Jay,

The composites used on Cirrus are not anything close to the fiberglass
material you describe. The better comparison is to look at composite
sailplanes that are twenty and thirty years old and have no problems.
The UV issue was dealt with 20 years ago as well.

Because of the FAA's extremely conservative certification procedures
for composites, the structures are far, far stronger than metal
airplanes, which is why they also weigh as much. The FAA
certification procedures took away the weight advantage of composites,
but what it did was give us airplanes that are evern more overbuilt
than the Grumman Ironworks figthers of WWII.

Warmest regards,
Rick

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:WCl5b.344377$uu5.68896@sccrnsc04...
Okay, so Cirrus is cooking along at 60 aircraft per month. They're selling
everything they can build, and people who have bought them are ecstatic.

Fast forward to the year 2018. What's going to be happening to these
composite beauties?

Reason for asking: A long discussion with some pilots who were staying at
the inn, who contend that they just won't last. Using as an example the
fiberglass wing tips and cowlings that always crack, flake, and crumble
after 15 years, requiring costly (and usually unsuccessful) repairs, these
pilots are convinced that the composite material in Cirrus will eventually
behave in much the same way. And once your fuselage parts start to crack,
flake, and delaminate, the planes will become essentially large
paper-weights.

So what's the group-think here? Will we by flying used Cirrus' in 20 years?
Or will they all be scrap by then?