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On August 27, 1939, a Heinkel He 178 prototype aircraft lifted off from a grassy field in Rostock, Germany. The plane was to be a key component of the German Luftwaffe’s burgeoning, wartime air armada. But, its importance stretched much farther than Hitler’s ambitions to dominate Europe. It was the first jet-powered aircraft. The jet engine that powered it was not a new idea. The first proposals for jet propulsion had come just after the turn of the 20th century and were brought to fruition independently by Frank Wittle, working in England, and Hans von Ohain, working in Germany, in the 1930s. It was the dawn of the age of modern flight, allowing aircraft to break the 500-mph speed barrier experienced by propeller-driven aircraft, a speed above which the efficiency of the propeller dropped significantly. By the end of
WW II, the jet-powered airplane was acknowledged as the future of aviation. Powered flight was forever changed.
Less than a decade after the introduction of the jet engine, another technology revolutionized a different industry. The year was 1947 and the technology was the first frac job. Carried out in the Hugoton field in Kansas with 20,000 lb of uncoated frac sand in an oil-based fluid, the treatment forever altered the way the industry completes and produces oil and gas wells. Today, more than three-quarters of all oil and gas wells receive hydraulic fracture treatments. Without fracturing, the very important gas and oil shale plays would be the thing of dreams, as would the ubiquities of international travel. The similarities between development of manned flight and the modern oil and gas industry abound.
Both the oil and gas and the aviation industries were born to much derision. Man would never fly, said the aviation critics. What would be the use? Vast resources of oil would never be developed, said the naysayers. How could it be done?
The development cycle from first flight to modern aviation, at about 100 years, is one of the fastest in history. The same technology development cycle timing for the oil and gas industry, at about 150 years, is nearly as impressive.
Though work progressed on manned flight on several fronts at the turn of the 20th century, it was the Wright Brothers, who bought it all together. Previous aircraft had been built that could become airborne, but not for long and not safely. Lifting off was one thing, but controlled, sustained flight was quite another. It was the Wrights, who invented control surfaces and wing configurations, that allowed the pilot to maintain and control flight.
Likewise, oil and gas could be collected early on—dating back thousands of years—from surface seeps, but not sustainably. It took Edwin Drake’s first drilled well to both access the source of petroleum and, to a certain extent, manage its flow, for the modern petroleum era to begin. Drake was to oil what the Wrights were to flight. A resource had been made manageable in both cases. Improvements followed in each field. Altitudes and speeds increased, while load carrying capacity exploded in aviation. At the same time, depths, drilling speed and production skyrocketed in oil exploration and development, fueling an industrial expansion only hinted at when the century began. But, in the mid-20th century, both bumped up against the inherent limitations of technologies developed at the turn of the century. Neither could carry the world through approaching global conflicts or the dramatic post-war industrial growth. For aviation, the jet engine was required. For oil and gas, it was fracturing.
Most of us know what happened next. Petroleum demand, and consequent supply, went through the roof. Air travel became commonplace. With the tremendous growth came really amazing technologies. Radar, followed by more sophisticated imaging and navigational technologies, improved efficiencies in aviation, while significantly enhancing safety. Modern well control, coupled with LWD/MWD and improvements in EOR/IOR and reservoir imaging made success margins and recovery rates improve dramatically. It was (and is) you might say, the age of computerization and automated control. We have come a long way in both sectors, and our progress mirrors one another.
If you buy that, then a look at the future of aviation might provide a glimpse of our new world. Current and next generation aircraft are truly amazing. Stealth aircraft are almost invisible to radar. Sophisticated auto pilots can do the day-to-day inflight duties of pilots and navigators. Mach 3 has been exceeded, although the SR-71 Blackbird has (or had) little practical use outside its spy role. We have orbited the earth in spacecraft and orbital aircraft, and gone to the moon, using human talents aided by impressive computer power. In oil and gas, we have cracked 10,000-ft water depths, steered five-mile laterals, increased recovery rates impressively and improved safety dramatically, all with computer aid to talented human beings. Both sets of accomplishments are similar, impressive and instructive.
But what happens next might scare the pants off us. Again, let’s look at aviation. The Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk, nicknamed “The Black Jet”, is the world’s first operational aircraft completely designed around stealth technology. It is a truly impressive, and frightening, aircraft. It is a manned fighter that is so advanced that it can’t be flown by a human pilot. The pilot can only maintain control of the F-117A with the help of a computer to make the multiple, split-second adjustments that keep the craft airworthy. It’s a drone on steroids, with a pilot on board not to fly the aircraft but to manage the mission. If you look at the similarities with our industry, is that where we are headed? Come to think of it, are we already there? 
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