Airbus A380

With the launch of its superjumbo, the A380, Airbus made what looked like an unbeatable bid for commercial aviation supremacy. But archrival Boeing responded: Not so fast. Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner has already generated more excitement–and more orders–than any commercial airplane in the company’s history.

Glare is the name given to a new material for aircraft structures developed at Delft University in the Netherlands. It consists of thin aluminium layers bonded together by adhesive containing embedded fibres and is very resistant to fatigue. This book gives the inside story of how the development of Glare took place.