My Mom's Blog by Thoroughly Modern Millie

Saturday, January 17, 2009

I REMEMBER WHEN ......
It had to be the early 70's and "the natives were getting restless." I was a wife, mother, friend and an a Avon Lady. It was time to do something more.

My thought was, maybe I could get a part time job but the problem was we only had one car and when I needed the car I had to drive my husband to his job at General Electric and pick him up at the end of the day.

57 Chevy BelAir 2 Door Hardtop CC BY-SA

I was not a happy camper because I had to get him to work at 7:30AM and pick him up at 4:30PM. I only did it when I really needed the car.

We were not in a financial position to afford a new car, or even a used car. My husband and I talked about it and he realized I was dead serious about wanting a part time job. He gave it some thought and said, "if you get a job I will drive you to your place of employment and pick you up at the end of the day."

Great, all I had to do was find a job! At that time temporary employment agencies were popular, I registered and before I knew it there was an office job available in a nearby town!!

That first morning my husband drove me to my job and made arrangements to pick me up at the end of the day. Well, I got to talking to one of the girls and come to find out she lived in the same city as me and offered to drive me home!!!! I called my husband and said, "Honey, you don't have to pick me up, I have a ride home!!!" For the rest of that assignment I had transportation.

On another occasion the agency had a job for me at General Electric - great - no problem - that's where my husband worked so we rode into work together.

Aircraft jet engine : GE90-115 by FrancoisRoche, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA

My job was in the Jet Engine Department, answering the phone and typing reports, all in all a pretty dull job with one exception. There were many reports that were about "Bird Ingestion." The company had birds on the grounds and did tests to see how they would affect the engines!!

Now I guess you can realize what prompted this post

The other day the US Airways flight 1549 was forced into an emergency landing probably due to "bird ingestion." Imagine that, after all these years they still can not solve the "bird" problem. It's a tough one!

posted by millie garfield @ 4:50 PM | Permalink | I LOVE COMMENTS >>

Comments:

Interesting post!!! I remember my grandparent having a '57 Chevy Bel Air. Theirs dark blue and the latest in a long line of Bel Airs.

Bird ingestion always mystifies me. I can't imagine it being a problem but I guess it's pretty serious. I'm just glad those pilots were so good.

# posted by

Kay Dennison : 1:50 AM

Hi Millie, did you have achevy Bel Air ? A really nice car. I've seen a few collectors models over here, including a convertible.

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:16 AM

My dad had a Dodge that looked a lot like your Chevy. I am soon going to post a photo of me standing beside it. Isn't it awful what the birds can do to a plane? I wonder why they can't place screening of some sort over the openings?

# posted by

kenju : 9:39 AM

You have revealed another facet of the amazing Millie to us.

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:56 AM

Like Kenju, I wondered why some sort of screening couldn't be placed over the openings of the engines. I am sure it's such an obvious solution that it has been thought of and is not possible.

Next time might not be so lucky to have such a good pilot. I wonder if I should take the train to California next month.

# posted by

Darlene : 3:24 PM

What an interesting post! I didn't know you had worked for General Electric. And yes I can very well see what made you remember that period in your life. They were so lucky to have such an experienced pilot in that recent accident.

Here I am, sitting in my living-room watching the celebrations of Inauguration Day and thinking of all my friends in the US. Sending my love

# posted by

Anonymous : 4:56 PM

Kay
Bird ingestion is a serious problem. If a flock of birds hits one engine - the plane can still fly but
if the birds fly into a second engine - the plane goes down!

Keith
Steve put up that picture of a Chevy Bel Air which was not the car we owned. Our first car was a pink and white Chevy which we bought off the lot.
That's all we could afford at the time.

Momma
If it weren't for that unfortunate accident I wouldn't have thought to write about my experience at GE.

Who knows what I'll remember next!!

Darlene
Take the plane to California. There are more accidents that happen on the road than in the air.

Claude
The same thing happens to me - when I read or see something happening in Paris I think of you!!

# posted by

millie garfield : 4:29 PM

"Isn't it awful what the birds can do to a plane? I wonder why they can't place screening of some sort over the openings?"

Isn't it awful what the planes can do to a bird?

As one who spent most of her 30-year engineering career making sure that various aircraft were strong enough, I can tell you that bird strikes\ resistance occupies a significant part of the certification process. Certain portions of the airplane (usually, leading edges of wings, tails, engine nacelles) are designed to resist penetration of birds in order to protect the enclosed fuel tanks (wings), control systems (wings and tails), and fuel control systems (engine nacelles). In many designs, the intent is to split the bird (using a wedge-shaped structure that is beneath leading edge skins) and deflect it around the profile of the surface. During testing, we made multiple shots at various parts of the aircraft, using dead birds (thawed frozen chickens, for the most part). This was a messy business.

Loss of power from both of the 320's engines, simultaneously, certainly simplified things for the pilots. In a two-engined aircraft, loss of one engine requires quick reaction by the pilot to keep the aircraft from turning abruptly. This is not good when the airplane is low, slow, and heavy--such as was the case of the 320. Losing all power, the pilots knew exactly what they had to do--land! They didn't waste precious time trying to nurse altitude from the one good engine while worrying about controlling flight path, etc.

Oh, on screening the openings of the engine nacelles: I believe it has been tried on a couple of military aircraft; but, a "screen" that is strong enough to resist being sucked into the engine, would produce too much drag and reduce needed airflow to the engine. I'm not an engine/powerplant engineer, but I know that modern jet engines are designed to resist bird strikes.

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:22 PM

The house of Hogan
is known for its casual-chic sneakers for him as well as her; you can look for hogan donna
as well as give it a try, you can pick Hogan scarpe uomo
along with give it a try. I’m not simply speaking about all skyscraping but Hogan uomo

# posted by

Anonymous : 8:50 PM