An All-day Symposium on Airline Engineering was held in the Society's Lecture Theatre on 21st January 1963. Mr. B. S. Shenstone, M.A.Sc, F.R.Ae.S., F.A.I.A.A., F.C.A.S.I., President of the Society, who is also Chief Engineer and a Director of British European Airways, was in the Chair. About 40 airline engineers from 23 airlines attended the Symposium at the invitation of the President. The airlines represented were: Adria (Yugoslavia), Aer Lingus, Air France, Air India, Alitalia, American Airlines, British European Airways, British Overseas Airways, Canadian Pacific Airlines, Central African Airways, Finnair, K.L.M., Lufthansa, Middle East Airlines, N.Z. National Airways, Olympic Airways, Qantas, Sabena, Swissair, Trans-Australia Airlines, Trans-Canada Air Lines, Trans World Airlines and United Air Lines.

The Symposium was divided into four periods, each with a short introduction followed by Discussion; they were “What is worth developing for the Airlines,” introduced by Mr. M. B. Morgan, C.B., M.A., F.R.Ae.S., Deputy Controller of Aircraft (R & D), Ministry of Aviation; “Blind and Automatic Landing,” introduced by Mr. R. C. Morgan, O.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., Chief Project and Development Engineer, B.E.A.; “Engineering Problems of Supersonic Transport,” introduced by Mr. Charles Abell, O.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., M.S.L.A.E., Chief Engineer, B.O.A.C; and “Engineering Problems of the Jet Flap and STOL Aircraft,” introduced by Mr. W. E. Rhoades, B.S., Vice-President, Engineering, United Air Lines.

Opening the meeting Mr. Shenstone said that the Symposium was part of an Airline Chief Engineers Conference. This first day was open to anyone but the following two days would be confined to discussions among the specially invited airline delegates. He then outlined the programme for the first day and suggested that the discussions should consider the general problems of airline development rather than detailed domestic problems.

The following report of the contributions to the Symposium was prepared by Mr. R. H. Whitby, B.Sc, A.R.C.S., D.I.C., F.R.Ae.S., Performance and Analysis Manager, B.E.A.