A non-pilot recently asked me if 14 years since new was old for a Cirrus. I didn’t have to pause when answering that it certainly is not. But after thinking about it for a while, it occurred to me that while the modern composite design of a Cirrus—or Diamond or Columbia—may still seem new even after 14 years, the earlier models in the fleet are indeed aging. When these mass-production composites came to market, there was much speculation on how the airframes would hold up and how difficult they would be to service when they break. Owners of earlier models are now finding out.
When fiberglass airframes gained popularity, one sales pitch was that the design would be cheaper to maintain because compared to all-metal designs, corrosion is mostly a non-issue. It was also said that fiberglass airframe structures are simpler than their metal counterparts, which means there is less to disassemble and inspect during annual inspections. That may be true, however, it’s false to say that a fiberglass airframe isn’t susceptible to corrosion because there are plenty of metal parts inside the structure, including critical flight control components.