"Morgans" wrote in message
...
Did anyone catch this on avflash?

SNIP

A tap test? Is this is the best they can do to find possible flaws on
multimillion dollar aircraft, carrying thousands of people around? Surely
there is a better way!

I have a couple of feelings on the issue. First, the A300/310 is hardly new,
with plenty of airframes flying for 10-20 years with all kinds of operators,
and this is the first we see of it. So my initial instinct is to think that
there is something beyond design at work here. I'm not a materials engineer
but it seems that the "composites are new and we don't fully understand
them" argument is growing a little long in the tooth. There are Long-EZs
that have been flying for quite some time and those were amateur-built. But
what the heck do I know?

What I do know is that there is a little something called the A380 in which
France has quite a vested interest that is full of composite parts and they
don't want to panic the sheep, er, public. And given that the 787 is also a
plastic airplane, for once Boeing wouldn't want to see any mud flung either.

-cwk.