Any Mooney versus a plastic airplane

[philiplane]

Corrosion is unheard of in Cirrus lightning protection mesh. It is embedded in the fiberglass, not carbon fiber. Carbon fiber is corrosive to all metals and requires special care to integrate and protect from reactions.

 

Diamond is at the lower end of the aircraft spectrum. They make a lot of compromises to get that 150 knots on 180 hp. They fly great, they're easy to maintain, but as a mechanic, I would not own one. Don't care for the rear door arrangement. Even with the AD and all the placards and warnings, people leave it unlatched and it rips off the plane on takeoff. $$$$

[John Pleisse]

KFDK yesterday. A "plastic plane" had a mid air with a Robinson 44 at TPA (900 agl). The Cirrus pilot pulled the D ring at this low alt. and he and his passenger survived with only scratches.

[Heloman]

Exactly - I was horrified when I realized how expensive and obnoxious a corroding carbon wing could be - I spoke up her to try and dispel the myth that carbon airplanes do not corrode.  Quite the contrary, they do corrode and it is much much more expensive to address.

 

Would a titanium mesh do the trick?  It is highly noncorrosive.  Would it be electrically conductive enough?

 

Part of the design problem was that the metal fittings were different metals than the embedded mesh - and we know the conductance implications of that - so at least the same material of metal should be used.

 

I presume Cirrus also has an embedded metal mesh - but I do not know. (Anyone?)  Anyone ever heard of this sort of corrosion in a Cirrus?

 

Cirrus's are made of almost all glass, not carbon (and they are heavily bonded with adhesives); the spar is carbon. Carbon airplanes usually have outer layers of glass and extra layers around fittings to insulate from galvanic effects; how well they do with that...time will tell. With that said, I would bet a dollar that if we identified 100 serviceable 1986 252s or Js, and similarly identified 100 2014 SR22s, 25 years from now we will have more of the 1986 Mooneys still flying than the 2014 Cirrus's.