The emergence of civil aviation as a means of mass transportation is primarily due to the large scale construction of jet airplanes in the past 30 years or so. A large number of these jet airplanes is currently operating at or beyond their designed fatigue lives. Thus, the structural integrity of these aging airplanes has become an issue of major concern to all nations of the world. To bring the needed technical and research focus on the issues involved in the life-enhancement and safety-assurance of aging airplanes, the Federal Aviation Administration sponsored a symposium in Atlanta, GA,...