I recently had a strut "blowout" on a Cobra for an AS-H25. Fortunately, it was just after closing the trailer. Sounded like I had just stuck a knife into a tire.

The general failure mode, however, is gradual loss of pressure. They get to where they don't help lift and won't keep the top open. If one does fail catastrophically, you should have time to react and get yourself out of the way. But your plane, if anything is in the path, may not fair so well. And if you are looking for a brace to handle the catastrophic, it needs to be hella stout, as they will likely get several hundred pounds of force on them, and not necessarily a straight down load, if one goes a bit before the other.

Steve Leonard