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I CON A5 sea plane


procharger

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The ICON and the FD CTLS are carbon fiber epoxy reinforced composite products. 

 

Get a crack in the paint and thats all she wrote.  Water permeating into the carbon fiber itself dooms the craft.

 

Landing on or hitting something in the water would be reason enough not to go there with a carbon fiber plane - and if you've spent any time at all in a lake you know all the crap that people leave behind submerged just under the surface or on it..

 

Huh? There are lots of CTs flying around, including mine, with cracks in the paint. Is my airplane doomed, should I throw it in a recycle bin?

 

Isn't the carbon fiber substrate stiffened with epoxy resin under high pressure, making it water impermeable? If not, doesn't that make metal a FAR superior material for building airplanes, which sometimes operate outside?

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Huh? There are lots of CTs flying around, including mine, with cracks in the paint. Is my airplane doomed, should I throw it in a recycle bin?

 

Isn't the carbon fiber substrate stiffened with epoxy resin under high pressure, making it water impermeable? If not, doesn't that make metal a FAR superior material for building airplanes, which sometimes operate outside?

 

Actually, CTLSi is right, to a degree. Pain't isn't the problem, but if it's chipped and the carbon fiber layer is breached, it should either be sealed over (in the case of a surface scratch through to the top layer of the fibers, just a dab of epoxy over it) or repaired (in the case of a serious breach). Carbon fiber isn't too sensitive to water though, but fiberglass and ESPECIALLY kevlar are. Kevlar wicks liquids like tree roots.

 

As for metals: metals also are sensitive. We use 2024-T3 clad aluminium in metallic aircraft, which is copper-alloyed aluminium with a plated layer of pure aluminium. Copper alloyed aluminum allows for reasonable ductility and strength, but it is semi-sensitive to galvanic corrosion. The alclad (aluminium clad) layer acts as a sacrificial layer, producing aluminium oxide, which prevents any further corrosion. This is why, whenever you do sheet metal work on an aircraft, you should take the time to use an alodine pen and run it across any cut edges for super long life.

 

It's not like anyone's CT or Aluminium aircraft are going to fall apart the next day if you don't do these practices, but if you plan on avoiding any headache years down the road, just take a moment to do this stuff. Any planes that sit in water, in particular boat hull designs like the ICON, *NEED* this to be checked from time to time though. Any boat owner will tell you how ignoring a hull scratch turns into a giant headache if not addressed.

 

The more you know™

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  • 2 years later...

Their cash burn rate has been staggering.  Anybody watching can tell they need to deliver a lot of airplanes, and quickly, if they are going to stay afloat.  

 

They just cut a chunk of staff and say they won't make a production plane for another year now.  They were supposed to deliver 120 this year.  Looks like they are out of gas.  They have at least two other competitors that are about to deliver customer planes that look the same as the ICON.....Vickers  check it out...it is using a Lycoming engine not a Rotax.   http://vickersaircraft.com/

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