This review is an attempt to examine, very briefly, the existing methods by which the airframe, engine and accessory manufacturers are informed of the operational troubles which are experienced by the users of their equipment, and how these manufacturers thus come to possess the knowledge which alone can enable them to avoid the recurrence of similar faults in the future. The importance of this knowledge can hardly be over-emphasised, but it is suggested that, in the past, there has been an abundance of such information which has failed to reach the right people at the right time.

For the purpose of this review it is proposed to divide the troubles to which the aeroplane is heir, into three main categories:—

1. 1 Aerodynamic or handling faults.

2. 2 Structural or design failures.

3. 3 The general unreliability of components which causes low serviceability and utilisation rates.