Is aviation today boring?

[Lucky13]

Maybe an odd question and in the wrong place, but, nonetheless, is aviation today boring?
I don't mean technically, electronically etc., just the....what's the word I'm looking for....the diversity?
I know that costs and many other factors rules in todays air forces and navies, when it comes to
anything that flies, jet or prop....
How many here can put their hand on their heart and say that they don't miss those days with a specific
aircraft for a specific job?
Soon enough, it'll be just one aircraft around for the navy and the air force....

 

[Matt308]

Yeah I miss the 50s. Seems like everywhere you looked there was different plane.

 

[tomo pauk]

On the spot, Lucky.

 

[GrauGeist]

Agreed...plus with CAD and related technology, you don't see the unique test-bed aircraft pop every-so often, in the course of testing a theory.

That's probably another reason why I like the A-10 so much, it defies the modern "look" of a jet warplane

 

[A4K]

Also agree. Conglomeration and monopolisation in the aviation industry is definitely killing the creativity and diversity of types... so boring when the only difference between the airforces are the markings...

 

[tyrodtom]

Big commercial aviation may be boring, let's face it, if you can fall asleep on a airplane, it's boring.

But adventure is still alive in private aviation.
As for the aircraft , the ideal aerodynamic form for any particular speed, or purpose, can only take so many shapes.

 

[Vassili Zaitzev]

I can understand Commercial Aviation being boring, though I've had this dream of flying in a DC-10, or a Lockheed Tristar, hell even a 747, just to see what it's like. As for the rest, I can see how earlier decades were more exciting, with the piorneering of aircraft and what they could do.

 

[Trebor]

don't forget about the B-52, KC-135, and C-130 those suckers have been used since the '50s

 

[Capt. Vick]

Agreed...plus with CAD and related technology, you don't see the unique test-bed aircraft pop every-so often, in the course of testing a theory.

That's probably another reason why I like the A-10 so much, it defies the modern "look" of a jet warplane

Totally agree... Sadly when they took the props off the military aircraft, I pretty much lost interest. Stove-pipes are boring.

On a side note I'm having an on going debate with my 4 year old son as to why I think his favorite plane, the Mig 15, is boring and crude when compared to the elegance of the F-86 sabre. I think I'm raising a Communist because he keeps insisting the Mig is friendly and the Sabre is the enemy when he plays with his!

 

[A4K]

Call it a truce... both were developments of German designs

 

[vikingBerserker]

I think also the days of somebody building an innovative aircraft in their back yard has pretty much gone to the wayside. I know it's a lot practicle, but you no longer have to actually build an aircraft to test it, you can just create a computer model and do the preliminary testing that way.

 

[buffnut453]

Personally I like boring aviation. I really, REALLY don't want ever to experience an "exciting" airline flight.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Hmm, that actually is a good point!

 

[A4K]

 

[BombTaxi]

In some ways, it is 'boring', especially in the commercial sector, where everyone flies a Scarebus A3xx. I think there is still some variety in the military sector though. I've become an avid reader of Air Forces Monthly over the last few months, and maybe it's the novelty, but I find the military scene very varied, especially with current ops in the Middle East and Asia

 

[Park]

I prefer "steam gages" any day over CRT's, but I'll take a good GPS tucked away in the corner of the panel

 

[A4K]

Really? Don't read up regularly myself, but have mostly only heard of weapon system and avionics upgrades...not much action in the new aircraft design region.

(Clashed posts!)

 

[BombTaxi]

The new Sukhoi PAK-FA seems to be the biggest noise in fighter design at the moment, and the F-35 saga rumbles on (they're flying again now). I think new design is fairly rare, but with most multi-role aircraft having a life span of 30 years+, I suppose there isn't so much call for it. I don't believe it will ever come to each nation operating a single front-line aircraft though. Politicians may think it a good idea, but the guys doing the flying know that a certain degree of mission specialisation is required - that's why the A-10 and Su-25 are still around.

 

[ivanotter]

Is it paradigm shift?

If you really like to see the "spirit of the 50's", experimenting, designing, variety, mistakes, successes, the works, look at UAV design and variety. Everything from "handheld" things (looking liek something you buy in Spar for the kids for the summer holidays on the beach), to the big things.

Maybe we just have to admit that manned flight is becoming less important compared to UAV's?

Just a thought

 

[buffnut453]

I think the focus has shifted. The 1930s-1950s saw a plethora of experimentation to determine stable airframe solutions that would fly faster and higher with, in many cases, manoeuverability being of secondary importance. The latter part of the period sees the dawn of integrated systems but it's not until the 1970s and 1980s that we see computing really becoming the primary issue in system delivery. We now don't need to worry about creating aerodynamically stable designs, indeed for many aircraft types instability is designed into the solution. The F-117 perhaps best illustrates the new generation of unstable designs that are entirely reliant on computing technology.

Systems are now so complex that simply substituting a different engine can have major impacts on software components that have nothing to do with the engines. Historically, aircraft aerodynamic performance was the key challenge in getting an aircraft ready for operational service - the Mach 1.0 barrier was a real, tangible challenge. Today, it is primarily software complexity that defines the critical path in aircraft design and prototype construction. So much of this work is done not in wind tunnels or in exploration of flight characteristics, but in "boring" computer labs. It's a fact of life of current systems, I'm afraid.

Just my two penn'orth (and slightly more useful than my earlier post on this thread!).

Cheers,
B-N