Tech Topics - Spring 2008 - (Page 30)

Burdell&Friends morning the engineer had a change of Flinchum left Piper in 1978 to begin heart, Flinchum recalled, and said, an 11-year stay with Gulfstream “John, it makes too much sense not to do Aerospace in Savannah, Ga., where he it.” The change was approved by the headed the engineering section for government. mechanical and hydraulic systems for A hugely popular model for Piper Gulfstream models II and III and served — Flinchum estion the original design mated that more than team for the 300 Meridians have Gulfstream IV. His It’s written been sold at $1.8 familiarity with the million each — the aircraft led him to the into my contract plane is similar to an Middle East, where that one of the earlier model, the he accepted a job Malibu, but with an with the Saudi things I'm important difference Arabian Oil Co. as supposed to do in that it employs maintenance turbines rather than supervisor for the is off-load some reciprocating engines. company’s fleet of of my “I think most Gulfstreams and aircraft in the future other aircraft. experience to are going to use “Everything I do the young turbine engines,” he comes from that said. “Their reliability degree I received engineers. is so superior to from Tech,” Flinchum reciprocating engines said. that there’s just no Still, he wanted comparison.” to get professional The well-traveled engineer certification Flinchum’s next stop before going was Japan, where he overseas. So 31 years spent several years as after leaving the a consultant for the North Avenue development of the campus, he took the HondaJet. In exam and passed addition, he consulted easily, proving once with various other again that a Georgia companies in the Tech education is as aircraft durable as a Georgia manufacturing Tech engineer. business on specific problems they were “I was amazed at how much of that having. Then about 18 months ago he stuff came back to me,” Flinchum received a call from — who else? — laughed. Piper. As with Flinchum’s other work Following some time off to conduct assignments in recent years, Piper was independent engineering research and interested in his engineering expertise, build his home in Florida, it was back to but equally important, his decades of Piper in 1996 for a short time as a experience would be particularly handy consultant studying improvements to for a ground-up project such as the various aircraft systems, followed by PiperJet. contract work for Ayres Corp. in Albany, “A lot of engineers have been Ga., where Flinchum helped design fuel, retiring and getting out of the industry,” hydraulic and mechanical systems for a Flinchum said. “There’s no shortage of Loadmaster utility airplane under new engineers — a lot of these young construction for Federal Express. Flinchum started his third stint with people are very, very bright — but there is a shortage of people with experience. Piper in 1998 to design and certify a fuel So it’s a good deal for the company to system for the Meridian turboprop. Yobring in someone like me to help. yo-style tape measure in hand, he was “As a matter of fact,” he added, “it’s inspecting the Meridian mock-up in a written into my contract that one of the hangar. It occurred to him that a mere four-inch extension of the “inboard wing things I’m supposed to do is off-load some of my experience to the young fairing” — a triangular piece between engineers.” the fuselage and the wing — would Teaching a new generation of allow the fuel lines to be repositioned in engineers has been tremendously such a way as to reduce the amount of rewarding, he noted. required double-shielding, saving “I still have my slide rule. I take it in weight and money. In addition, the extension would provide a little more lift once in a while to show some of the young engineers. They say, ‘How in the and thus lower the stall speed. The project’s aerodynamics engineer hell did you ever get through engineering school with something like dismissed the idea, noting that the that?’ I tell them that everyone else had Federal Aviation Agency had already the same handicap.” approved the design as it was. The next 30 TECHTOPICS | SPRING 2008 http://www.ferstcenter.org http://www.ferstcenter.org

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Tech Topics - Spring 2008 Contents Mail Call Gold & White Honors Alumni House Sweet Spring Centennial Buzz Supreme Court Victory The Hill ‘Treasure Trove’ of Stories Living History Forget-me-not Fashion Student Life Investing in Graduates Giving Back Training the Next Generation Burdell & Friends Ingredients for Success Yellow Jackets Hockey Club Ices Georgia Tech Job Hunters Fare Well Real World

Tech Topics - Spring 2008

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