vdubber67 – Member
I'm glad they use carbon fibre and other composite materials in aircraft. I wouldn't have a job at a £10million/pa aerospace composites organisation otherwise.
ditto
As others have said, the next generation of airliners (787 for Boeing, A350 for Airbus) are the first to feature composite primary structures.
Carbon aircraft have their own unique set of technical challenges such as impact damage tolerance, plus various others that might not be immediately apparent, such as lightning strike tolerance.
The comment about 'black metal' from Chucky (aka Vortex Racing) is one I'm very familiar with
As for recycling, there's not much you can do with cured carbon fibre other than chop it up and chuck it in a pit, or maybe grind it up and use it in the roads.
Given your location, Airbus or BAE? 😉