Premium News Analysis: Too Much Aerospace Technology May Create Aircraft Scatology more people are thinking. Soon Airline Boards will have to admit that their Engineering Departments did not properly advise their Managements as to foreseeable flaws in New Airframe Design and Manufacture. The Boards themselves used very poor judgement in leaping on the Airframes’ ‘New Sell”: “Lighter Weight Cannot Wait” ‘LWCW’. Thus, ‘LWCW’ became the ‘Holy Grail’ in Aircraft Design.
Some Airframes took a ‘Greater Plunge” into ‘LWCW’ than others. Those who went “All In” are now suffering Aircraft Event by Aircraft Event. How did they go “All In” regarding Aircraft Weight ? Electronic Systems replaced Hydraulic and/or Pneumatic Technologies in order to save weight; Carbon/Carbon Composites replaced Metals in Structure and Fuselage Exteriors; Four Engines were replaced by Two; Engines Components were designed to be lighter ‘not necessarily stronger’; Passenger seats were made Narrower and Thinner; Even, Blankets given out to Cold Passengers are not readily available; and so it goes. Does the Technology aforementioned make an aircraft better or does it make it more ‘Scatologic’? Only time will tell.
Aircraft Fuel Consumption became the Cause Celebre of the Airline Boards. Airlines were told “Oil is going to $200.00 a Barrel”; it did not. The Changes made helped produce the present Conundrum of the Airframes: Aircraft Reliability is now being questioned; Justly so. Recurring Down-times support the Public’s Growing Concern.
The ‘LWCW’ had the intended effect desire by Retiring Airframe Executives: It elevated the prices of their Companies’ Stocks; the ‘LWCW’ was marketed to airlines. When the airlines ‘Took The Bait”, Airframe Executives Self-Concern was Financially Rewarded. Some people say, this ideology moved the Aircraft world into its present condition. While others support the ‘LWCW’ principle by arguing that Military Aircraft have had similar technologies, they forget something important in Engineering. To wit, “Increases of Unit Scale May Bring Decreases in Unit Efficiency”. That which works for a physical smaller Fighter Plane exhibits different: Acceptable Research, Development, and Production Costs, Expend-ability, Operational Parameters, Longevity, and other norms from large Commercial Aircraft. Governments pay for Military Aircraft while ‘Individuals’ pay for Commercial Air Planes.
An Apple is not an Orange; But Both are Fruit.
Reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25068222
