Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 UW 5/3/83; site uw-beaver Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!eric From: eric@uw-beaver (Eric Jul) Newsgroups: net.aviation Subject: Aircraft colors. Message-ID: <716@uw-beaver> Date: Fri, 22-Jul-83 20:06:27 EDT Article-I.D.: uw-beave.716 Posted: Fri Jul 22 20:06:27 1983 Date-Received: Sat, 23-Jul-83 05:02:47 EDT Organization: U of Washington Computer Science Lines: 18 Fiberglass sailplanes are almost invariably white to protect them from the sun's ultraviolet light. Normally, fiberglass starts breaking down (chemically) at 70 degress Celcius and above (158 F). In Denmark, all sailplanes are required to have anti-collision paint on the tips, tail, and nose. If you are ever caught out in the hot midday sun with a glassfiber ship with anticollision paint on the tips then try to fell the quite significant temperature difference between the colored part and the white part. The Finnish PIK factories tried to break the White syndrome when they introduced the PIK-20 back in the mid-70's. The first prototype was yellow. The result was that it had to be covered whenever it was not flying! - They quickly abandoned the idea - Fiberglass and sun just do not go together. In Northern Sweden which is extensible covered by forest and is uninhabited it is required that all aircraft have very distinct screeming orange paint on something like 30% of the aircraft. The reason is Search & Rescue. -- eric uw-beaver!eric or eric@washington (arpa)