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Are fabric wings dangerous?

Discussion of irony, smilies, etc on the internet is here

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I strongly belive and try to shary the message that wood/fabric airplanes should be sold at price of fireplace wood….

PM me first if you have any to sell? I’ll give you a better price.

Buying, Selling, Flying
EISG, Ireland

Never been properly tested.

Hm. Only 115 years experience, including 2 world wars…

Are fabric wings dangerous?

I find that unfortunately worded. Of course fabric wings are dangerous. All wings are dangerous. Everything in aviation is dangerous. Actually most things outside aviation are dangerous, too. I read the meaning to be “are fabric covered wings more dangerous than others?” and there I think yes, they might be, particularly in case of bird strike (as pointed out). Myself flying a dacron-covered plane (wings and fuselage and empennage) I am aware of the risk – but statistics tell me it should not be my first concern, not by a long way.

And if you are so much worried, consider installing a ballistic parachute, this will help make a mid-air survivable too.

Last Edited by at 30 Dec 09:56
EBZH Kiewit, Belgium
We have spent a good part of past years work to test Oratex for certification. I’ll use this on my Ka1 and the DR250.
Last Edited by mh at 30 Dec 10:43
mh
Aufwind GmbH
EKPB, Germany

Go fly a Piper Cub and you will not care about this anymore. It is just a lot of fun!

Fabric aircraft are completely safe. The fabric is so strong that you are not able to punch through it with your fist. You must have something sharp to cut through it.

I fly a lot of both types and do not bother, the lower speed of most fabric aircraft makes it quite safe as well.

ESSZ, Sweden

That’s exactly what I tell everybody! Important thing to remeber is that wood and fabric is a deadly combination therefore not only an accident waiting to happen but a fatal accident waiting to happen
I strongly belive and try to shary the message that wood/fabric airplanes should be sold at price of fireplace wood….
In spite of all that this, nice Robin/Jodel types that I’m interested in seem to at least keep their prices and what’s more frustrating they are increasingly difficult to find
bottom line: wood and fabric wings are very dangerous!

I wouldn’t trust fabric. Never been properly tested. An accident waiting to happen! :)

EGTK Oxford

Our fabric-covered wing was stripped after a wood/glue problem was detected on a 100 hour check, performed by a PPL Group member. After full examination and repair by an LAA Inspector, it’s been recovered, and we’ll fit it after the New York celebrations. The previous, and new fabrics are synthetic and strong.
Some modern systems are not stitched. Our’s is.
I hit a fence post with a wood-and-fabric wing 24 years ago, short of flying sped, but well above taxi. Damage did not reach the mainspar. I flew it out, repaired, a few days later.
I was signalling for a wood-and-fabric glider winch launch, and an instructor was standing close to take a photo. The wing struck his head, fortunately between the wing ribs. The glider pilot noticed nothing until he landed. The photographer noticed nothing for more than a day, when he asked a nurse what happened.
The incident where a Jodel landed with a whole panel off was cotton, and about 40 years old. An accident history may be good for older wood-and-fabric aircraft.

Maoraigh
EGPE, United Kingdom

A bigger issue than fabric for bird strikes is the thickness of the aluminum used on the leading edges back to the spar – an issue common to both fabric and all metal wings. In the interest of minimizing weight on slow aircraft that leading edge material is sometimes as thin as 0.016 inches, or 0.4 millimeters. Of course you can say the same about thin plexiglass windshields and other areas of very light aircraft, nowhere is terribly resistant to a bird strike. That is offset by the energy of collision being related to the square of the relative speed at impact.

The fabric is actually pretty strong, and in case of the wing is rib stitched. The construction of the Auster wing for example has a metal leading edge D section (the metal going back to the front spar) with the fabric glued to the leading edge metal, then rib stitched behind the D section. This is quite a common arrangement. Clarence Taylor designed the Auster that I have, as well as the Taylorcraft and Cub, and they will have the same structural arrangement. I know the Decathlon and Citabria have a very similar strucutral arrangement. It’s pretty secure. Any impacts with birds etc (please, no jokes about my plane being so slow that birds are likely to collide with the trailing edge :-)) are going to hit this metal D-section and likely will do similar damage as it would to a metal skinned wing.

There are very few accident reports caused by a separation of fabric, and probably for every accident being intimately related to the wing being fabric, there’s probably one intimiately related with the wing being metal, too.

One thing to understand about fabric covered aircraft is there is a higher long term maintenance cost for your fuselage and wings, as periodically the fabric must be renewed. On the other hand, fabric renewal means the airframe is periodically subjected to a much deeper inspection than a metal aircraft ever has, and structural issues can be found before they turn into in-flight emergencies.

Last Edited by alioth at 29 Dec 12:05
Andreas IOM
14 Posts
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