Imagining great things

May 2019

Thank you for your very straightforward “Leading in aerospace” editorial [April Editor’s Notebook]. After nearly 40 years of working in the defense sector of aerospace, I know much of your audience needs to hear it but will not like it. Past glories do not define us today — only current performance can. We need to stop being in denial of the realities of the present and do great things again. More imagination would help. Ask, “What’s the worst that can happen and how do we prevent it?” and “What’s the absolute best we can achieve?”

Thomas R. Woodford
AIAA senior member
woodfordtr@gmail.com