bumper wrote:

I understand that carbon fiber explodes when struck even without metal
control rods to heat up and expand the air within the wing. The carbon does
a fine job of heating and turning moisture into steam

I haven't see a full-size composite aircraft that had a lightening
strike, but I have seen several carbon-structure model aircraft that
landed across power transmission cables. The carbon extracts enough
current from the lines to ignite the epoxy matrix, but doesn't burn
itself. The end result is that the structure is converted to a sort of
tassel of fine, shiny black fibers with no structural integrity or rigidity.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |