The Power of Asking

Early in my career I worked for a company that built telemetry equipment used on prototype aircraft. At the time it was a requirement that aircraft manufacturers had to set 2 of each model aside for testing, and our equipment went on these aircraft.

In the early ‘90s we landed a contract with Fokker Aircraft located in the Netherlands. They were building the Fokker 70, and our equipment was going to be used to send onboard sensor data to the ground station during flight testing. My company sent me over for an indeterminant amount of time to integrate our systems with their equipment. Working with Fokker was a big deal for our company for many reasons, one of which was because we were chosen based on the system designed by my friend and co-worker Gary Thom and his team.

For weeks I worked right at Schiphol airport with the Fokker engineers getting our system to work with their systems. During this time, I learned a lot about prototype aircraft testing. Since the plane had to perform flight tests under full load, there were several water canisters positioned around the interior that were filled to compensate for the additional weight required after consideration for the weight of the equipment and flight crew.

When the day of the initial flight test arrived, I was not on the list of flight test engineers, nor did I expect to be. However, I asked the flight chief if I could go on the test flight. He spoke to the ground engineers in Dutch, turns to me and says “OK”. I suited up, got weighed and was given a position and a list of tasks I was responsible for. I must admit that “OK” was one of the most exciting moments of my career.

As water was being added to the canisters, we did the preflight systems check. Everything seemed to be cooperating until I dropped a small metal screw into our computer. I notified the flight chief, and he paused the test until I fixed the issue. I was concerned I would be dismissed from my duties, however, no one seemed to think much about it.

As we taxied onto the runway, the flight chief started giving instructions to the team in Dutch. I had no clue what was being said, but it sounded important. The plane throttled up and accelerated down the runway. I knew it was under full load, so I was expecting it to take a bit to get off the ground, but this plane was really moving with no sign of liftoff. I’m looking out the window and I can see the end of the runway. I’m thinking we should be in the air and there must be an issue. In an instant the brakes were applied, and engines reversed thrust and in a very short distance the plane was at a full stop. The Dutch engineers all laughed when I blurted out, "WTF!". It was then explained to me that the first test was an aborted takeoff. The flight chief then decided to give the rest of the flight test instructions in English.

The next test actually required the plane to takeoff. All the water was shifted to the left side of the plane, and at a certain point on the runway before takeoff, the left engine was shutdown. The plane had to complete takeoff with 50% engine capacity. There was a zero-G test where the plane went into a hyperbolic dive and everything in the plane was weightless. We got to unbuckle and float around the cabin until the flight chief instructed us back to our seat and buckle up. Once secured, we immediately went into a 3-G climb. We also did a free-fall at 10,000 meters and the plane had to stabilize itself by 1,000 meters.

At the time I didn’t realize I was the only person at my company to every partake in a live flight test. It was quite the buzz around the company. The one question I kept getting was how did I get to be part of the flight test crew. My answer to this day is “I asked.”

...bob

#ThePowerOfAsking