This is a new field concerning the aerodynamicist and acoustician, the vibration specialist, the metallurgist, and the structural designer: each aspect has to be investigated and welded together to form a general picture. Apart from purely scientific interest, a principal result of the work in this field should be guidance to the aircraft designer. The paper briefly considers these various aspects in the light of theoretical and experimental work that has been done or is in progress, and shows how a careful coordination between theoretical and experimental work is necessary, since several aspects appear to be beyond present theoretical methods. Essentially the problem as visualized at present necessitates (1) an experimental study to obtain certain pertinent quantities in the near pressure field of a jet (where “hydrodynamic” turbulent effects are important): the quantities are spectra of space‐time correlations which at present are only calculable far from the jet; (2) a theoretical step to estimate the effectiveness of the pressure field in exciting vibration, whose modes and damping are calculable in simple structures (but an experimental approach is necessary for most practical aircraft structures); and (3) finally use has to be made of cumulative damage concepts to estimate the fatigue life under these random vibrations, this step again involving much experimental work.