Why are airplanes white?

"NW_PILOT" wrote in message news4udnex4haNuKGjdRVn-

Yes, but back in the 60's & 70's standard GA Aircraft were $7k to $15k
today

*thrash*

TIME MACHINE! TIME MACHIIIIINE!

(Art Lacey got his B-17 from the government for $5000 after WWII, wrecked it
landing, and they gave him another one.)

-c

"CB" wrote in message

White is the best colour for composites because of the thermal effects of
dark colours. white keeps the composite just that bit cooler.

Makes sense.

-c

"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 13:42:00 -0700, "gatt"
wrote:

One
has to wonder: what completely ignorant A-HOLE makes his aircraft
deliberately difficult to see, and then flies into airspace regularly
used
by student pilots?

Ummmm.. The USAF?

USAF jets are a little easier to spot than a camoflage ultralight at 1,200'
AGL five or ten miles out of Class C and Class D airspace though.

-c

"Gene Seibel" wrote in message
om...
"gatt" wrote in message
...
Here in Oregon, where there is often white overcast and snow in the
mountains in the winter, there's a lot of white.

Here in the Midwest we have blue skies and green vegitation. White
shows up quite well.

These are all great answers and thoroughly convincing as to why white is
probably the best overall color. If I was painting an airplane, I'd include
a stripe or something that would stand out against terrain. I like the
previous post about "invasion stripes." ANY EXCUSE TO PUT INVASION STRIPES
ON YOUR AIRPLANE IS A GOOD ONE! :

One of the '152s I fly went from yellow on white to candy apple red and gold
on white, with red wingtips and tail. It's hilarious, but pretty. The owner
decided he wanted a candy apple red airplane. Very easy to see now.

-c

"Cub Driver" wrote in message

Finally it dinged its wing, and the airport put a white "invasion
stripe" on that wing. What a difference!

Now that's what I'm talking about! White is fine but a little unnatural
color as a stripe or secondary color might make the aircraft more visible.

-c

Here in Oregon, where there is often white overcast and snow in the
mountains in the winter, there's a lot of white. It seems to me that
painting your aircraft white is akin to camoflage. Wouldn't it be better
if
airplanes were missile red, cub yellow, construction orange or some other
extremely-visible color?

Perhaps a better question is, why are most homebuilts white with trim? I
know the composite aircraft basically require it, but I see so many RV's out
there in the same boring-white-with-trim... standardization certainly isn't
an issue with them...

However, there's a G-200 out there with that color-changing paint...
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/387332/M/

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004, Bob Martin wrote:

However, there's a G-200 out there with that color-changing paint...
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/387332/M/

Very cool. Next time on of our Club's Cessnas comes due for a repaint, I'm
going to lobby hard to get this sort of paintjob on it!

Why should bizjets have all the fun?

Brian.

Brian Burger wrote:

Very cool. Next time on of our Club's Cessnas comes due for a repaint, I'm
going to lobby hard to get this sort of paintjob on it!

Better check out the price on that stuff first. I hear it's pretty expensive.

George Patterson
In Idaho, tossing a rattlesnake into a crowded room is felony assault.
In Tennessee, it's evangelism.

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004, G.R. Patterson III wrote:



Brian Burger wrote:

Very cool. Next time on of our Club's Cessnas comes due for a repaint, I'm
going to lobby hard to get this sort of paintjob on it!

Better check out the price on that stuff first. I hear it's pretty expensive.

grin Yes, probably. I'm sure that the next Club paintjob will be another
white-and-coloured-bits standard Cessna job, just like the two we had done
three or four years ago...

Still, a shimmery multi-colour 172 would be really, really cool!

Brian.

white keeps the composite just that bit cooler.

Significantly cooler actually.

So much so, that some composites cannot be painted anything but white
without compromising structural safety; at least, this used to be the
case. I believe newer composites are more tolerant of heat.

---
When the weight of the paperwork equals the weight of the plane, the
plane will fly.
-- Donald Douglas