If you are interested in a Shadow and need any questions answered you can think of, then call the Shadow Flight Centre, Old Sarum and speak to Fiona Luckhurst. She and Raymond Proost looked after my Shadows and helped me build my CFM Star Streak [Rotax 912].
01722410567
Shadows have an exceptional safety record and David Cook [designer] won awards for its design. Like all designs it is a compromise but as an example, there was a near miss in Wales between a Tornado and a Shadow. The Tornado passed so close the reheat melted part of the wing D box structure, the boom flexed so much that the prop blades hit the airframe and shattered the tips. The Shadow pilot elected to fly home to his farm, some 25 miles away, rather than land amongst rocks. The Shadow made it and was rebuilt. The MOD examined the over stressed Shadow and were simply amazed at the punishment it had sustained.
You can fly a Shadow knowing it is a combination of all that is good in using wood and aluminium and steel and Fibrelam and modern bonding agents.
BTW the fabric can be tested using a Bettsometer fabric degredation tester.
Personally I'd go for the Shadow but then I never owned an X-Air
