PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Composites and lightning discussion (extracted from AF A330 thread)
Old 15th Jun 2009, 08:27
  #38 (permalink)  
muduckace
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Have to admit

Although I am not a great Airbus fan.

They have gone to great lengths to ensure electrical/static bonding between composite structures and electrically conducive airframes.

I do though have doubts in our ability to perform preventative maintenance/inspections on composite structures that are load-bearing. Aluminum structures crack externally and are easy to inspect.

Composite materials degenerate internally and prove much more difficult to see from the eye requiring expensive equipment to perform detailed inspections on. In my opinion I have not seen a proper response to this issue going back to the A300 incident over long island and possibly the air France A330 currently in the Atlantic drink.
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