Why We’re Here Data driven Flight testing an airplane requires lots of planning—and generates tons of information By Steven B. Brown Steven Brown is a lead instrumentation engineer in Boeing Test & Evaluation in Seattle. In this Frontiers series that profiles employees discussing their jobs, Brown talks about the importance of teamwork in collecting impeccable flight-test data. PHOTO: MARIAN LOCKHART/BOEING Eengineers to collect flight-test data that they can use to between the flight-test team and our factory colleagues.I’m looking forward to working on the 737 MAX. We haveThis requires an enormous amount of planning and cooperationvery day in flight test we ensure Boeing airplanes are thesafest and most efficient to fly. My team works with design continually improve Boeing products. learned a lot from our work on the 787-8 and 747-8 programs, It can be challenging work. Some days it means diligently which we will apply to the MAX. It will be a great challenge checking the performance of thousands of airplane system because our production teammates will be building 42 737s components while at cruising altitude. Other days it means a month while the first MAX is being assembled. We’ve already monitoring systems while the airplane flies in ways that would begun coordination and planning earlier and with more detail spill a lot of coffee if paying customers were on board. than ever before. Today’s technology allows us to collect and analyze hundreds My learning began long ago. I was only 22 years old when I of times more data than when I started at Boeing 23 years ago. joined Boeing prior to the 777 program. I remember my first day So much data that we remove all passenger accommodations sitting in a cubicle with engineers whose experience included the to make space for our equipment and build our own in-airplane 707 and Apollo programs. I am thankful to them for creating an intranet. We install thousands of sensors and run wires to every environment that expects and delivers great products. Years later, part of the airplane. I can’t go a day without thinking of what they taught me and their We integrate flight-test modifications as the test aircraft rolls examples of excellence. Now I have the honor of working with down the assembly line. Our goal is a “test-ready airplane” at some incredibly talented young people, and I work to live up to the first flight. One of my jobs is to get everything installed and example and expectations of the great engineers before me. n checked with minimum impact to the factory production team. steven.b.brown@boeing.com BOEING FRONTIERS / NOVEMBER 2012 9
Frontiers November 2012 Issue
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