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I’m not sure adding 20 more engineers guarantees these problems don’t happen. There is very little substitute for real experience running a design for millions

I’m not sure adding 20 more engineers guarantees these problems don’t happen. There is very little substitute for real experience running a design for millions of flight hours, as the article points out.

AdamM12 8y ago
Makes me wonder if they are developing talent for the next generation or are we gonna have a similar issue as farmers in the US (avg age is like 65)? Albeit the job is more attractive .
- greglindahl 8y ago
  What fraction of airplane engines are produced in companies that look like family farms? If you look at aerospace, the craziest rocket company (RocketLab) looks like it has an average age much less than NASA, with SpaceX in the middle. Which is about what you would expect.
  - AdamM12 8y ago
    It was a pretty loose comparison and only used it to allude to my question. Mainly was noting how OP said they were a really small team and very experienced. Also discussing jet turbines at nearly century old companies not start ups.
    - greglindahl 8y ago
      I used a related aerospace field because I don't think any "new" companies produce airplane jet turbines -- the newest ones are joint ventures of older companies. However, the examples do produce rocket engines, whose preburners are turbines.
- sjg007 8y ago
  Farming will be AI based and corporate. It’s self contained with most edge cases well known and insurable.
darkmighty 8y ago
Well there is little, but there is also some. There's a whole field of accelerated testing of components, by degrading various variables, e.g. increasing temperature, vibration, sounds, corrosive environment, materials, etc., and then using curves of exaggerated failure times to predict failure times under nominal conditions. (after making tons of models and analysis) You can also improve your simulation (here the sky is the limit). It really depends on the cost of mishaps and design failures, if it's high enough you can almost always improve design with additional expenditure.
- madeofpalk 8y ago
  Are you suggesting that Rolls Royce didn't know this?
  - trhway 8y ago
    Well, they didn't matched the resonant frequency of the blades with that of the enfine vibration at high thrust. Probably didn't allocated enough people and resources for even such basic stuff.
  - darkmighty 8y ago
    It was just a comment on how it is possible to accelerate testing. I wasn't suggesting anything, just discussing and exchanging information. Whether they used this, it's probable, but to what extent only an employee could tell.
dingaling 8y ago
The Soviets used to run their new airliners on cargo and mail flights for two or three years before introducing them to passenger service. Great for real-World debugging but imagine the anguish if that was proposed by the FAA...

AdamM12 8y ago

Makes me wonder if they are developing talent for the next generation or are we gonna have a similar issue as farmers in the US (avg age is like 65)? Albeit the job is more attractive .

greglindahl 8y ago
What fraction of airplane engines are produced in companies that look like family farms? If you look at aerospace, the craziest rocket company (RocketLab) looks like it has an average age much less than NASA, with SpaceX in the middle. Which is about what you would expect.
- AdamM12 8y ago
  It was a pretty loose comparison and only used it to allude to my question. Mainly was noting how OP said they were a really small team and very experienced. Also discussing jet turbines at nearly century old companies not start ups.
  - greglindahl 8y ago
    I used a related aerospace field because I don't think any "new" companies produce airplane jet turbines -- the newest ones are joint ventures of older companies. However, the examples do produce rocket engines, whose preburners are turbines.
sjg007 8y ago
Farming will be AI based and corporate. It’s self contained with most edge cases well known and insurable.

darkmighty 8y ago

Well there is little, but there is also some. There's a whole field of accelerated testing of components, by degrading various variables, e.g. increasing temperature, vibration, sounds, corrosive environment, materials, etc., and then using curves of exaggerated failure times to predict failure times under nominal conditions. (after making tons of models and analysis) You can also improve your simulation (here the sky is the limit). It really depends on the cost of mishaps and design failures, if it's high enough you can almost always improve design with additional expenditure.

madeofpalk 8y ago
Are you suggesting that Rolls Royce didn't know this?
- trhway 8y ago
  Well, they didn't matched the resonant frequency of the blades with that of the enfine vibration at high thrust. Probably didn't allocated enough people and resources for even such basic stuff.
- darkmighty 8y ago
  It was just a comment on how it is possible to accelerate testing. I wasn't suggesting anything, just discussing and exchanging information. Whether they used this, it's probable, but to what extent only an employee could tell.

dingaling 8y ago

The Soviets used to run their new airliners on cargo and mail flights for two or three years before introducing them to passenger service. Great for real-World debugging but imagine the anguish if that was proposed by the FAA...