From farther, faster, higher to leaner, meaner, greener: Further directions in aeronautics

• Published in: Journal of aircraft 2004, Vol.41 (1), p.51-61
• Main Authors: MCMASTERS, John H, CUMMINGS, Russell M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerospace industry; Air transportation and traffic; Aircraft; Applied sciences; Design engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Ground, air and sea transportation, marine construction
• ISSN: 0021-8669; 1533-3868
• DOI: 10.2514/1.581

Previous examinations of the historical context and suite of issues surrounding the putative decline in aeronautics are continued. The purpose is twofold and elaborates on several earlier themes. The first purpose is to examine in further detail the coevolution of airplane design practice and aerospace engineering education as an aid to discerning future trends and requirements. The second, and more important, purpose is to discuss some of the steps that can and should be taken within the technical community to reinvigorate aeronautics and airplane design in particular. Whereas aeronautics may indeed be a maturing industry (at least in some major traditional product areas), it still has a future that will be no less significant and potentially dramatic in its second century than it was in its first. There is much to be done by the aeronautics community (government, industry, and academe) to create this strong and vivid vision of this future and to ensure the proper development of a future generation of skilled and motivated practitioners in aeronautics's always evolving and ever-dynamic enterprise. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]