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Old 15th Jun 2009, 10:29
  #1568 (permalink)  
HarryMann
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
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In photos 1 and 3 one sees in more detail how the rudder failed. The bent mounting pins that are visible are bowed in the center, no doubt levered from their mounting lugs in the empennage, showing that the tail was pulled off by aerodynamic forces and not bent randomly or forward by impact forces. This again is consistent with the visible damage to the lower part of the rudder. We also see how the composite material has failed along the opposed cross hatch of fibers.
Really! That's terrific stuff

If I'm looking at the same (1 & 3) pictures of the VS you are then I'd say...

You could earn a fortune as a 'remote accident investigator' just using small low resolution pictures taken around the other side of the world, saving BEA, FAA, AAIB an absolute fortune.


== UV damage to composites ==

Bearing in mind the comments in several posts above:
Is this really a serious concern, when there are multiple layers of (UV resisting) paint and UV light however strong would doubtless penetrate one or two laminate layups?
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