In this fascinating book, Dr András Sóbester narrates the past, present,
and future of stratospheric flight and gives a detailed analysis of the
science behind it.
The book is divided into four parts. The first chapter in Part I
describes the race for stratospheric passenger travel, the story of the
Comet 1, and the loss of G-ALYP and G-ALYY, as well as fatigue design
and testing today. The second chapter continues with the transatlantic
race and the limits of commercial long distance flight, including
information on Steve Fossett and the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer as
well as stratospheric balloon flight. Chapter 3 looks at Concorde and
the design challenges of high altitude passenger transport, including
Space Shuttle maneuvers in the stratosphere. This part ends with an
analysis of airspeed margins in stratospheric flight, as well as flight
in low density air and jet engine operation, including stalling, at high
altitude.
Part II opens with a chapter on the design considerations for emergency
descents. Chapter 6 looks at unpressurized flight, as well as gliding,
in the stratosphere, while the following chapter considers hypoxia and
its effects. The remaining two chapters in this part consider cabin air
systems, the cost of air conditioning, ice at high altitude, and the
short and long term health effects of stratospheric flight on air- and
cabin crew.
The first two chapters in Part III look at outside the airplane: the
weather, tropical storms, temperature shears, and clear air turbulence.
The environmental impact of stratospheric flight is considered,
including the effect on the ozone layer and the use of biofuels at low
temperatures. Part IV looks at the way ahead and considers flight in the
upper stratosphere, commercial suborbital flights, and unmanned missions
to the stratosphere. The book ends with an analysis of the future of
stratospheric flight.
This book thus shows that, beyond the solved and unsolved design riddles
and forensic engineering efforts to understand flaws, the modern
stratospheric airliner is an incomparably complex, wondrous and
awe-inspiring engineering achievement.
