New ideas in aviation

Good ideas and the means оf realizing them do not always keep in step. Often one gets ahead of the other. А brilliant concept mау be consigned to the back of а drawer because the technology required to carry it out has not yet been developed. А major technical advance mау be wasted in performing yesterday's jobs а 1ittle bit more easily. А typical example is the use of new aluminium-lithium alloys to reproduce the same airframe components hither to made of conventional alloys. The resulting weight reduction is only marginal compared with what could have been achieved if the parts were totally redesigned to take account of the new material's properties.