Valuable book in the important debate over greenhouse gases and aviations contribution to it

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	• Plane Simple Truth Geoffrey Thomas, Guy Norris, ... Aerospace Techinical Publications International Oty Ltd, 2008 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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Valuable book in the important debate over greenhouse gases and aviations contribution to it

In the TV show House, M.D., a premise that protagonist Dr. Greg House holds dear is that people are liars and stupid. Real life is often not far from House's observation. At the general public level, people are often misled by their lack of common sense, their deficiency in understanding statistics and basic science, and therefore fall victim to the lies of the myriad charlatans that claim to have something that fixes everything. A piece I wrote on that issue, New York News Radio - The voice of bad science, details that.

While it is too broad to call the authors of Fuel efficiency of commercial aircraft: An overview of historical and future trends liars; their mediocre research created the scenario that far too many took their research as reality. Known as the Peeters report, after lead author P.M. Peeters, the authors of Plane Simple Truth refute the wide-spread belief that the fuel efficiency gains in the commercial aviation sector are erroneous, which is the principle theme of the Peeters report.

The aviation industry is often an environmental pariah, with environmentalists crying foul at the industry. But it is only a pariah due to flawed data that negatively influences the public debate, and Plane Simple Truth attempts to set the record straight. Plane Simple Truth is an articulate and extremely well-written and researched rebuttal to the Peeters report, and other flawed studies.

The Peeters report flies in the face of reality, in which gains in jet engine efficiency over the last 40 years have been astounding. Contrast those gains with the popular Cadillac Escalade and similar SUV's whose mileage per gallon is often measured in single digits, and whose efficiencies have gone in the opposite direction.

The authors wrote Plane Simple Truth as they felt that never in recent history has an industry been so maligned and the public so misled by so much falsehood and distortion that is beyond belief. With the Peeters report and climate activists pointing the accusing finger at the aviation industry, Plane Simple Truth is their defense.

The reality is that while the Detroit automakers were making huge gas guzzling SUV's well into 2008, companies such as Lockheed had fuel efficiency on their mind back to the 1970's. In fact, fuel efficiency has been a key factor in the aviation industry since the early days. This is based on simple economics and physics in that for every pound of fuel, is a pound of payload that the airline cannot carry, which also costs the airline money. It is seen that that fuel economy is indeed a major driver of the industry. The bottom line is that fuel economy is absolutely critical in commercial aviation. Witness the number of aviation bankruptcies in 2008 when fuel prices soured.

Like a first-rate defense attorney, the book defends the industry against its charges. In every chapter, the authors show the errors, both intentional and those errors of omission, where incorrect reporting and research have negatively affected public opinion.

While not a book about the history of jet engines; the book details the fascinating and phenomenal improvement into the efficiency of jet engines. But the underlying theme of the book is that of the environmental issues.

The book details the fundamental errors in the Peters and other environmental reports that have been often taken as the unquestionable truth. Rather than analyzing the facts like the book authors have done, the media often creates sensationalist headlines with an emphasis on short sound bites, often at the cost of scientific fact. Not only do the authors refute the Peeters report, they show in detail how important aviation is to the global economy. In fact, the aviation industry is critical to everyone growing economy.

The books 18 chapters cover the entire spectrum of jet emissions and their incredible development in detail. Current topics such as bio fuels and their promise, new engine technology, aerodynamic gains, green airlines and more are discussed. The book makes ample use of charts and photographs to illustrate its points.

Plane Simple Truth is a fascinating book that exposes the myriad errors of the flawed environmental studies. It is also a fascinating look at the development and history of jet engines, and the amazing progress that has come about in the last few decades. Huge strides have been made that increase power by significant amounts, while simultaneously cutting emissions. In fact, there are less environmental issues to worry about in the future due to aviation, given the significant strides that are being made.

The book makes many of its valuable points via the useful approach of letting charts and diagrams do the talking of often dry statistical facts. Be it fuel efficiency, less emissions and toxic gases and more, the book shows that misplaced myths and the smoke and mirror games that are often used by those with an agenda, all in the name of climate change, have negatively affected the public's view of aviation.

We have seen that a single bad piece of research is enough to derail an entire industry and mislead the press and politicians. And while Greg House might be right that there are a lot of stupid liars out there; there are also plenty of smart ones also, like the authors of this book. Plane Simple Truth is an important book that has relevance to everyone, as there is no one that is not positively affected by the aviation industry.

While the aviation industry still has a long way to go in other areas such as passenger satisfactions, lost luggage, air traffic control delays and much more, the engine makers have continually pushed the envelope in terms of fuel efficiency and environmental concerns, and they have done this for well over half a century. And this was long before the concept of a green environment was a cool topic. It was also done when jet fuel was still quite bargain basement priced.

While the book's authors are intimately involved in the airline industry and clearly pro-airline, and the book's publisher is Aerospace Technical Publications; the authors let the facts speak for themselves. While greenhouse gases and their potential negative effects are part of the public and scientific debate, the ability of modern jet-engines to minimize those effects is clear and Plane Simple Truth details that and other facts. Plane Simple Truth is a valuable book in the important debate over greenhouse gases and aviations contribution to it, and the effect on the environment.

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The purpose and scope of this book is to set the record straight on commercial aviation s effect on the environment and, in doing so, clear up the host of misconceptions that paint the commercial aviation industry as environment vandals. We have not attempted to take a position on the climate change debate other that to quote from what we believe to be the leading authority the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Nonetheless, we have also highlighted criticism of the IPCC reporting to policymakers. However, we have attempted to explain the climate change phenomenon because it has become clear to us that few in the wider community understand its dynamics. The book starts with a look back at commercial aviation s impressive record and then examines the key technology and operational drivers today, before we cast our view forward to the next 50 years. We also detail aviation s critical role in the world economy and, of course, the issue of climate change itself. The commercial aviation industry has been focused on reducing fuel burn and thus emissions of aircraft since man first flew. It is a very simple economic dynamic. Not only does fuel cost money, every pound of fuel is a pound of payload that the airline cannot carry, which also costs money. To suggest, as some have, that fuel economy is not a major driver of the industry, or that airlines have only become interested in the environment since fuel prices leapt, is farcical. As we will see, airlines have relentlessly pushed manufacturers for more and more capability either in range or payload and a major factor in both is reducing fuel burn. We will show how the industry was focused on environmental issues 40 years before climate change became an issue in the wider media. Print advertising as far back as 1957 touted noise issues, while the first fuel economy advertisement that we could find dates back to November 1975 32 years ago! Fuel economy is absolutely critical in commercial aviation. When in 1958 the Douglas DC-8 showed up a 5% shortfall in specific fuel consumption in test flights, the Douglas Aircraft Company lost orders from operators such as Northwest Airlines, while Pan American World Airways sold off its fleet and ordered more 707s. The greatest name in commercial aviation at the time was in tatters and it was later forced into a merger with McDonnell Aircraft Company in 1967. Boeing s 707 soared. While focusing on the industry s many successes, we also discuss its failures such as the supersonic transport race, which was driven to a large extent by national prestige and a 1960s can do attitude. Throughout the book, we have relied mainly on university studies and government agency reports to ensure an impartial perspective. We have certainly sourced manufacturers and airline data but that has typically been to verify third party work. We do not for one minute suggest that the aviation industry is like a field of sunflowers hardly. It pollutes as does every other human activity but it is an industry leader in cutting environmental impact. Regrettably, the debate surrounding commercial aviation s impact on the environment has in some quarters become hysterical with scant regard for the facts. Where we have challenged and found serious errors in environmental reports, we have sent our findings to the authors of those reports for comment and those comments have been included. We regret in some cases that despite constant pressure, some authors of reports we have challenged have failed to respond. We have tried wherever possible to keep our explanations as easy-to-read as possible and we have used break-outs for more technical issues. But in an industry which is at the cutting edge of technology, that is a challenge in itself. We sinecerly hope you enjoy.

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