787 about to fly?

[eccles]

TimJMS said:

eccles said:

TimJMS said:

Don't carbon / composites tend to shatter when stuck by lightning? I'd be much more worried about that than some muppet on the ground with a luggage truck.

Do you really think they'd make an aircraft out of carbon/composites if that was true?

I'm no technical expert on the subject of delamination of carbon composite structures exposed to extreme heat but hopefully Boeing will solve the problem. The path of true progress is never easy. They have already managed to get the FAA to relax certain safety regs just for the 787 already. I'm sure it'll be made safe before release into service. Boeing hardly want a Comet on their hands.

Composites have been used extensively in aircraft for the the last twenty years (at least), so problems associated with lightning strikes have been pretty much resolved.
google astrostrike.

[dr_gn]

eccles said:

TimJMS said:

eccles said:

TimJMS said:

Don't carbon / composites tend to shatter when stuck by lightning? I'd be much more worried about that than some muppet on the ground with a luggage truck.

Do you really think they'd make an aircraft out of carbon/composites if that was true?

I'm no technical expert on the subject of delamination of carbon composite structures exposed to extreme heat but hopefully Boeing will solve the problem. The path of true progress is never easy. They have already managed to get the FAA to relax certain safety regs just for the 787 already. I'm sure it'll be made safe before release into service. Boeing hardly want a Comet on their hands.

Composites have been used extensively in aircraft for the the last twenty years (at least), so problems associated with lightning strikes have been pretty much resolved.
google astrostrike.

Same deal with helicopter blades. Many use fibreglass or carbon, with an embedded mesh linked to the rotor hub.

[navier_stokes]

Nearly....



For those that are interested:

Live streaming (or similar, don't quote me on that!)
http://www.newairplane.com/

Some nice info about the testing so far:
http://boeingblogs.com/randy/

Awesome photo of the static test:

Edited by navier_stokes on Monday 14th December 16:33

[john_p]

She flies!


Now the hard part..

Good stream here http://www.kirotv.com/video/21972903/index.html if the helicopter is still airborne when it lands

Edited by john_p on Tuesday 15th December 18:33

[Turbo5]

eccles said:

TimJMS said:

eccles said:

TimJMS said:

Don't carbon / composites tend to shatter when stuck by lightning? I'd be much more worried about that than some muppet on the ground with a luggage truck.

Do you really think they'd make an aircraft out of carbon/composites if that was true?

I'm no technical expert on the subject of delamination of carbon composite structures exposed to extreme heat but hopefully Boeing will solve the problem. The path of true progress is never easy. They have already managed to get the FAA to relax certain safety regs just for the 787 already. I'm sure it'll be made safe before release into service. Boeing hardly want a Comet on their hands.

Composites have been used extensively in aircraft for the the last twenty years (at least), so problems associated with lightning strikes have been pretty much resolved.
google astrostrike.

We make composite structures/skins for our products, and majority of the composite materials have either aluminum mesh as the top layer of composite or bronze mesh. We carry out conductivity tests on external surfaces. I have witnessed a hole in carbon fibre caused by lightening strike. it wasn't very big a couple of inches but the lightening arced out along a row of rivets popping all the rivet heads off

[Penguinracer]

I'm betting that the Dreamliner is actually over-engineered due to the FAA's very conservative approach to composites. The Beechcraft Starship (composite, pusher twin turbo-prop businees aircraft) ended up being no lighter than if it had been constructed from aluminium chiefly because of the FAA's insistence on additional strengthening work.

See this link:
http://www.pilotfriend.com/aircraft%20performance/...

[Jimbeaux]

As of 10-31-09 there were 840 firm orders for the 787. Just how many planes can be put out in a certain amount of time? I would assume these orders are slated for years in advance obviously.