AEROSPACE problems must not be forgotten, says Pendle MP Gordon Prentice, who is urging people to return to flying.

He said: "The problems for the aerospace industry arose after the dreadful events of September 11 with a collapse in orders and the consequential announcement of redundancies by Rolls Royce.

"It is hugely important that we do all we can to get people flying again. The aerospace industry is going through a very rough patch, but things will get better.

"The knock-on effect has been devastating but we have to keep our nerve. We need to make sure the industry doesn't get rid of skilled workers they will undoubtedly need later."

A year ago the Government announced £250million in grant aid to Rolls Royce and at that time Mr Prentice called for the grant to be tied to a jobs guarantee.

He said: "That announcement seems like a million light years away, so much has changed since then.

"But we must look to the future, the aerospace industry black hole is one that we can climb out of if we all work together."