Message from RAeS

OUR PRESIDENT

Prof Jonathan Cooper

Sharp-eyed readers of the last edition of AEROSPACE will have noted that due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation and the resulting exceptional circumstances, the Trustees have determined that the ‘Presidential-Clock’ is stopped. Consequently, I have the honour of being the first President since the 1940s to have two consecutive years in office. I hope that by the time my ‘second innings’ has finished, we will be well-over the worst of the effects of Covid-19 and that the aerospace and aviation industries will be on the long road to recovery.

Looking back at my first AEROSPACE Presidential Message in June 2019, I see that I wrote: “I often tell the undergraduates that I teach that this is a good time to start a career in aerospace or aviation. There are many challenges that need to be addressed, for aviation this is most notably the reduction of the environmental impact; this goal will be achieved through the development of new technologies, configurations and modes of operating air-vehicles.” While these environmentally-focused technical challenges are still going to exist for the foreseeable future (See ‘Boarding flight 2050, p 26), much effort will be required to ensure that air travel can become safe once again for the travelling public. Given the seismic reductions in passenger flights and the loss of jobs across the industry, it is likely that government-funded programmes will be required world-wide to help achieve these goals.

In the same article, I also mentioned my three Presidential themes: facilitation of the technologies needed to develop the 21st century aerospace industry, getting the universities more involved with the Society, and more work on attracting youngsters into engineering. These are all still very worthwhile aims post-Covid and I look forward to continuing with them during the next year. They also fit in neatly with the Society’s key themes of The Future of Flight, Tomorrow’s Aerospace Professional and Climate Change & Sustainability.

GIVEN THE SEISMIC REDUCTIONS IN PASSENGER FLIGHTS, AND THE LOSS OF JOBS ACROSS THE INDUSTRY, IT IS LIKELY THAT GOVERNMENTFUNDED PROGRAMMES WILL BE REQUIRED WORLD-WIDE TO HELP ACHIEVE THESE GOALS

The ongoing Covid situation has provided many challenges to the university sector due to the curtailment of the current academic year and the need to find alternative means of finishing teaching, assessing students and meeting professional accreditation requirements. I recently chaired a meeting between 25 of the universities that offer RAeS-accredited aerospace degrees and the Society’s Accreditation staff to discuss best practice in meeting these challenges, not only for the current academic year but also for the 202021 session which is likely to be ‘virtual’ to a certain extent. A lively discussion resulted with many good ideas being voiced. I hope to run a similar session in a few months’ time. This meeting was a good example of the Society facilitating discussion between interested parties on a pressing topic and determining a way forward.

As a Fellow of both the RAeS and the AIAA, I was very pleased to be able to participate in a signing ceremony for a new Memorandum of Understanding between the AIAA and the RAeS, the two leading membership aerospace organisations. Over 200 people from across Europe, the US and Australia were able to tune in to see John Langford, President of the AIAA, and myself sign the MoU. The MoU will enable both Societies to co-operate to our mutual benefit in the areas of learned activities, information and digital services, and awards, to develop opportunities for tomorrow’s aerospace professionals as we embrace the future of flight and strive to reach new frontiers, while also tackling the hard questions on climate change and sustainability and, of course, the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak. I look forward to helping to develop further collaborative activities between the two societies in the near future.

A good example of potential cross-Atlantic activities is the webinar that is being organised by Bill Voss, who leads the RAeS Washington DC Branch, that will involve a ‘Transatlantic Conversation’ between leading aerospace figures from the US and UK about the current state and future of aerospace research. Our Corporate Partner activities and also the Specialist Groups, are busy planning programmes for a future that will be digitally-enabled for a long time to come and I encourage all of our Branches to start organising for the forthcoming 2020-2021 season using similar platforms. It would be good to hear what you are planning and, as I will not be able to visit the Branches for the foreseeable future, please contact me on president@aerosociety.com to explore whether I can tune into your events personally or perhaps investigate whether lectures or other activities can be shared among all the Society’s members.

OUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Sir Brian Burridge

- First, my thanks go to all our members who voted in the 2020 Council elections. A warm welcome to the Council to Yvonne Elsorougi, Laura Hoang, Jamie Sayer and Nigel Scopes and congratulations to Hilary Barton and Martin Broadhurst on their re-election. It is encouraging to see the progressive increase in the number of candidates standing for Council and I would encourage those who were not successful this year to remain engaged and continue your contributions whether as a regular volunteer or an occasional contributor. The full list of the Council is included on p 53 and also listed here: www.aerosociety.com/about-us/governance/council

- The unrelenting progress of Covid-19 continues to dominate our lives and the fortunes of the aerospace and aviation sectors. Self-evidently, regulatory freedom to fly and the generation of individual passenger confidence are the key building-blocks for recovery. Much effort at ICAO and IATA is focused on the creation of a common international biosecurity regime for air travel. Meanwhile, it seems that the UK’s own quarantine rules on travellers arriving here are hardening-up. The impact on airline economics will be profound with an obvious effect on airports, aerospace manufacturing and their respective supply chains. With 66% of the global airline fleet now out of service, the consensus is on 2023 for a return to 2019 levels of activity with long-haul the last to recover. For the Society, this means that the adjustment to our posture, particularly in terms of digital delivery, will not just be for the short term.

- To that end, we are rapidly transitioning our output. As a professional engineering institute, with the exception of physical accreditation visits, all the activity and associated governance related to our Engineering Council licence continues virtually. As a learned society, we have delivered a number of webinars recently on topics including Mental Wellbeing and Human Performance, the Boeing 777 Accident at Dubai Airport and Covid-19 – Helicopter transport challenges and experiences. We are progressively becoming more ambitious as we find that we are attracting significantly larger and geographically wider audiences than we would normally expect at live events. Of note, a recent early careers webinar attracted some 680 participants, giving us the confidence to run a series of such events. By the time you receive this editorial, we will have also delivered a Corporate Partner brief on doing business with COMAC and within the next few days a panel discussion with Alix Partners on Commercial Aerospace Crisis Management Amidst Covid-19.

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOME OF YOU ARE READING THIS ON THE AEROSPACE MAGAZINE APP THAT WE LAUNCHED IN MAY

- As a further example of our digital immersion, the venue team took part in Virtually Live London, a first of its kind interactive video conference which was designed to showcase venues across London to over 100 corporate buyers. Our Senior Events Manager gave attendees a virtual 3D tour of our beautiful Edwardian townhouse which you can watch via our blog on the Hamilton Place website. Alternatively, you can contact our venue team on hello@4hp.org.uk to book in for your own personal tour and hear more about what we can offer at No.4.

- We are by no means new to the digital environment given that we have just reached a milestone of releasing 100 recordings of Society lectures and interviews from our archives. If you have yet to listen to any of the tracks, I recommend visiting www.aerosociety.com/podcasts and listening to Sir Alan Cobham taking us for our first flying lesson in a de Havilland Moth (https://www.aerosociety.com/news/audio-from-the-archive-how-to-fly-an-aircraft-by-sir-alan-cobham-honfraes/). Thanks must go to library volunteer, Mike Stanberry FRAeS, who has patiently edited each recording, to the National Aerospace Library (NAL) team and to the RAeS Foundation who have made it possible.

- In the same vein, the NAL team has digitised more than 30 movies from our historically significant collection and launched the official NAL YouTube channel last month. In recent years, we have worked hard to get copyright release on precious archive film, some of which has been gathering dust for 80 years. This online collection provides an opportunity for members and the public to view these unique movies and share important historical moments with the aviation enthusiasts of the day. Please visit www.aerosociety.com/movies. Also, our e-books service is proving popular which much increased access of late.

› It is possible that some of you are reading this on the AEROSPACE magazine app that we launched in May. The app allows members to download the magazines, search copies from the past two years and access the Insight blog. Over the coming weeks, you will also notice the desktop web viewer will be upgraded. While we have so far successfully maintained the hardcopy delivery service, it would be worth downloading the app in case of delays in the future. Next will come the launch of our online CPD platform. The speed and extent of this digital transformation is a testament to the Society’s staff and, particularly, to our highly professional volunteers who, in spite of the rigours of life in these strange times, have remained actively engaged to promote our continued profile and relevance.