Tomorrow's Airliners: Stronger, More Comfortable and Mainly Plastic

Carbon fibre airliners oh dear not another Comet! Or are you too young to remember. They were the worlds first jet passenger aircraft but they had a fatal flaw they kept crashing due to stress cracks around their windows. Already some aircraft using carbon fibre have been found to have de-lamination problems due to water getting into vital areas freezing and causing the carbon fibre to peel like an onion. Modern is not better until it has been proven for several decades.

Plastic airplanes worry me, carbon fibre has significant resistance , a lightning bolt of 20,000 Amps through a resistance of 1 ohm equals 40 Megawatts of power to be dissipated. Thats enough to blow the wing off or even penetrate the skin and blow the control system, up all three of them! Maybe lighning will pass right through the passenger comparment? Scary stuff, makes my grommet woble.

A small on board fire might be contained with minimal damage and no structural failure in a metal skin and frame. Is carbon fiber and resin resistant to fire at the same level as metal/aluminum and its alloys or will immediate failure occur?