Originally Posted by
Diesel6401
If you read post 30 you will see that I mention commerical and military aviation the site you listed is general aviavtion where price is a factor. Two complete different worlds! The f.a.r 's for commercial aviatin are much more strict the genereal, also in commerical service life is important. I got to admit I am not sure what your goals or intentions are at this point. To simply prove me wrong I don't know. I been in commerical aviation for over 10 years I know what I'm talking about. Do I know everything no I don't, but I know fiberglass and CF are heavily HEAVILY used for certain reasons, and like I mentioned ealier cost isn't one of those reasons. In general aviation cost is important and plastic is used for those reason. IF you fully read the"buyplanes" linkyou will see that fiberglass is better and it contradicts your ealier statements mostly of cost..
Look at the reasons :extended service life, extreme conditions and extreme heat and cold under the "recommendations" portion.The planes I work on are $30 million + fly over 30,000ft and over 400kts. Your NOT going to fly your abs plastic Cessna 172 at those conditions! If you want me to say you win FINE YOUR THE BEST, YOU WIN. <u>Your google searching skills are far superior to my schooling and employment</u>.Just know you won't see pushing abs hard or fast! I'm done with this thread! Have fun watching your plastic boat sink when you push it hard!
* Whatever your response, Iwon't reply. You can bash me if you choose.
Sounds like someone works at Boeing. You have to remember, the 787 was built using CFRP for several reasons:
- Less weight
- Higher altitudes(air gets less dense the higher you go)
- Less apparent maintenance
- Higher in-cabin moisture content(the 787 has TWICE the moisture content of traditional aluminum planes)
- Increased range
While I tend to agree with your comparison to the GA aircraft, you have to remember two things:
- GA aircraft are GENERALLY designed for smaller airports and loads. Many can take off and land in less than 1000 ft
- GA aircraft, for the most part, are using designs that came out in the late 40s to early 50s. A limited number of manufacturers have produced aircraft from the more high-tech materials. First one that comes to mind is Stoddard Hamilton's Glasaire series of homebuilts.
If you look at pretty much all of the "legacy" airliners, they are made using 6061 and 7075 aluminum, fiberglass and various types of honeycomb. If you look at commercially made GA aircraft, they are normally made of thinner and/or softer aluminum, for ease of working, and fiberglass that's normally between 1/8 and 3/16" thick. This is based on the fact that most are designed around a single nose mounted or two wing mounted normally aspirated piston engines. These types of installs normally are very draggy, thus limiting the aircraft's capabilities