Review - Lightcraft Flight Handbook

Lightcraft Flight Handbook: LTI-20 by Leik Myrabo and John Lewis; Apogee Books; Burlington, Ontario, Canada; (Soft Cover) $29.95; 2009.

If you want to shine laser light on the future, this is the book for you.

Written in an engaging style of a flight manual, this a riveting preview of things to come - out there at the year 2025. As the cover notes, this handbook was declassified in mid-October 2025 by authority of the Secretary of the U.S. Space Command.

But what you will find in this book's over 280 pages is a compelling look at beamed energy propulsion, based on actual work now underway. The man behind a set of laser goggles making this happen is Professor Leik Myrabo. He's an engineering physicist at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York. Along with noted co-author and planetary scientist, John Lewis, these two advanced thinkers transport the reader on a hypersonic flight that speeds you into an era beyond oil.

What's ahead, thanks to pioneering work happening today, is a projected Lightcraft revolution. This innovation will ultimately replace today's commercial jet airlines with hypersonic beamed energy propulsion vehicles.

So picture this (and this handbook has plenty of nifty artwork and drawings): Lightcraft passengers can reach the far side of Earth in less than an hour. And that's in just enough time to get those tough-to-open bags of peanuts open and those tray tables back into their locked position.

Such craft, the authors suggest, will fly on microwave and laser energy beamed from satellite solar power stations, eliminating the dependency upon limited fossil fuels. Indeed, beamed energy propulsion flight technology will enable passengers to call for a Lightcraft flight, much like a cab is hailed today - and within minutes their flight will touch down at the local community "LightPort" to whisk them to their destinations.

While this book sheds new light on a potential future, you're anchored in the possible. Moreover, Myrabo has the test data to prove it, accumulated over the past three decades. His company, Lightcraft Technologies, holds the world altitude record for laser launched vehicles. And that's for real!

This book is a terrific approach to the achievable...a manual that explains the logical extension of in and out-of-the-lab testing.

For more information, go to:
http://www.cgpublishing.com/Books/lightcraft.html

By Leonard David