With the 69th Annual International Conference on Mass Properties Engineering less than a month away, members of Boeing’s Weight Engineering department were given the opportunity to hear a presentation on inertia envelopes. Two engineers within the Mass Properties team at Boeing, Pat Mitchell and Al Balliett, have co-authored a paper on inertia envelope creation that will be presented during this year’s international conference in Virginia Beach, VA.
Inertia envelopes are used by many groups within the company but one of the main customers is the simulator group. These envelopes help the simulator accurately represent airplane performance and controllability in a computer simulation instead of being up in the real airplane. Many times actually flying an airplane is too expensive or in the case of the 787 and 747-8, not even an option outside of the company, so airline customers can use simulators to help bring their pilots up to speed on the new airplanes prior to delivery.
Pat Mitchell is a long time member of the local Seattle Chapter of the SAWE and is currently the Executive Vice President for the SAWE at an international level.