“Rush bought the carbon fiber at a big discount, as it was too old to use on airplanes”.
Bought off eBay?
I have read that he bought it from Boeing ... that it was aged-out for use in aircraft.
For background, much of the 787 airframe is carbon composite. An airliner fuselage is a pressure vessel, but under nowhere near the stress of diving to >12,000 feet. Also, an airliner fuselage is pressurized from the inside, putting the fibers in tension rather than compression.