airplane “flutter,” an in-flight uncontrolled oscillation that can lead to structural failure. It was his job to see how a jet would react under circumstances that were dangerous—and difficult to forecast. “We had to take the airplane into those conditions and reach those limits and stop,” he said. Wygle and Waddell were most closely associated with the 747—a jet that fascinated the public. It was more than twice the size of the 707—people thought it was too big to leave the ground. Wygle and his partner, who were the first to fly it, showed otherwise. They studied all aspects of the 747 for a couple of years before taking it on its first flight on Feb. 9, 1969, their names hand-painted on the fuselage along with that of flight engineer Jesse Wallick. Besides breaking-in new airplanes, Wygle served five years as vice president of customer service. He retired from Boeing in 1990 but continued to fly, in a single-engine, two-seat airplane he and some friends built from a kit. Wygle, who remains active as an executive committee member for the Museum of Flight in Seattle, flew without the aid of digital computers and simulators for much of his time as test pilot. He lived his dream that started on a Canadian farm. “We didn’t know what was going to happen before flying the airplanes; they now know much more about how the airplane is going to fly,” he said. “I think the risk has gone down since the time I was a test pilot. But I came out OK and I very much enjoyed my career.” daniel.w.raley@boeing.com Know of any Boeing or heritage company trailblazers you’d like to see interviewed in future issues of Frontiers? Send suggestions and a brief note about their contributions to boeingfrontiers@boeing.com. Photos: (Top) Brien Wygle, center, shared the flight deck with fellow test pilot Jack Waddell, left, and flight engineer Jesse Wallick, right, for the 747 jumbo jet’s first flight in 1969. BoeinG ARCHIVES (Bottom) Wygle, a military aviator, commercial pilot and test pilot, retired with 12,000 flight-hours. marian lockhart | Boeing 40 Boeing Frontiers
Frontiers July 2015 Issue
To see the actual publication please follow the link above