Go to the library, grab a recent copy of "Aviation Week" and see how thick it is. Then go to the archive shelves and see how thick an issue from the 1960s was. Then read the 1960s issue and you'll probably find some very exciting content. Read a recent issue of "Av Week" and it'll probably go on about some propellor driven drone (drone technology is interesting from a guidance and control standpoint but the basic aeronautical engineering is 1940s stuff). "Space News" and the AIAA publications have also been getting quite thin.

The aerospace industry is flat on its back with its arms and legs pointed straight up. Will someone please take pity on it and put it out of its misery?

Now here's the really scary bit. Aerospace has been and should still be America's technology standard bearer. It was aerospace applications that initially drove engine design, advanced structures, materials, computer and electronics development. The American (and Japanese) automobile, electronics and computer industries drew heavily from the technology reservoir that was originally filled by the aerospace industry. That reservoir has been empty for almost two decades with aerospace no longer adding anything new. We are well past "eating our seed corn". The seed corn has been consumed, digested and pooped out. The Silicon valley is anxiously waiting for the next technological revolution that will fill up the brand new empty office buildings and employ all of the young highly trained unemployed techies. Guess what folks? There is no next technological revolution waiting in the wings. Nanotechnology is almost all hype. Bio-tech is still too immature (they don't even know what most of the human genome does). Aerospace should be providing the next tech revolution but can't because it's barely breathing.

Do I sound depressed?

Gary