On my Integral the CF ends about 2 inches behind the gear, and probably 4 inches ahead of the wing tube. I have had some "heavy" landings without any problems. In September my right wing tip got hit on the ground by another airplane. The wing was destroyed, and the torque on the fuse caused some wringles behind the canopy but no problems ahead of the wing tube. I have a rather large opening on the bottom for cooling (I'm running electric) ahead of the wing tube, so the bottom would have less strength than with a glow engine. I would want extra strength to extend from the firewall at least to behind the gear. I suspect the lever action of the DZ against the gear was just too much for a non-reinforced nose. It does sound like there might have been a production problem, or worse yet a design change.

Ken