The seemingly bizarre practices of test engineering, from firing dead chickens at airplane propellers to using human crash test dummies, are highlighted in Alex Davies' new book, "How To Keep A Plane In The Sky." This field, often unseen, plays a critical role in ensuring the safety of technologies that shape modern life.
Test engineers are tasked with anticipating and mitigating risks, both operational and non-operational. Operational risks occur when a device is functioning as intended but external factors pose a threat. A striking example is the hazard birds pose to aircraft. Following a 1960 incident where 62 people died due to a bird strike, the Federal Aviation Administration developed tests involving launching dead chickens at rotating propellers to design more resilient blades. Similarly, the American Bird Conservancy uses bird-safe glass testing tunnels to prevent avian fatalities from collisions with windows, a problem that results in over a billion bird deaths annually in the U.S. These tests are designed to protect birds, with netting ensuring they are unharmed.
Non-operational risks arise from device malfunctions or wear and tear. Colonel John Stapp's pioneering work in the late 1940s exemplifies this. Volunteering to test the limits of human tolerance to deceleration, Stapp endured extreme g-forces on a rocket sled, sustaining injuries such as broken wrists and temporary vision loss. His experiments were crucial in establishing safety standards for pilot ejection systems and, by extension, seat belts.
The book also delves into everyday safety innovations. The magnetic seals on refrigerators, for instance, were developed after children suffocated by becoming trapped in older models with external latches. Child-safe lids on medications, while not perfectly impenetrable, are intentionally designed to be difficult but not impossible for adults to open, a balance that has led to an 80% reduction in accidental child poisonings since their introduction.
Davies' work illustrates that each technological advancement presents new challenges for test engineers. The widespread adoption of electricity in the 19th century introduced novel dangers, and the advent of artificial intelligence is the latest frontier. The book underscores the vital, albeit often unheralded, contributions of these engineers in making the world a safer place.
