At 21:14 25 October 2013, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Thu, 24 Oct 2013 15:12:18 -0700, son_of_flubber wrote:

On Thursday, October 24, 2013 4:11:23 PM UTC-4, flgliderpilot wrote:
Actually, I'd be more concerned with being impaled or having my
abdomen
shredded by shards of broken fiberglass...

I understand that the Kevlar in the composite reduces this possibility.

I have a strong suspicion that carbon would do more damage to you than
glass, though that almost certainly applies to pure carbon or glass
structures.

All the mixed composites I've seen have been approximately 50:50 kevlar/
carbon rather than kevlar/glass, so they're unlikely to shatter.

Data point: a while back people were using 3mm carbon rod as wing joiners

in competition free flight model aircraft and having problems with the
joiners breaking if the model dethermalised onto concrete. A friend found

that when he pultruding his own joiners using a 95:5 mix of carbon:kevlar

tow the joiners remained intact.



--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |


There are 2 sides to safety
1 is the glider so un handy if you miss handle it ,it will bite
2 if you do get it wrong it will or won't it protect you.

Generally I think most post 1990 gliders have some protection and the
handling is ,if not benign ,is at least predictable
The earlier stuff was more of a compromise particularly the open class
where
it was accepted the handling was evil but look at the glide angle.
And how much crash protection can you expect from a K13 they are a steel
tube frame covered in fabric .
I have forgotten where this thread started by now but if a newly qualified

pilot is reading it and wondering what to buy
Get the newest you can from one of the major builders with a good trailer
Again from a major builder and ignore everything else you have protected
yourself and your investment as best you can.