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The significance of propulsion in commercial aircraft productivity

1975; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 79; Issue: 780 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0001924000049484

2059-6464

Bruce N. Torell,

Air Traffic Management and Optimization

You can pick up almost any history of aviation—from the early times to the present—and read of the exploits and adventures of pilots and their planes. Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith and his Fokker, Charles Lindbergh and his Ryan, Amelia Earhart and her Lockheed. We who have technical interests in aviation know that Kingsford- Smith and Lindbergh depended on their Whirlwinds, and Miss Earhart on a Wasp, but the popular stories often fail to make that point. In more modern times, the engines are equally vital but sometimes get overlooked. Once, when a new jet aircraft was being announced at a press briefing, an airline officer breathlessly described the aircraft, showed artists’ concepts of the cabin and flight deck, and talked at length of the systems and subsystems. After an hour-long description, he called on his audience of reporters, and then he got his come-uppance from an engine man’s point of view. A reporter at the back of the room was recognised, and asked: ‘And what is this aircraft going to be? A glider?’ The by now red-faced official had neglected to mention the powerplants.