cfiaime@ihnp4.UUCP (07/08/83)
Years ago, when airplanes were covered in REAL COTTON, rather than in flattened beer cans, the normal colors of yellow, white, red, and silver were used to help reflect the ultra-violet rays of the sun. Red fades quickly, so was not used as much a yellow. Darker colors tended to rot the fabric quicker than lighter colors. Today, with aluminum airplanes, color is not as important to the life of the airframe. However, the life of the paint color itself is quite important. White is probably the most durable color for an airplane. Also, a light color top to the cabin will help keep the interior cooler in warm weather. Matter of fact, airlines started painting the top of the cabin white just for that reason. Then airline companies came up with bright colors for advertising purposes. It hit the height of insanity when Braniff painted their airplanes everything but normal colors. Light plane colors are based on tradition and cost. Cessna will, if you want, paint your new 152 tan with dark brown trim (and it looks GOOD). Most people want standard red/green/blue/yellow and white. It is a shame. There is a bit of a ray of hope, however. Varga will paint their aircraft however you want, up to about 4 colors. Grumman offered the T-Cat in a pseudo-milittary scheme which looked good on the ground, but was difficult to see in the air. The last Grumman Cougar (GA-7) that was built was chrome yellow (and loaded with goodies) for collision avoidance reasons. Sometimes, aircraft colors are based on other socialogical factors. That is why my airplane is blue. I can now start my airplane conversations with, "There I was in a Blue Funk..." (Got a million bad airplane stories...this was one of them!) Th' Ol' Flite Instructor Jeff Williams ihnp4!cfiaime BTL Naperville
wolit@rabbit.UUCP (07/08/83)
My guess is that the predominance of white is just a matter of custom. While there on vacation last year, I noticed that almost every car on Martinique is white. There was a time in this country that you could get one of Henry Ford's cars in any color you wanted, as long as it was black. People think an airplane SHOULD be white, for some reason. Personally, I like the 747 that Alexander Calder did up for Braniff. Jan Wolitzky, BTL MH
kfr@hou5f.UUCP (07/08/83)
Due to a number of near and actural mid-air colloisions in recent years involving pure white sailplanes working the same thermal, and up close to cloud base, a number of sailplane owners have now started to add red trim on the nose, tail and wing tips of their birds. I've noticed a dramatic increase in the visability of these ships on hazy days.
steve@zinfandel.UUCP (07/12/83)
#R:rabbit:-166800:zinfandel:3500001:000:180 zinfandel!steve Jul 11 12:54:00 1983 There is a 747 parked near San Francisco International which is all white... no markings or trim of any kind. I've been tempted to jump the fence and print "AIRPLANE" on the side.
hamilton@uiucuxc.UUCP (07/19/83)
#R:ihnp4:-37300:uiucuxc:10800001:000:438
uiucuxc!hamilton Jul 18 23:23:00 1983
parenthetically, sport parachutes also tend to white and pastels,
even tho custom colors are popular and are often "free" (bundled
into the list price). the arguments i've heard are: lighter colors
mean less UV degradation of the nylon, and darker colors require
larger quantities of dye, resulting in added weight and bulk (when
it comes to gear weight, skydivers are anorexic).
wayne ({decvax,ucbvax}!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!)hamiltonrmiller@ccvaxa.UUCP (07/20/83)
#R:hou5f:-32500:ccvaxa:5100006:000:408 ccvaxa!rmiller Jul 18 21:46:00 1983 comment on white sailplanes: the europeans have been using red paint for years, BY LAW. the only reason i have heard for not doing so is to avoid leaching during contests (lesser pilots following the good ones) by being less visible. but please remember that glass structures also have a (very slow) deterioration due to ultraviolet radiation, that's why they are white to begin with! uiucdcs!ccvaxa!rmiller
eric@uw-beaver (Eric Jul) (07/23/83)
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)