affairs; Navy News Service

  PATUXENT RIVER, Md. (NNS) -- The P-3 will be the first Navy aircraft to use a new coating that could cut corrosion in half. The preventive coating called Dinol is expected to save the Fleet more than $4 million a year in initial implementation costs alone.

  Dinol is a temporary coating sprayed or brushed on primed or painted surfaces of internal non-fueled compartments, such as the fuselage. The coating is believed to prevent 50 to 80 percent of corrosion.

  "We were impressed by the product because Lufthansa did a study a few years ago showing that before the application of Dinol, they were getting around 4,000 maintenance hours worth of corrosion rework at their depot-level checks," said Ray Vermillion, who introduced Dinol to the P-3 Corrosion Action Team. "After they sprayed Dinol, they were getting about 400 hours of maintenance."

  The full integration of Dinol into the P-3 fleet started in June 1997. Since that time, about 50 aircraft have been coated with Dinol. Now Dinol will be installed at maintenance depots on all 247 P-3s in the Fleet.

  Navy depots spend about 2000 hours a year on P-3 maintenance. "If we can cut that number in half, we have a significant savings," noted Vermillion.

  An aircraft goes through a rework cycle approximately once every four years. Dinol will be applied to P-3s when they are at the depot for general maintenance.

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