PUT IT ON A SCHEDULE.
Tell us the aircraft, the field and how it is stored. We will recommend an interval and quote a recurring plan.
Owner Guide
As a baseline: wash every four to six weeks if the aircraft lives outside, every eight to twelve weeks if it is hangared, and do a full detail two to three times a year. Environment moves those numbers more than flying hours do.
Updated August 2026 · Tarmac Detail Company, Livermore (KLVK)
The honest answer is that there is no single interval, because the two aircraft that need the most different schedules can be the same make and model. What matters is where the aircraft sleeps, what is in the air around it, and how hard it works.
Hangared: exterior wash every 8 to 12 weeks, full detail twice a year. The hangar removes UV, rain, dew cycling and most contamination.
Tied down outside: exterior wash every 4 to 6 weeks, full detail two to three times a year. An outdoor aircraft is under attack continuously whether it flies or not.
Outside near salt water: every 3 to 4 weeks. Fields on the bay shoreline like San Carlos, Palo Alto and Oakland put airborne salt on the airframe every single day. The point of the wash there is not appearance, it is getting the salt load off before it works into seams and starts corrosion under the paint.
Coastal and bay-adjacent: shorten the interval. Salt is the driver, and it is a corrosion problem rather than a cosmetic one.
Central Valley: agricultural dust plus heavy summer UV. The dust is not the danger by itself. The danger is owners dry-wiping it off, which drags grit across paint and puts in swirl marks. Regular proper washing plus a UV-resistant coating is the answer at fields like Stockton.
Near a marsh or open water: bird activity. Droppings are acidic and etch paint if they bake on. Getting them off within a few days matters more than the wash interval itself.
Turbine aircraft: exhaust staining builds after every leg and bonds to bare paint. Either wash frequently or coat the aircraft so it wipes off.
A trainer flying six days a week collects bug strikes, brake dust and exhaust residue at several times the rate of an aircraft flying twice a month. Fleet operators generally do best on a fixed schedule rather than a condition trigger, because condition triggers get ignored when the schedule is busy.
A wash removes surface contamination. A full detail adds belly and gear degrease, wheel wells, brakes, interior work and a protective sealant. Two to three of those a year on an outdoor aircraft, two on a hangared one, is a sensible cadence. Correction-grade work is not an annual item. It is something you do once when the paint needs it, then protect so you do not need it again soon.
This is the part owners skip and mechanics wish they would not. A dirty belly hides oil and hydraulic leaks, hides developing cracks around fasteners and stiffeners, and hides early corrosion. Exhaust residue on the aft fuselage does the same. When the belly is clean, an annual inspection finds things earlier and cheaper. That alone is a defensible reason to detail on a schedule, separate from anything cosmetic.
Get bird droppings and bug strikes off within a few days, using a detail spray and a clean microfiber, never dry. Do not dry-wipe dust, ever. Keep the windscreen away from ammonia based cleaners and from any towel that has been on the ground. Those three habits do more for a paint job than doubling the wash frequency.
If you find yourself thinking the airplane looks dirty, you are already past the interval. The point of a schedule is that the aircraft never gets to the stage where contamination has time to bond, etch or start corrosion. That is also the cheapest way to own the paint. See our cost guide, or ask us what interval makes sense for your specific aircraft and field.
Common Questions
Every 4 to 6 weeks for an aircraft tied down outside, every 8 to 12 weeks for a hangared aircraft, and every 3 to 4 weeks for an aircraft parked outside near salt water. Turbine aircraft with visible exhaust staining generally need more frequent attention than that.
Two to three times a year for an aircraft that lives outside, twice a year for a hangared aircraft. A full detail adds belly and gear degrease, interior work and protection, which a routine wash does not include.
Correction is not a recurring service. It is done when the paint has visible oxidation, swirl marks or etching, and then the paint is protected so it does not need doing again soon. Machine polishing an airframe on a schedule removes paint you cannot get back, and aircraft paint is applied thin to begin with.
Proper washing does not. Bad washing does, and frequency multiplies bad technique. Dry-wiping, dirty towels, harsh chemicals and letting hard water dry on the paint are what cause damage, not the wash itself.
Yes, and more for maintenance than for appearance. A clean belly lets an inspector see oil and hydraulic leaks, developing cracks and early corrosion. A dirty one hides all three.
More owner guides: what detailing costs, is ceramic coating worth it, how often to detail.
Tell us the aircraft, the field and how it is stored. We will recommend an interval and quote a recurring plan.