In this paper an attempt is being made to indicate the percentage failure load at which significant degradation occurred in the structure by means of AE parameters. The governing AE parameters signifying undue degradation are sorted out. It was observed that copious emissions emanated from the hardware at around 28% of failure load. These seem to be the early indications of structural degradation. The significant degradation preceding failure were reflected in terms of governing AE parameters like peak amplitude, event rate, long duration emissions, slow rise time events etc. in between 70 to 75% of failure load. The study has demonstrated the capability of Acoustic Emission technique for an early indication of the impending failure. The practical significance of predicting available margins is noteworthy especially while dealing with aerospace hardware possessing low design margins.