Editorial Metals take a back seat

From the point of view of the mining industry, there was only one thing that marred the epic flight of the Voyager superlight aircraft around the world. The aircraft itself, which has become the first to make the 41,800-k m voyage around the globe without refueling, is made mostly of paper and plastic, unlike most other modern aircraft and spacecraft, which use an abundance of special metals and alloys in their construction.

Not that the Voyager signals a general return to such simpler construction elements in the aircraft business. That just wouldn’t be possible. Still, the Voyager is indicative of the kind of substitution that does threaten the mining industry these days — with increased use of plastics in cars, for instance.

That aspect aside, the makers and the pilots of the Voyager deserve plaudits for having succeeded in a modern kind of odyssey, which will rank with such earlier feats as Lindbergh’s first solo flight across the Atlantic.