Composite Aircraft in the long term...

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 13:01:42 GMT, Jay Honeck wrote:
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.

Our flying club in Houston had an old Arrow 1. The cowling was still in
good (but not perfect) condition. The cowling is in a hostile place -
baking hot engine. The structure of the fibreglass was sound. It had
been around since the 1960s.

As others have noted, plenty of old fibreglass gliders are still beautiful
today. Take care of the paintwork and the composite Cirrus will last too.
You need to take care of the paintwork on a metal plane too (or they
corrode, especially where I live, right next to the sea).

You can't really compare Piper's crappy cowlings from the 60s to the
processes used to make the Cirrus/Lancair/Diamond aircraft today.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"