Originally Posted by
Olympia 463
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Oh God! No one builds aeroplanes to be crashworthy. If you start from a premise like that you will end up with a very strange plane indeed.
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I guess you've not heard of JAR 22. Of course aeroplanes of all types are designed & built to be crashworthy, that is to say they protect the occupants as best they can. Of course it's not the only requirement, but it certainly is one.
Using the right sort of foam cushion (Confor, Dynafoam) is also very important in gliders as it reduces the risk of back injury in a heavy landing.
As with cars standards change (improve) over time. The standards now for new designs are better than they were when the Vikings were designed, and I would be astonished if they were not better than the T21/T31.