[ajross]

> It's pretty straightforward to pass one titanium alloy as another,

Sure, but per my actual point: characterizing the wrong alloy as "counterfeit titanium" is misleading, no? If I hand you a nickel when you expected a quarter, did I give you "counterfeit money"? No, I gave you the wrong thing.

Cheating on material provenance is fraud. It's not "counterfeiting", and for a journalist to claim so is misleading spin. A counterfeit is something deliberately constructed in imitation of something else, it's not just a low grade substitute.

[jdavis703]

Spirit believed it was buying a specific, certified titanium alloy.

Imagine the rabbis at Hebrew National were out sick, but Hebrew National continued churning out “Kosher hotdogs” that hadn’t been properly vetted.

Sure it’s still a hotdog made with kosher ingredients. But it’s a major violation of trust. And trust is what consumers expect when flying.

[codetrotter]

> A counterfeit is something deliberately constructed in imitation of something else, it's not just a low grade substitute.

But what if the lower grade substitute was specifically produced with the goal in mind of passing it off as this other kind?