Thursday, October 8, 2009

Working in Wales

Quite a few wanted to know what type of work that I do at the FAA. I do a lot of Electrical type of work since I am a EE but mainly in the last couple of years, I have been the Program Manager (and an Electrical Specialist) for the Seattle Aircraft Certification for one of the largest rule packages every implemented. I used to work at Boeing as a Design Engineer in the Electrical Engineering area on the 737 and 757 planes. One of my roles that I do now, is to *know* the aircraft wiring and make sure the new rules cover the wiring...in the safety aspects. There is a lot more as my position covers a lot of areas and it keeps me busy as heck

So a couple of years ago, we went to Wales to look at an airplane, namely at the wiring. There was nothing wrong with the plane or the company, but they let us look at the plane to verify the wiring so we would know what we put in place would work.  It was very generous of them and they had a great program in place. Plus they were the nicest folks, ever!!



OK, I so discovered since that I was the smallest person on the team, that I would have to crawl in all the areas of the plane and take photos. I got to wear the *suit* so no contamination would occur. However, the suit was made for a person who was 6 feet tall and close to 200 lbs. It was very baggy on me. The guys made fat jokes at my expense. Trust me, you would too!!



John and Bill, two members from the FAA and very cool guys. We have been working close together on this project for over two years and will finish next year.



Steve and I are very tight at work as we have been each others counter-part at work for the last few years on this project. He is one of my best friends at work and we both have warped sense of humors and make a good team at work. As a bonus, he listens to my stories about trialing. He was more than happy to tell me what to do as I crawled about in the plane!! As well as Bill and John.




Some of the guys from the UK. They were very nice and made sure we hit the good pubs around town as well as the nice restaurants.


Look, we are out of our suits. Bill, Steve, Allen, Me and John. In case you hadn't figured it out...I work with all guys. I am the only EE in my area. This was out last day then they headed home while I headed off to Eifon and then to Angie and Kelvin's place.

...next blog...Cardiff Castle....

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