The load-bearing structure of modem airframes requires monolithic members that are produced from large forged and rolled aluminum-alloy semifinished products. These members are designed in accordance with the principle of "safe service life," and critical parts are designed in accordance with the principle of "safe vulnerability to damage." For this reason, the characteristics of static and cyclic crack resistance (Ki,., RGFC, nel G~r, and others) have become very important and some of them are used as control parameters in standard documentation. These parameters characterize the operating capacity of the material of a structure with a crack and take into account the magnitude and direction of the applied load. If the crack front deviates from the given direction to another plane (for example, from a transverse plane to a heightwise plane), the process of crack propagation becomes unpredictable and uncontrollable. The present paper is devoted to the special features of fracture in large semifinished products made of aluminum alloys.