Outside of aeronautics, composite materials are very fashionable, they represent everything high-tech, cutting edge and well engineered. There are carbon fibre golf clubs, bath tubs and suitcases. Within the aeronautics industry composites are also held in high regard; the path to weight savings, complex geometries and fewer parts. Yet it is also very hard to quantify exactly how beneficial composites are. They are very different to aluminium, and challenges such as impact resistance, expensive manufacturing processes and repairability lead to different design philosophies, which in turn make it difficult to compare composite and metal designs directly. The Boeing 787-9 and Continue Reading
A330
The Airbus Widebody Fuselage Cross-Section
Although the Airbus A300 is no longer in production, part of it lives on. The original fuselage cross-section of the A300 has been used on a further 13 Airbus aircraft across 3 different aircraft families, ranging in length from 47m (155ft) all the way up to 75m (246ft). As of today 2427 aircraft using the same A300 cross-section have been delivered, even though only 561 A300s were constructed. This year the same cross-section will have enjoyed 42 years of uninterrupted production, and a backlog of 363 orders for the A330neo will ensure production past 2020 at least. A perfectly circular Continue Reading