Pobjoy
Fortunately ignorance is bliss as they say and your happiness when flying these machines was not taking account of what is under the skin, I think if you had been aware of some of the things that have been found in terms of badly executed repairs you might adjust your opinion.
One of the big problems with composites is that even the worst repair can be covered with filler & paint leaving even those with a passing knowlage of the subject fooled. Some of the aircraft have very substandard repairs and due to the disappearing records there is no way to know if an aircraft has of has not had any repair work in the past so an inspection requiring IRO 150-160 man hours has to be carried out.
Once the inspection has been done any problems have to Be addressed and this is when the problems start, if the repair work requires input from a design authority ( in the civil world normally the manufacturer ) they have to be consulted and a repair scheme issued. Most glider manufacturers are on top of this and a repair scheme is usually issued within 7 days or so.
The Vikings type certificate holder & design authority is a large defence contractor with some composite manufacturing experience but very little repair experience and apparently no contracted time scale for issuing repair schemes !
As you might guess this is the sort of culture that when something goes outside the design authoritiys ( limited ) comfort zone the problem gets kicked around for weeks and if they are lucky gets lost in the long grass when something less taxing to do turns up and allows them to look busy.
Pobjoy I would like to assure you that there are people trying very hard to push this project along at speed but are wading neck deep in the treacle put in place by people who are well outside there comfort zone with composite structures