Usually the maintenance is characterized by maintenance personnel to repair easily or not when the aircraft have some failures during the normal service period. But, it’s hardly for aircraft to avoid the accidental and unexpected damage in the service, such as accident damage, battle damage etc. And then the recoverability is used to represent easy to repair, uneasy to repair, and recoverable when the aircraft are subject to some accidental and unexpected damage. On the basis of concepts and qualitative requirements of aircraft recoverability, this paper proposes parameters MTTRC(Mean Time to Recovery), MRCC（Mean Recovery Cost）and MWTTRC（Mean Work Time to Recovery）to characterize aircraft recoverability. Then, the significance of aircraft recoverability is discussed as well as the concept, measurement and control of aircraft operational integrity. Furthermore, the normal assessment and design methods of aircraft recoverability are put forward. Finally, a brief example of recoverability design for a monolithic backswept wing structure constructed by ribs, stringers and skins. The concept, the measurement and the design of recoverability are suitable for other equipment and devices.