Want major new aircraft designs? Wait until 2030

in other words they ran out of good ideas .

Now working for an aerospace company that is penning out a concept of the next generation cockpit. About 30 or 40 years out, such design features an on board Captain, but with a ground based FO. With full authority retained by the Captain, both will be virtually paired together, with each having equal control capability of the airplane. . . . . Personally, I suspect such an aircraft would be difficult to hijack, maintain a new standard of situational awareness, and always retain a surviving witness in the case of an accident.

The odds of coming up with a clean-sheet design are slim, first off, having the funds to do associated research involved requires sales of existing craft, and lots of them. Second, most innovations, in any industry, requires forward thinking people at the helm who are willing to take risks, and have the ability to change paradigms.

Also, those at the helm must accept that those doing the work, have a true insight into innovation, and should use them far more than they do at present (I an talking about guys on the factory floor who do the work, versus engineers "locked" in an office somewhere).

Lastly, build quality into a a product, BEFORE it hits the market, not after it fails in the consumers hands.