Ask a Boeing Engineer

[gmerkt]

Funny but unfortunately true story. Years ago, I was with a friend and we were visiting his cousin. The cousin was married to a Boeing Co. engineer. We were outside, looking under the hood of a car that I'd just bought. The engineer came up, and asked, "Are the electrical systems in cars AC or DC?" He was serious.

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[VinnieBoomBah]

Maybe he had an elephant infestation and was trying to figure out if he could use your car to help out with that?

 

[Ducati_Meister]

You'd be amazed at how many people there are, that I'd consider to be dumber than a bag of hammers with common knowledge and everyday object basic maintenance etc, but can design complex electrical circuits for days lol.

 

[Member 53867]

Funny but unfortunately true story. Years ago, I was with a friend and we were visiting his cousin. The cousin was married to a Boeing Co. engineer. We were outside, looking under the hood of a car that I'd just bought. The engineer came up, and asked, "Are the electrical systems in cars AC or DC?" He was serious.

You should have just told him there was High Voltage and not to Touch Too Much or he'd get Thunderstruck and Shake A Leg and do Evil Walks and then he'd Realize that Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be.

 

[parallax]

In my previous career life, I have sat in meetings with engineers to talk about new system designs and solution ideas for various issues we were facing . Seems most of the outlandish and complicated ideas were from young wet behind the ears fresh out of college engineers who were new hires, the old seasoned engineers would stare at them in disbelief. We had a couple of engineers who were brilliant, and could explain the most complicated systems to you in a down to earth manner that would make you retain the information, at least retain it for a few months, then it would fade away I recall funny story about a day I was reading a sports car magazine road and track, one of the young engineers walked up to me and said " a sports car can never turn or accelerate over 1 G of force, it's physically not possible" an older engineer was sitting right next to me and I literally had the magazine open to the performance specifications of the car that showed it capable of well over 1 G .in a corner a leaned over to the engineer next to me and showed him He stood up and showed the kid he was wrong, and gave him a hard time about it for the rest of the day.

 

[Member 24198]

Funny but unfortunately true story. Years ago, I was with a friend and we were visiting his cousin. The cousin was married to a Boeing Co. engineer. We were outside, looking under the hood of a car that I'd just bought. The engineer came up, and asked, "Are the electrical systems in cars AC or DC?" He was serious.

In his defense, airplanes have a few onboard AC generators.

 

[Stomper]

You'd be amazed at how many people there are, that I'd consider to be dumber than a bag of hammers with common knowledge and everyday object basic maintenance etc, but can design complex electrical circuits for days lol.

Like maybe….. @solv3nt ? He seems (to me) to be on the spectrum.

 

[Stomper]

In his defense, airplanes have a few onboard AC generators.

That's a true statement! If you give a passenger enough booze they'll turn into an a$$ clown.

 

[Bacchus]

You should have just told him there was High Voltage and not to Touch Too Much or he'd get Thunderstruck and Shake A Leg and do Evil Walks and then he'd Realize that Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be.

That seems overly complicated. How about, "Don't play with electricity."

 

[oremike]

Funny but unfortunately true story. Years ago, I was with a friend and we were visiting his cousin. The cousin was married to a Boeing Co. engineer. We were outside, looking under the hood of a car that I'd just bought. The engineer came up, and asked, "Are the electrical systems in cars AC or DC?" He was serious.

Actually yes, both. Alternators are AC, hence the "A" in there name. Regulators and rectifiers turn it into DC.

 

[Member 24198]

That's a true statement! If you give a passenger enough booze they'll turn into an a$$ clown.

Aren't you an A/C electrician?

 

[Hemlock]

Years ago, my wife worked in the engineering department for Hewett-Packard as a manager's assistant.
One day she says to me, "I just can't understand engineer's logic"
I said it's very easy. In the morning an engineer gets dressed and puts on a pair of socks. Makes no difference if one's black and one's red. To him it's a pair of socks.
She had no problem understanding engineers after that.

 

[TTSX]

That's when you take the opportunity to tell him it's wired the same as a house.

I was looking to buy clutch packs for my transmission and the auto parts person was insistent I was buying for a manual trans. I was not. Sometimes people just need to be clued in and the lightbulb will turn on.

 

[monks]

I'm not surprised at all, especially if he doesn't work on cars. Electricity is probably something like witchcraft if he's isn't an electrical engineer. My son has a degree in electrical engineering and although he is very educated in theory he knows little about the industry I'm in other than what the components do if I tell him what they essentially are. What's more alarming to me is that I work with people who have the same time and education in my industry that I do and don't know jack about anything. They're always asking me questions that should be common knowledge to anyone in the industry. I'm not an expert but I can do my job and if I don't have an answer I know where to look or who to call. These people can't do anything with 15-25 years in the craft. I suppose that's why I make more money than most of them and seem to not be written up by the boss. I'll never understand how people can happily idle along in their field without a care in the world and be totally okay with knowing zilch. How do they sleep at night? Ignorance is bliss I guess.

 

[TTSX]

I'm not surprised at all, especially if he doesn't work on cars. Electricity is probably something like witchcraft if he's isn't an electrical engineer. My son has a degree in electrical engineering and although he is very educated in theory he knows little about the industry I'm in other than what the components do if I tell him what they essentially are. What's more alarming to me is that I work with people who have the same time and education in my industry that I do and don't know jack about anything. They're always asking me questions that should be common knowledge to anyone in the industry. I'm not an expert but I can do my job and if I don't have an answer I know where to look or who to call. These people can't do anything with 15-25 years in the craft. I suppose that's why I make more money than most of them and seem to not be written up by the boss. I'll never understand how people can happily idle along in their field without a care in the world and be totally okay with knowing zilch. How do they sleep at night? Ignorance is bliss I guess.

I have a similar problem in that my coworkers think I don't know anything because I'm much younger than they are, yet I'm in a higher position with higher responsibility and the proof of my knowledge and work quality is rolling all over the yard for everyone to see every day. It's very frustrating having people who provably know less than you tell you how to do your job when they can't do theirs.

 

[parallax]

In his defense, airplanes have a few onboard AC generators.

True many aircraft also have inverters to change battery 24 volt D.C. to various voltage A.C. To operate essential systems if A.C. Generators fail during flight .

 

[Member 24198]

I'm not surprised at all, especially if he doesn't work on cars. Electricity is probably something like witchcraft if he's isn't an electrical engineer. My son has a degree in electrical engineering and although he is very educated in theory he knows little about the industry I'm in other than what the components do if I tell him what they essentially are. What's more alarming to me is that I work with people who have the same time and education in my industry that I do and don't know jack about anything. They're always asking me questions that should be common knowledge to anyone in the industry. I'm not an expert but I can do my job and if I don't have an answer I know where to look or who to call. These people can't do anything with 15-25 years in the craft. I suppose that's why I make more money than most of them and seem to not be written up by the boss. I'll never understand how people can happily idle along in their field without a care in the world and be totally okay with knowing zilch. How do they sleep at night? Ignorance is bliss I guess.

Belle Curve.

 

[Stomper]

Aren't you an A/C electrician?

I'm not an electrician, I'm skilled labor!






I do hold an LEB electrical license (in addition to a class-5 boiler license) though.

Between the two requires a fair bit of continuing education to maintain my state quals every licensing cycle, then there's the annual union requirements to get my education "payback fund" paid back to me.



$$$$!!!

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc1WmGXeisA

 

[wired]

College teaches people who dont have any usable skills how to do something to make a living. Thats about the extent of it. It doesn't make them masters of everything . Thats what dads are for.