Must we now worry about TCA if there are cork airplanes?

[Roy Hersh]

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/02/cork-airplane/

[Eric Menchen]

Not too surprising, although I don't know if it will fly Some snowboards have been made with layers of woods, fiberglass, foam, etc.

[Peter W. Meek]

They are proposing cork as a replacement for things like plastic foam, honey-comb metals and plastics, light woods like balsa.

All these things are used to preserve the shape of a very thin film of composite material (Carbon-fiber/resin, Kevlar(TM)*/resin, even fiberglass/resin). The core material merely needs to be somewhat crushproof, and preferably very light. There is always a problem that water can get into the core material, so it is preferable that it not be subject to rot, and not subject to absorbing much water. Most traditional non-organic cores are either very expensive, or are very resource-hungry. Most organic cores are subject to rot. Cork seems to me like a good material to investigate for cores. Renewable, rot-resistant, but maybe a bit too springy.

[Luc Gauthier]

Which begs the question :
Does one want to fly in a corked airplane , use a corked bat or visit a porcelain god