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Old 5th Sep 2009, 09:51
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muduckace
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Man, I saw the quick patch 787 fuscelage procedure and laughed as loud as I do at FOX or CNN news. Temp/weather/surface condition? The AA A300-600 over long island got my interest. Aluminum primary structure is easy to GVI and easy to NDI if required. Composite material may look fine on the exterior but be seriously degraded inside and is not to todays standards easy to inspect.

Having said that and given the MAINT. schedules of operating aircraft. A composite airframe spending lots of time in humid areas like the D.R. and operating within limits but more than the normal surface loads is more suceptable to the internal wear and tear that I fear may fail prior to scheduled inspection intervals.

A composite airframe operating in a dry climate with low load factors on the flight surfaces may fly for centuries w/o fail in the same respect.
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