Janes All World Aircraft 87/E

Jane's is the cornerstone of solid, reliable, comprehensive data for engineering systems the worldwide, and is the authoratative source in a world full of incorrect data or incomplete. Such accuracy and comprehensiveness is not cheap however, and you will definitely pay the price with a book that costs nearly $800! Based on the high cost of this book its good to know what exactly you are getting before you take the dip. JAWA 2006-2007 provides thorough data on ALL aircraft that are in PRODUCTION or UNDER DESIGN as of 2005 or so. (Sorry to "yell" but the distinction is important) As such the vast majority of the book is taken up by data on civil aircraft types the world wide, which, to most people -even in the aircraft industry, the military, or government regulators who are Jane's regular customers- isn't very interesting. Also many aircraft that are in SERVICE but not produced anymore (i.e. major aircraft like the F-4 phantom, B-52 Bomber, Tornado, Boeing 757, MD-11, Lockheed L-1011, so on and so on.) aren't included here, but are included in a separate publication called "Jane's Aircraft Upgrades." The information you will get in Janes on the aircraft included though is second to none, and includes all major performance measures (i.e. ranges, speeds, time to altitude, g-limits, T/O and landing runs, etc.), plus information on the aircraft's development and production programs, propulsion and fuel system configuration, design features, structure, flight control system, weapons and armament (when applicable), systems (i.e. landing gear, hydraulic, electric), avionics, manufacturing runs, customers, variants available, etc. You will not find such an all encompassing range of information, on so many aircraft, and with such confidence in its accuracy anywhere else in the world, which for customers like those mentioned above makes Jane's a necessary addition to their personl or corporate libraries. I only wish Jane's would have a single, perhaps more affordable, publication for MAJOR types that are in service and/or in production / under design. This could included civil types such as the Cessna-172, but do away with the civil aircraft with very small production figures, and include types that still see wide service the worldwide but are no longer produced. Major could be defined by a sliding scale of production run based on type, i.e. several thousand for civil types, vs. several hundred for fighters / airliners, vs. tens for very large aircraft like bomber and military transports.