Current trends in aircraft design and construction

While the basic principles of flight that the Wright brothers applied still pertain, there have been enormous changes over the years to the means by which those principles are understood and applied. The most influential of these changes is the broad variety of applications of computer technology in all aspects of aviation. A second factor has been the widespread development of the use of composite materials in aircraft structures. While these two elements are the results of advances in engineering, they are also indirectly the product of changing social and legal considerations.

The social issues are manifold and include the increasing global interdependence of business, the unprecedented political revolutions in every part of the world, and the universal human desire for travel. All these come at a time when diminishing fossil-fuel resources have caused large increases in fuel prices. As a result, both computers and composite materials are necessary to create lighter, stronger, safer, more fuel-efficient aircraft.

The legal issues are equally complex, but for the purposes of this section revolve around two elements. The first of these is that the design, test, and certification of an aircraft has become such an extraordinarily costly project that only the most well-funded companies can undertake the development of even relatively small aircraft. For larger aircraft it is now common practice for several manufacturers, often from different countries, to ally themselves to underwrite a new design. This international cooperation was done most successfully first with the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic transport and has since been evident in a number of aircraft. A component of this process is the allocation of the production of certain elements of the aircraft in certain countries, as a quid pro quo for those countries not developing indigenous aircraft of a similar type.

The second legal element is that the potential of very large damages as a result of liability in the event of a crash has forced most aircraft companies to cease the manufacture of the smaller types of personal aircraft. The reason for this is that the exposure to damages from a large number of small single-engine planes is greater than the exposure from the equivalent of a few larger planes, because the larger planes generally have better maintenance programs and more highly trained pilots. The practical effect of this has been an enormous growth in the home-built aircraft industry, where, ironically, the use of computers and composites has effected a revolution that has carried over to the commercial aircraft industry.

Vocabulary:

1. to pertain - принадлежать; иметь отношение к
2. indirectly – косвенно
3. legal issue – юридический вопрос
4. manifold - множественный, многочисленный, разнообразный
5. unprecedented - беспрецедентный; беспримерный
6. diminishing - уменьшающийся, убывающий
7. fossil-fuel – ископаемое топливо
8. composite material – композиционный материал, композит
9. to revolve - вращаться; вертеться, поворачиваться
10. to undertake - предпринимать, совершать
11. to ally – объединять, соединять
12. to underwrite - обеспечивать, покрывать (расходы какого-л. проекта)
13. allocation - назначение; распределение (средств, ресурсов)
14. quid pro quo (лат.) - услуга за услугу, компенсация
15. indigenous – местный
16. liability - обязательство, ответственность
17. to cease - переставать (делать что-л.), прекращать
18. exposure - подвергание (какому-л. воздействию)
19. maintenance - поддержка, эксплуатация, техническое обслуживание
20. to carry over – переносить, переходить (в собственность)

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What are the most influential changes in a modern aircraft manufacturing?
2. What do the social issues include nowadays?
3. Why do the manufacturers from different countries ally themselves?
4. Why do most aircraft companies cease the manufacture of the smaller types of personal aircraft?
5. Why are the large planes considered to be much more reliable than the small single-engine ones?

II. Find the English equivalents of the following phrases in the text:

o основные принципы (правила)

o огромные изменения

o международное сотрудничество (взаимосвязь)

o желание человека путешествовать

o большое увеличение цен на топливо

o чрезвычайно дорогой (по цене)

o размещение продукции

o вероятность повреждений (поломок)

o высококвалифицированные (подготовленные) пилоты

o необычайный рост (увеличение)

III. Make up your own sentences with the following phrases:

o желание человека путешествовать

o чрезвычайно дорогой

IV. Give the definitions to the following words:

– principle

– variety

– change

– personal

– damage

– allocation

– potential

V. Read the following statements and discuss them with a partner:

1. The basic principles of flight that the Wright brothers applied still pertain.

2. The most influential changes are the broad variety of applications of computer technology in all aspects of aviation.

3. For larger aircraft it is now common practice for manufacturers from different countries to ally themselves to underwrite a new design.

4. The exposure to damages from a large number of small single-engine planes is greater than the exposure of a few larger planes.

Giving your opinion you may find the following expressions helpful:

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