In
the months after retirement, the number of days in my calendar schedule were
almost empty, except for doctor and dental appointments, a few days spent at
Wapato Point, attending financial seminars and health care meetings. With too
much spare time on hand, Mary and I enrolled with the Boeing Health and Fitness
program and started an exercise program of three days a week of workout. In
October 1995, Mary, Susanne and I flew
to Spain and spent a few days in Toreliminos (Costa del Sol) on a condo exchange
and used the condo as a home base from which we visited other Spanish cities.
Sometime
in 1996, I went to the University of Washington and met the heads of the
mechanical and aeronautical engineering departments and offered my services
for part time volunteer work. I chose to work in the mechanical engineering
laboratory and I helped two professors in setting up apparatus for students to
do their experiments. One of the professors I was helping suggested for me to
construct an apparatus for visualizing laminar and turbulent boundary layers.
Sketch of the set-up was drawn and submitted to the professor for comments and
when this was approved, I prepared a list of materials needed for the project
and submitted this list to the professor for her approval. Some of the
materials needed were solicited and were given free because it is for
university use and the construction of this apparatus could have been done at
the university machine shop. So the cash outlay is minimal. Made several
inquiries after weeks had past if the professor had approved the requisition of
the materials needed. I was getting frustrated with the delay and began
questioning why I was crazy to be doing this pro bono job and only to be
subjected to long frustrating wait for no logical explanation. So I decided the
heck with it and terminated my pro bono volunteer job and realized then that I
could be doing consulting jobs with good pay.
Then
on September 1996, an acquaintance of mine from Rohr Industry based on San
Diego needed my technical expertise in assisting Rohr on the MD 95 (now the
B717) model thrust reverser test program that they were in the midst of doing,
so another Rolls Royce management retiree and myself were off to San Diego. I
made a couple of trips to San Diego with one week duration for each trip. This
consultation job was good for one month. So, from this point on was the jumped
start my part-time consulting jobs.
After
the Rohr Industry job, it was followed by a contract job on December 1996 at
Boeing on the747X program, which was cancelled a few weeks later. Managed to
transfer on February 1997 to two jobs by splitting my time on the High Speed
Commercial Transport (supersonic) and on the 777 airplane program. This
contract job was good for 7 months.
An
acquaintance from my former Boeing days who was then working for a French
company near Paris and whose company was trying to convinced Boeing to use
their product, inquired if I would be interested to provide technical support
to General Electric in configurating a thrust reverser design for one of GE’s
customer, a German aircraft company, Dornier, who was building a business jet.
It was on April of 2000, when I was treated with a implant seed radiation
(Brachtheraphy) due to a small cancerous
tumor in my prostate. On May 2000, I took
the job and made a few trips to Cincinnati, lasting several days at a
time. Airplane travels and working in the office was disruptive right after the treatment as the feeling of
urination was frequent and bothersome.
The culmination of this job brought me to Holland to test the installed thrust
reverser on a full model Dornier airplane in a DNW low speed wind tunnel
located in Emmeloord, which was a 4-5 hours drive from Amsterdam. On weekends,
I was able to drive in the northern part of Holland to sight see and was also
able to take the train to Brussels to visit my first cousin, who was married to
a Belgian.This part-time contract job lasted for four months
Later
on, a job opened up in Opa-Locka, Florida (north of Miami) on May 2001 with Quiet Technology Aerospace,
Inc. This job required me as an FAA Designated Engineering Representative (DER)
to witness a certification test of their quiet nacelle installation (hush kit)
for retro fit to the older Gulfstream business jets. Made a few trips to
Florida for this test witnessing job which lasted for three months.
Another
acquaintance at Boeing was able to land me a consulting job on May 2004 to
provide technical support in the design of the thrust reverser for the 787 and
the new 747-8 airplanes. This was a part time job, three times a week in
Everett which did not impose any hardship or duress in my commuting schedule.
The work itself was not difficult as I had done the same type of work at Boeing
before I retired, so it was a piece of cake. With this job, I was able to make
a trip to Philadelphia where we tested the airplane model with an installed
thrust reverser in the Vertol-Boeing wind tunnel. This job was a long one for
me since it almost lasted for twenty seven months. I stayed on this job from
the beginning of the 787 program to the end of the model test program when a
viable configuration was arrived at for production design.
As I
was still working for Boeing towards the end of my contract, I was contacted
with an offer by Spirit Aerosystem, Inc. of Wichita, Kansas to provide
technical and FAA DER support in the development of the thrust reverser for the
Gulfstream 650 business jet. Spirit has been selected by Rolls Royce to provide
the nacelle with all the internal systems which makes a complete propulsion
package for the Rolls Royce BR 725 engine that would power the new Gulfstream
650 business jet. In this arrangement, Spirit had to deal with the engine and
the airplane makers and whatever Spirit needed to do, it has to go thru Rolls
Royce and Gulfstream for consensus. Gulfstream was overly critical of Spirit’s
work, as Spirit was a new vendor in supplying a complete propulsion package,
mistrust of Spirit was understandable. In this environment, the working
relationship among the three team was frustrating and bureaucratic, took so
much time to have things and efforts to get things done.
In
January of 2010, upon an innocent inquiry to a former Boeing acquaintance, who
was then a manager of the Engine Performance Group for the 737 Re-engine
program, about a job opportunity in his group replied that he could use me. So,
once again I was hired as a contract engineer at Boeing and set my work
schedule for three days a week. This situation lasted for six months as my
hiring manager was replaced by another manager who was my former lead engineer
while I worked on the 787 program. I didn’t particularly like my new boss at
the time as I was critical of his loose leadership role and now he was my new
manager. He let me go as soon as he took over and I think the underlying cause
was retribution. I was glad to be out of his group under his supervision
because of the remaining few weeks I worked for him, he had not changed a bit
and continue his lax/loose management style of leadership. In addition, since
he became a first level manager, he had been floating around from one group
within the Propulsion Department to another, so one would begin to wonder what
his aspirations or ambition were.
After
this short term contract employment at Boeing, I went back to APAC Airplane
Design on July 2010, whose efforts are mainly providing technical support to
China’s Comac 919
airplane program. Work on this project involved answering Comac’s many
inquiries on engine and airplane design parameters and these were provided to
APAC for its consultant members to respond. However, the hourly pay rate is
very good; double that of what Boeing is offering the contract engineering
market.