Must composite planes be in hangars?
Andreas Meyer
What is the story with these? Do they need to be parked away from the sun
even if they are painted in white and a UV blocking paint was used? Since
yearly hangar fees around here are approaching $3000 it makes planes built
using traditional materials such as aluminum much more attractive. So, what
is the scoop with composites? All the composite planes from my chapter are
tucked away in nice hangars. Are the owners of these over protective or are
the UV rays so damaging that no paint is going to protect the fibers.
One more question: I know heat and epoxy don't like each other, but how
about extremely cold temperatures? Does anybody know if it has a tendency
to crack when cold (-30 F) and being flexed?
Andreas Meyer
AlFITZ
Meyer) writes:
>I have never seen a composite plane parked outside exposed to the
elements.
>What is the story with these? Do they need to be parked away from the sun
>even if they are painted in white and a UV blocking paint was used?
There is a guy in Michigan who has a Dragonfly (glass) and it has over 500
hours and is 10 years old. It has never been inside a hangar and he is
proud of that fact.
Al Fitzgerald
Ross Oliver
: I have never seen a composite plane parked outside exposed to the elements.
: What is the story with these? Do they need to be parked away from the sun
: even if they are painted in white and a UV blocking paint was used?
Our club has a Grob and a Katana, both all-composite aircraft. Both are
tied down outdoors. A lot of boats are composites, and spend their lives
outdoors. Many metal aircraft have composite parts such as wingtips and
wheel fairings, and they seem to do okay. I think any type of aircraft will
fare better inside a hangar than out. The problem will be what to do after
10 or 20 years of exposure. Metal aircraft can be stripped and repainted.
Fabric aircraft can be stripped and recovered. What do you to when the
finish on your glass wings starts looking a little dreary?
Ross Oliver
r...@netcom.com
Jukka Tervamaki
>I have never seen a composite plane parked outside exposed to the elements.
>What is the story with these?
I have flown my JT-6 motorglider (a highly modified PIK-20B glider) for
20 years and 1450 hrs. I hangared it the first 12 years and accumulated
some damage due to people moving it in a crouded hangar. The last 8
soaring seasons (5 months on our latitude) it has been outdoors with
covers on.
The only problem has been air pollution and acid rains entering
Finland from the central Europe (Poland and England particularly). In a
month or two the plane looks very dirty. I clean and polish it during
the winter months.
--------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Jukka Tervamaki
e-mail:Ter...@topias.pp.fi
Soaring is music to my soul and music is my joy of life!
--------------------------------------------------------
Andreas Meyer
|> fare better inside a hangar than out. The problem will be what to do after
|> 10 or 20 years of exposure. Metal aircraft can be stripped and repainted.
|> Fabric aircraft can be stripped and recovered. What do you to when the
|> finish on your glass wings starts looking a little dreary?
Hmmm, good question. I guess you could sand off the old paint (very tedious)
or you could use a sand blaster using crushed peanut shells. That's how they
sometimes strip the old paint off Corvettes.
Andreas
131J50000-WelchBJ(DR3215)283
: In article <42ibdg$k...@hpscit.sc.hp.com>, me...@news.an.hp.com (Andreas
: Meyer) writes:
: >I have never seen a composite plane parked outside exposed to the
: elements.
: >What is the story with these? Do they need to be parked away from the sun
: >even if they are painted in white and a UV blocking paint was used?
: There is a guy in Michigan who has a Dragonfly (glass) and it has over 500
: hours and is 10 years old. It has never been inside a hangar and he is
: proud of that fact.
Definitely good news to me, since I want to build a Dragonfly. So
can you just get a car-cover, tie down the plane and store it
covered? As long as temperature variations due to weather don't
bother the plane, this sounds like it would work.
-bjw
--
Bryan J. Welch, AT&T Bell Laboratories - bryan@.dr.att.com - N0SFG
Pohl's law: Nothing is so good that somebody, somewhere, will not hate it
Johnny
>What do you to when the
>finish on your glass wings starts looking a little dreary?
>
Well, you get yourself a big bucket of this new stripper I found that doesn't
eat epoxy, or polyester resin. It doesn't eat the bonding on the glued metal
airplanes either. It does eat the paint though. Probably not epoxy paint, but
it strips urethane, enamel, and our favorite, bubble gum laquer. It has been a
God send for stripping Grummans which before had to be masked on every seam to
protect the bonding, and then hand sanded after stripping to remove the paint
in those areas that were masked. They also have fiberglass wingtips and root
fairings that are gel coated, then painted. Ate the paint, didn't soften the
gelcoat. It is also what I used to strip what looked like 20-30 coats of
laquer on the race boat restoration project that was mentioned a few days ago.
Worked good. E-mail me if you would like more info on how to order it.
-j-
Lee McGee
(131J50000-WelchBJ(DR3215)283) writes:
|> AlFITZ (alf...@aol.com) wrote:
|> : In article <42ibdg$k...@hpscit.sc.hp.com>, me...@news.an.hp.com
|> (Andreas
|> : Meyer) writes:
|>
|> : >I have never seen a composite plane parked outside exposed to the
|> : elements.
|> : >What is the story with these? Do they need to be parked away from the
|> sun
|> : >even if they are painted in white and a UV blocking paint was used?
Our flying club has a nice certified Grob 115C composite aeroplane parked
in the sun with the rest of the fleet. There are no "don't park it in the
sun"
restrictions in the POH that I remember.
--
Lee McGee lmc...@corp.sgi.com |
(415)390-2403 FAX (415)961-9584 GRUMMAN _|_
AA-5B ____/___\____
"When I fly, I feel an isolation ___________[=o=]___________
extreme and radiant" TIGER e/ o \e
- Peter Garrison