I live and learn but it makes sense.
Interestingly (to whom?)
I drove the LAK test pilot in South Africa just after the Worlds a few years ago and asked him about his bad limp.
He had done all of the pre production test flying in the Lak 17 and two years later, whilst doing a VNE beat up across the airfield, the wing fluttered and dumped him and the wreckage onto the ground at 125 knots.
At the time they were using Soviet produced carbon fibre and although the strength was similar to western material the accident revealed that the material fatigued much faster. Hence the wing flexed, fluttered and failed.
For those of you not familiar with the gliding scene - they are at the forefront of fixed wing development and experimentation. Most of this was led by the German Universities Atafliegs...composite gliders in the 60s...laminar flow wings...winglets; their electronic kits were similarly advanced as is the investigation into the atmosphere and it's effects. Probably the most extreme are mountain flying - soaring in the rotor; and dynamic soaring as practiced by the albatross (the bird and not flavoured for the Python fans)
