California–Davis entomology professor, has been at the center of Boeing’s wing-debugging efforts since the outset. She took an active role in the test site selection and provided specialized knowledge whenever species questions arose. She came to Shreveport equipped with a butterfly net. Her expertise has been in great demand since she helped the FBI solve a high-profile murder case. She identified splattered insect parts on a vehicle that had crossed over state lines, enabling investigators to determine where a suspect had traveled. “I’m the queen of the bug splatter,” Kimsey said. Boeing initially considered 90 airport sites for bug testing, pared the list to a dozen, and visited two each in California, Florida and Louisiana before settling on Shreveport. Florida was ruled out because it imports bugs to pollinate its trees and the team didn’t want to do anything to hamper those efforts. The state also was found to have too much rainfall, which would have washed away insect parts and delayed flight testing. Kimsey suggested the Gulf Coast region, but the consensus opinion was the test site had to be inland to avoid windy conditions. Bugs can’t fly in more than 10 knots (about 11 mph, or 19 kilometers per hour). Shreveport provided just the right geographical buffer, plus an airport that wasn’t too busy with commercial flights, permitting the 757 to stay on course with its 83 landings and takeoffs. Two cameras equipped with 300 mm lenses and mounted inside the plane snapped 180,000 photos, or one per second. A majority of the bugs hit the wings at 3,000 feet (915 meters) above ground level, and lower. Twelve varieties of insects were detected, among them chironomid midge, lovebug, acalypterate fly, dolichopid fly, honey bee, white butterfly, mosquito and thrip. “The flower fly was the dominant insect that I collected,” Kimsey said. “It left a big yellow and black splat.” 20 Boeing Frontiers NASA meticulously listed the types of bug residue left on the airplane wings, identifying whether it was insect wings, eyes or eggs because of the different compositions of matter. Splats also were examined for size and color. Bug residue hardened if it was left on the surface too long. Wings were cleaned after each flight with a sponge and water. Eighty-eight wing panels resembling oversized piano keys were coated in some manner, some only partially. More than 70 of them were removed and shipped to NASA in Virginia for further testing. A Shreveport test flight lasted no more than 10 minutes and usually topped out between 5,000 and 10,000 feet (1,500 and 3,000 meters). Everything became fairly routine in the bug-filled skies. Following Shreveport, the 757 conducted additional wing testing in Sacramento, Calif., and Seattle before the jetliner was removed from service,
Frontiers August 2015 Issue
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