wood in aircraft manufacturing, was First Glider

You can trust a tree, but you can't trust a glue. Due to a catastrophic
in-flight failure of a Robin DR 400 wing, the French authorities
discovered badly glued wingspars in a lot of airplanes of this type.
Consequently, reinforcements have been made mandatory (C.N. 2003-348).
To see how this is done, look at:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/malibos.aviation/vp1.html

The same occured last year with Duo-Discus wings, so it's 1-1 in the
wood-plastics competition. Both require precise mixing of components
(glue or epoxy), and correct temperature and humidity control.

Perhaps metal isn't so bad after all? But then there is metal
fatigue...


--
stephanevdv
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted via OziPilots Online [ http://www.OziPilotsOnline.com.au ]
- A website for Australian Pilots regardless of when, why, or what they fly -

The secret may be to build aircraft like they did 500 years ago - using
wood, with no glue - just doweling. The other possibility would be to carve
the wing out of one big log - like the Indians did.

Colin N12 HS - where wood is good, and the pilot is the weak link.


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Perhaps metal isn't so bad after all? But then there is metal
fatigue

And corrosion