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The British Comet was the first passanger jet aircraft. The trouble was it had a dangerous end. Five of them blew apart in the air, due to defective engineering. The windows were square, instead of oval, as they are to day. The weak point in a square window is the corners, which gave out, due to pressuration of the aircraft at high altitude. Composite Aircraft, was developed, by a member of the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Ken Rand, the first plane was called the KR-1. The big problem with composite material, is it can deteriate, after long exposure to UV...

According to industry sources, the US Customs and Border Protection Agency has grounded its entire fleet of P-3 aircraft because of cracks in their wings, potentially hamstringing drug interdiction operations along the U.S.' southern border. According to homeland security officials, the agency aircraft were grounded the last week of February after cracks in the wing structures of the most advanced versions of the P-3 Advanced Early Warning Aircraft were found during routine maintenance inspections. Subsequent tests found similar but smaller cracks in other P-3 models (Customs flies the P-3A and P-3B) and those aircraft were grounded as well. All told,...

SEATTLE -- KIRO Team 7 Investigators discover cracks, corrosion and weakened metal hidden inside a growing number of Boeing passenger jets. The problems lie along structural seams called lap joints. A fuselage is designed with overlapping sheets of metal riveted together. We uncovered at least 28 different warnings regarding flaws or defects. In 2002, a China Airlines jet plummeted into the water, killing 225 passengers. MORE ON THIS STORY Flight Standards Information Bulletin for Airworthiness (HTML VERSION) Flight Standards Information Bulletin for Airworthiness (Microsoft Word Version) Fourteen years earlier, an Aloha Airlines 737 opened up like a sardine can, killing...