[NSRCA-discussion] Carbon fiber shortage

[Koenig, Tom]

Hey Gray,

I Think the A380 cant get to Oz fast enough. I think on these long haul flight routes it will be a good thing-HOWEVER-personally I'm not too keen to get on anything made by Airbus. I shudder every time I have to get on one.They seem to have a habit of falling out of the sky. Isn't there some kind of joke amongst Airbus pilots? Something along the lines of-'why did it do that?'

I believe Australia is also involved with the JSF.  Down here, there has been some political debate over it lately, along the lines of, overpriced, behind schedule and yesterdays technology.....all good stuff really, cause when we run out of oil shortly, no one will be able to afford air travel or fill their car with gasoline. I doubt the JSF will be much good to anyone either sitting on the tarmac ( unless its powered by anti-matter and Dilithium crystals <VBG>)

I think our dependence on the middle east because of its oil will affect us all more than we think. Isn't carbon fibre manufacture dependant on oil as well? How do they heat those furnaces?

Luckily most of my modelling endeavours will remain  in mostly balsa, and maybe the remaining rolls of carbon in my workshop may become  worthwhile 'stock' <G>  AND even better, maybe my unbuilt PL kits will appreciate in 'value' after all........hehehehehehehe...I wished ..sigh.

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org]On Behalf Of Gray E Fowler
Sent: Wednesday, 19 July 2006 7:31 AM
To: NSRCA Mailing List
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Carbon fiber shortage



Its not really the government.  For years military projects were the ONLY user of carbon fiber. When the defense budgets were cut about 1992, many CF companies shut down, merged etc. Then the commercial aerospace industry re-discovered CF and the battle between Boeing and Airbus started and the way to cut each others throats was to build a plane to outperform, which means lots of CF composites. These planes use much more than the 325 F-22's and JSF is BARELY started.

Good news though...CF manufacturers are building new capacity and Boeing is out selling Airbus 4 to 1. The A380 is behind schedule which will free up some near term CF supplies (2-3 years)  and in my opinion the A380 is a dumb idea, destined for a very limited purchase, cuz if it aint75% full then its a money loser.
A350 is is dumber and will never fly-if it does it will KILL Airbus in combination with the A380.-my opinion...could be wrong.

And why do you guys care? are you building something pattern secret????

Composites are booming...good time to be in this business...



Gray Fowler
Senior Principal Chemical Engineer
Radome and Composites Engineering
Raytheon



Tommy Scarmardo <tretas513 at yahoo.com>
Sent by: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org


07/18/2006 03:48 PM


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That figures, leave it to the government to f*** something up !

Bob Richards <bob at toprudder.com> wrote:
FYI, I had not heard anything about this.
 
 <http://www.fibreglast.com/carbonfibershortage> http://www.fibreglast.com/carbonfibershortage
 
Bob R.
 
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