Set an example

Reading about the Princess Flying boat (

, 29 October) made me sad that the

no longer seems able or willing to undertake such ambitious projects.

This is presumably because the consideration of commercial risk outweighs the willingness to take an engineering ‘leap in the dark’ and try to build something truly extraordinary. I was reminded of Concorde which was a technical triumph, but taken out of service because the commercial numbers did not add up.

The absence of such exciting projects is one reason a generation of young people is failing to be inspired by engineering as a career.

If businesses are not prepared to take big risks then perhaps the answer is for some of our entrepreneurs to step forward.

They can afford to take a chance and supply the means to provide a new generation of engineers with the chance to work on projects that will make the world sit up and take notice.

P Arnold, Derby