Why does nobody talk about the increase in fiberglass repairs on older planes?

I've seen way more fiberglass or carbon fiber fixes on GA aircraft this past year. Just had a Piper with a busted fairing that took three hours just for the epoxy to set. It's eating into job times and not many shops seem prepared. Makes you wonder if the training keeps up with the materials shift.

4 comments

4 Comments

blair_ward391mo ago

Actually this hits on a bigger worry about inspection standards. Most guys looking at planes were taught to find cracks in metal, not check for delamination or bad resin mixes in fiberglass. So a quick patch might hide a problem that gets worse over time. The book times for jobs are still based on old materials that behave differently. When a simple fix takes half a day just to cure, it throws the whole shop schedule off. Are we setting up a future problem where these composite fixes fail because the skills and the rules haven't caught up?

ward.kim1mo ago

I heard about an A320 repair where the composite cure time added three days to the schedule. I used to think new materials were just better, but you're right that the inspection training and time estimates are still stuck in the metal age. That gap could definitely cause hidden problems down the line.

blair_nguyen1mo ago

Look at how training for composite checks has improved lately. They now teach guys to spot delamination and bad resin mixes (I read about it in a trade mag). So the skills are updating, and cure times are just part of doing the job right now.

aaron_perry16d ago

It's like when they switched to LED streetlights. The old crews knew how to fix the sodium bulbs in their sleep, but the new system needs a different toolset and everyone's learning on the fly. We see this lag everywhere, where the new tech gets put in before the people and the processes are fully ready to handle it.