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To: elmatador who wrote (51674)	6/23/2009 4:27:22 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217592

There is no method which can determine when composites will fail, other than a "visual inspection". All materials fail. Until a method can be found to identify failing composite parts, composite parts will continue to be extremely dangerous to use. Aluminum and titanium parts are routinely x-rayed during maintenance to identify parts which need to be replaced, due to small cracks. The x-ray process was the larger solution to the de Havilland Comet disasters. Prior to x-ray inspection, only a visual inspection was used to identify failing parts - and this was wholly inadequate. Airbus has been very aggressive in using both composite parts and computer flight systems. Boeing, being less aggressive, has the opportunity to avoid the mistakes Airbus made - just as they were able to avoid the mistakes made by the very aggressive de Havilland company. In engineering being conservative provides safety, while an aggressive approach is usually synonymous with death and destruction. .