Friction stir welded jet aircraft proposal

Cautionary footnote to the Liberty ship lesson. Late-70s British Welding Institute invention; startup proposed friction-stir welding aluminum/titanium small business jet. Tom skeptical: an SS Manhattan crack in mid-Atlantic gives passengers lifeboats; a fuselage crack at altitude does not. Company went bankrupt before product release.

There's a relatively new process called friction stir welding, invented at the British Welding Institute in the late 70s. Someone started a firm to build a small business jet by friction stir welding aluminum and titanium. I thought, I don't know if I'd like that, because look what happened to the Liberty ships. If you get a crack started in the fuselage of a friction-stir-welded jet, when you can have your crack on the SS Manhattan in the middle of North Atlantic, most of the people can get to their lifeboats. But when you're up flying in the air and you get a crack and it runs all the way around, it's not a good day for the pilots and passengers. Fortunately that company went bankrupt before they came out with it.