What a load of BS. Have either of you guys ever seen or flown a high
performance sailplane? Where *only* airframe performance counts - aircraft
use composite construction. Anybody heard of Rutan?

You guys sound like Ford defending the Lizzy. Best way to towards
industrial obsolescence is putting your head in the ground while the world
flies past.

That sound you hear is credibility leaking away at a high rate of speed.

"Icebound"
"C J Campbell"
...snip... One of the troubles with carbon fiber is it if it is
over-stressed, it doesn't just gradually crystallize and develop cracks
the
way metal does. It fails suddenly and spectacularly. ...snip...

I think bicycles are pointing the direction to the future of aircraft. I
think we may eventually see aircraft made of titanium (the stuff is not
rare, just difficult to work with) and beryllium/aluminum alloys. You
can
get bicycles made of these materials today, and they are proving their
worth, though I will probably stick with carbon fiber.


Although the necessity of "light and strong" is obvious, the "energy
dissipation" quality of crumpling aluminum and "standard" metals is also
useful in light GA aircraft, where survivable crashes are common.

If we make stuff too strong (titanium and carbon fiber) do we risk that it
would lead to fewer GA accidents being survivable??


You will never see a
serious fiberglass bicycle, which is even more dependent than an
airplane
on
strength and lightness. Fiberglass is for cheap boats, not airplanes or
bicycles.



I couldn't agree more!