I have a stealth aviator. Wish I had an executive aviator. The plastic ones my friends have hold up just fine and are a lot lighter. I see a lot of bent metal (mine included) that plastic would take just fine. I've had mine for 2.5 years in this industry and I have two broken zipper pulls, scratches and dents in the exterior metal, squeaky wheels, and that's about it. The stealth series has no protection on the metal around where the kick plate is, which routinely gets hit on curbs. After a year or so the aluminum shows through from all the paint getting scratched/chipped off and looks bad, whereas the plastic executive one has ribs on it meant to absorb the curb rash going up and down. Scratched plastic is hardly noticeable against textured plastic. After this one I am not getting another stealth again. Oh and not to mention the metal feet/corners hurt like a mofo when you kick them and scratch many surfaces.