Britain used to have a fantastically creative aviation industry: Imagine proposing and carrying through into production a 500mph, 3,000 mile range delta winged bomber, a vertical take-off fighter or a supersonic transport. Do we have the courage and ability to undertake this today? I doubt it!

There is no doubt that the stock markets are moving into uncharted waters – the traditional IT and telecom companies are no longer delivering the turn of century shareholder returns. A new wave is needed and one or two people believe the future lies with transport. Surface transport along with the mass production of the motor car and the railways are products of a bygone age – the low levels of western taxation make these transport solutions unsustainable.

A recent Amex survey shows that after 9/11, video conferencing activity grew only eight per cent. So the future has to lie with air travel and the 8,000 small airports and airfields in Europe and America.

When you do an aviation project for real, you very quickly come up against the traditional put-down: “Why hasn’t Cessna done it?”

The response is straightforward: Pioneering achievement has absolutely nothing to do with size and money. In fact size and money can be a hindrance – as we saw when the ThrustSSC team beat the MacLaren F1 Maverick team to Mach 1 on land on just 14 per cent of the MacLaren budget.

What counts is having a very clear idea of the objective, bloody-minded determination, and outstanding communication and teamwork. Also essential is a fast moving cost-effective flat organisation which constantly cross-checks every aspect of the programme to ensure that it’s still viable and shareholders money is not being wasted. With an aircraft, nothing is more important than the weights and performance – self deception by the team is going to result in an appalling day of judgement.

With the Farnborough F1 taxi aircraft programme, we have found that early market perceptions are key too. To undertake such a high risk and tough programme, the team and its backers have to see that the market case is obvious. If it isn’t blindingly obvious, then the project is likely to be plagued with indecision throughout its life.

During the first three years of the Farnborough programme over 43 per cent of the cost was saved by high levels of personal commitment and team motivation. Since there was no more money, the sacrifice advanced the project much further than was believed possible with such small funding.

Team spirits rise as the prototype takes shape but the old hands will tell you that as soon as it starts to look like an aeroplane you have only reached the 50 per cent marker. All too many projects have failed with what looks like a near complete aircraft on the shop floor. Roll-out is a great moment for everyone – for the first time you can see the aircraft for what it is, standing out on the ramp and clear of its jigs. For the first time you can see it from different perspectives and it’s a good idea to leave it outside for a while just for everyone to gaze on what has been created.

Of course like everything else, aircraft design has changed with Moores Law of computing. With the Farnborough F1 we have to produce not only a highly competitive challenger – but one where the speed range is paramount with an 80kt short field approach and a 330kt FL290 cruise. The high speed feeds right through to the operators bottom line, not only in terms of annual turnover but also in terms of the market reach which directly affects utilisation.

Last but not least we must talk about the finance. Too much or too easy money results in a sloppy job. Too little money and everyone gives up. In the past the old financial cartels took no risk and the only money for aircraft came from the government. Today things have changed – Farnborough’s start-up money came off the internet and from the Farnborough Airforce Supporters Club.

Whilst the largest UK aerospace companies build airliner parts and feed off the government’s subsidised launch investment, today at long last there is a real understanding that just possibly the business community are increasingly abandoning the airlines and are not going to rush to video conferencing. That means a different form of air travel is set to grow substantially. The latest TIME report suggests that in the US non airline business travel is already up 31 per cent since 9/11. I for one believe we are experiencing a massive market change and it’s going to stay that way.

Richard Noble, Farnborough-aircraft.com