THE FUTUR OF AERONAUTICS

The book is based on the 'Second Century Papers' of the Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain which were commissioned after the first century of the Society held in 1966. The twenty-two chapters cover the most important scientific and technical disciplines relevant to aeronautics, but they also contain many new lines of thought about the place of aviation in the world. The book is not only valuable to scientists and technologists, but to economists, sociologists and historians, for it covers fascinating stage in the evolution of civilisation when the impact of technology on mankind was becoming a vital issue. For students, it is a mine of imaginative prospects which could suggest many profitable lines of future research.  

In his Foreword to this book, His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh writes : " Peculiar fascination over man ever since he discovered how to think about it. Predicting the future has exerted how to think about it. Predicting the future aeronautics is particularly tempting because there seems to be so much to predict. There are also pitfalls. The rate of progress and development is so fast that events have a nasty habit of overtaking predictions. Furthermore, the developments themselves change the environment and what may seem desirable or attainable in terms of today can easily be irrelevant in terms of tomorrow. 'It may well be possible to predict technological developments with considerable accuracy but anyone trying to predict the economic climate has s a more difficult task. A relatively small change in the price of some material or technique may have a far greater influence upon what is economically possible that some predictable technological development. The value of this book lies not so much in any of its predictions, but rather in its attempts to foresee the size and complexity of the problems which are more or less inevitable at the present rate of progress. These estimates are vital if the process of discovering solutions is to be set in motion with a sufficient margin of time. Much of this book is speculation, but it is speculation by people with a very thorough understanding of their subjects, and it is well worth paying attention to what they have to say ". 

Part 1 describes the physical environment in which aircraft fly, and Part 2 the environment of regulations and facilities so necessary in air traffic control and aviation safety. Part 3 is concerned with the structure and performance of the aeroplane, and Part 4, its efficiency within this framework. Finally, Part 5 discusses the techniques of maintenance, ground operations, flight planning, dispatch and operation in flight. The book is recommended to specialists in all aspects of airline operation, including the ground services, the regulation agencies and the aircraft manufacturers.