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Composite Safety: Fire, Damage Tolerant

Cirrus CAPS pulls, main image, tend to reduce the number of impact events serious enough to breach fuel tanks or lines, further reducing the risk of post-crash fire. Image credit goes to the Arapahoe County Sheriffs Office.

Our goal as pilots is to make every landing one you can walk away from. The goal of every plane designer is to make the structure as robust, repairable and survivable as possible. 

With metal (primarily aluminum) airframes, the materials and design features are we’ll understood, while inspections and repairs are typically very straightforward. But for general aviation aircraft that are primarily made from fiber-reinforced plastics (composites), the methods are not as widely known.  

Gary Bond

Contributor Gary Bond is a composites expert and Technical Fellow for Pratt & Whitney and owns a Grumman Tiger.