Aerospace manufacturers have long been convinced of the benefits of lightweight, aerodynamic composite materials, but engineering has proved problematic.
High-profile snafus have beset Boeing, which last year delayed first flight of its 787 widebody when it realised that the test airframe's wing/body attachment structure required structural reinforcement.
Airbus has taken a different approach with its largely composite counterpart widebody the A350 XWB, which is being constructed from carbonfibre panels rather than via barrel manufacturing. A fuselage panel was test flown on an A340 in September, but many hurdles must be cleared before first flight - due early in 2012 - and programme buffers have been eroding. Caution prevails at the European airframer: it has resisted any temptation to crow about Boeing's 787 woes.
In this context, Bombardier's declaration that it has "mastered" joining composite wings to wingboxes is strikingly unequivocal. With its CSeries airliner, due to enter service in 2013, Bombardier is edging into narrowbody territory and, citing its work to understand the "composite-to-composite interface" inside metal fuselages, it says customers can be "confident they are not buying an experiment". For the industry at large, such assurances are a tonic, suggesting composite efficiencies have come within easier grasp. For Boeing and Airbus, there's a different message: battle is joined.
Source: Flight International
