Aerospace Stories and Remarks

So you want to be involved in the design and implementation of systems (and more typically modules) for aircraft and other airborn vehicles? It’s an interesting industry. Incredibly simple looking things frequently are deceptively complex within this domain.

I’ve designed and implemented a number of modules for large aerospace companies. And have been tasked with correcting the designs of many other engineers’ modules. Discrete circuits, analog and digital logic, paired with a bit of power electronics was the norm in my section of the industry.

Authorship and close study of hundreds of pages of requirements, tests, and documentation awaits the design engineer who enters this space.

• How to lose a million dollars
• The indestructible device part 1 - A deceptively dangerous safety feature
• The indestructible device part 2 - The practical limits of transient immunity
• The indestructible device part 3 - Implementation costs of misplaced fear during design
• NASA and the wild west of experimental flight vehicles
• Systems engineering culture - Boeing vs Honda Jet, Preexisting vs New design work
• The leaky diode
• Limit switches are difficult
• Wetting current