Michelle Milleson is a structural stress analyst at Boeing’s Everett facility near Seattle, Washington. She works on the fuselage team of the 787 Dreamliner
Why did you want to work in the aerospace industry?
I’ve lived in Washington all my life and Boeing is very much in the public eye here. Living here, you hear about the many products that they’re making and from an engineering standpoint there’s no greater product than an aircraft. The amount of engineering work and integration involved is amazing. To watch an aircraft fly and see that accomplishment has always intrigued me.
What does your role involve?
In September 2003 I moved from a design engineer role to stress analyst on the fuselage team for the 787. I have recently been promoted to a lead role in the primary design stage.
The 787 is in the detailed design stage and with that comes more responsibility for our partners and the detailed design analysis in terms of ensuring they know all the analysis requirements and integrating what they do with the other teams. I also give them guidance and review their notes and analysis to ensure it meets all the FAA and Boeing requirements. There is a lot of multi-tasking!
What qualifications and abilities have helped you in your career?
I did a BSc in mechanical engin-eering at the University of Wash-ington. As well as the engineering aspects, an important skill I learned was technical writing and communication. Many engineers are not interested in English skills and presentation, but in the real world you have a lot of reports to write as a stress analyst and of course the ability to communicate is very important.
What are the rewards?
Once the aircraft is built and I get to see it roll out of the factory and take off on its first flight from Everett, I’m going to be able to see the piece of the aircraft that I’ve worked on fly as an integral part of the 787 and know I was there when we announced that we were going to launch the programme and when we got our first customer. I hope to stay on the programme to see this aircraft fly so that I can say to my kids: “This 787 that you’re flying in, I was there for the whole programme and I helped make it safe.”
What advice would you give to someone seeking a similar role?
The industry is using a lot more composites, so learning about them is a good idea. Those in college should get an internship in the area in which they’re most interested, even if it means travelling to a different state or a different country. The internship really gives you the experience you need to get your foot in the door.
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Source: Flight International
