Originally Posted by
Efrem
There is no reason the wings would have to be filled with real fuel. If such tests are better measures of structural strength, and I am not a structural engineer so I don't know if they are, they can be carried out with any non-flammable liquid of the same specific gravity.
Exactly my point, you are looking for structural failure of load bearing members being pulled in an upward direction. I cannot see how loading fuel (or any other liquid) would matter in this test configuration. Certainly there are other tests where fuel and it's weight would make a huge difference.