FlyingGiants Forums - View Single Post - Pros & Cons-Composite frame vs. wood airframe

Tired Old Man · 03-10-2008, 01:24 PM

IMO there is only one thing that places a wood plane over a composite one, and that is the up front price. Comps cost more and you won't get away from that. Frequenly you can purchase them in white, clean up the fuselage seam, and do your own paint. Then again, Comp Arf provides a colored set of tapes to cover the seam and adding a little heat sticks it nicely.

Composite airframes can be noisey due to resonance. When that happes applying some inside glass or carbon stffeners in the fuselage will cancel it out. It's neither difficult or heavy.

Composite repairs are easy to do once you learn the methodology. The work is not done in a manner anything similar to wood. Generally a repair properly performed on a composite airframe will be lighter than one performed on a wood airframe that has the same damage. It's all in knowing the correct way to do so.

Paint repairs will be more difficult to match that a wood airframe with covering. Then again, a painted film covered wood plane will be more expensive and difficult as well, so you might say it comes out a "bump" in that area. A composite airframe will never have the covering bubble once it comes out of the box or after sitting in the sun for a period of time..

A super light framed wood plane may come in lighter than a composite airframe, but it will start falling apart years before a composite airframe will. A well built wood plane will genrally weigh in pretty close to the composite one. Wood framed planes are higher in general maintenance than composite. That's just the way it is if you want to keep a plane.

So price is the one major item keeping people away from composite airframes. A couple smaller things are learning new ways of mounting and new ways of performing repairs. In general, people resist change and moving to something different takes a lot of mental effort.

You do need to know who the composite manufacturer is and learn who makes the best and the lightest. There are some composite manufacturers out there that pay little attention to weight and quality. Purchasing one of their airframes can leave you with a very heavy plane with a lot of cosmetic and/or parts fit issues.

03-10-2008, 01:24 PM	#26 (permalink)
Tired Old Man Bad-ass Super Contributer! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: California Posts: 938	Re: Pros & Cons-Composite frame vs. wood airframe IMO there is only one thing that places a wood plane over a composite one, and that is the up front price. Comps cost more and you won't get away from that. Frequenly you can purchase them in white, clean up the fuselage seam, and do your own paint. Then again, Comp Arf provides a colored set of tapes to cover the seam and adding a little heat sticks it nicely. Composite airframes can be noisey due to resonance. When that happes applying some inside glass or carbon stffeners in the fuselage will cancel it out. It's neither difficult or heavy. Composite repairs are easy to do once you learn the methodology. The work is not done in a manner anything similar to wood. Generally a repair properly performed on a composite airframe will be lighter than one performed on a wood airframe that has the same damage. It's all in knowing the correct way to do so. Paint repairs will be more difficult to match that a wood airframe with covering. Then again, a painted film covered wood plane will be more expensive and difficult as well, so you might say it comes out a "bump" in that area. A composite airframe will never have the covering bubble once it comes out of the box or after sitting in the sun for a period of time.. A super light framed wood plane may come in lighter than a composite airframe, but it will start falling apart years before a composite airframe will. A well built wood plane will genrally weigh in pretty close to the composite one. Wood framed planes are higher in general maintenance than composite. That's just the way it is if you want to keep a plane. So price is the one major item keeping people away from composite airframes. A couple smaller things are learning new ways of mounting and new ways of performing repairs. In general, people resist change and moving to something different takes a lot of mental effort. You do need to know who the composite manufacturer is and learn who makes the best and the lightest. There are some composite manufacturers out there that pay little attention to weight and quality. Purchasing one of their airframes can leave you with a very heavy plane with a lot of cosmetic and/or parts fit issues.