Until late last century there was a near-assumption of US leadership in many areas, political, technical, commercial and, notably, in aviation. This status is now being revised, and rapidly. The fact is that the US no longer leads in so many areas, having either declined to lead on political rather than scientific grounds or that it has failed to spend on infrastructure over decades while other world regions leap ahead. Then, there is the debt, much of it held by China, making it clear the ascendancy of Asia is coming at the expense of the latest world power to cede the world stage.