Ford Failed Us

One of our contributors found an aircraft manual from 1929. Its labeled Instruction Manual for Ford Trimotor. It contains elements of a POH/AFM, a flight and operations manual and even a maintenance manual. Thats a lot of information to pack into 112 pages.Perusing it, I began to think about the, um, good old days. No, I dont claim that aircraft or pilots were somehow better back then. Instead, though, I reflected on what it meant that the Ford Motor Company undertook an aviation division and failed.

Key Takeaways:

• The dream of aircraft becoming a widespread and affordable mode of personal transportation, akin to automobiles, never materialized, despite early efforts like Ford's Trimotor.
• The primary barrier has been a persistent supply-and-demand imbalance: initially, designs weren't mature enough to meet potential demand; later, even with improved aircraft, demand never grew sufficiently to achieve economies of scale.
• This imbalance creates a "vicious circle" where low production volumes prevent automation and lead to high unit costs (due to labor, design, and certification expenses), which in turn keeps prices high and suppresses mass demand.

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