When I was a senior at CMU in '88, a group of us went on a plant trip to the McDonnell Douglas factory in St. Louis where they built the F-15. I've previously p

When I was a senior at CMU in '88, a group of us went on a plant trip to the McDonnell Douglas factory in St. Louis where they built the F-15. I've previously posted on HN about how cool are plant trips and that engineers should take every advantage. Well, this factory visit was as cool as they get. Some highlights that I remember that related to the article about the Israeli incident. 1. This plane was machined out of blocks of titanium. 80% of the material is machined away. I asked the guide if it's collected and reused. He said "no". Their optimization for performance didn't really have to consider cost. 2. Seeing the "testing" was a mind-blow that I can still see in my mind 35 years later. They had an aircraft in a test harness and grabbed the tips of both wings in massive hydraulic presses, and bent that wing up and down by a couple meters. My brain was like “that’s impossible – they should snap off”. 3. “Avoid FOD” signs everywhere - "Foreign Object Damage". I learned many new acronyms that day.