I first worked in the automotive industry designing windshield washer systems for a tier-one supplier to the Chrysler small car and Jeep platforms. Not rocket science (that was in my aerospace days), but a great introduction to the vast amount of testing and prototyping that goes into producing just one small system on a car; in these cases, the Dodge Neon, Durango, and the Jeep Grand Cherokee. From there, I went to work on another relatively unseen, but quite important system, fuel tank assemblies. If I thought the testing and the failure mode analysis was involved on a windshield washer pump and nozzles, if was nothing to compare with fuel systems. A weight given to design that I still carry with me today.

No, I did not design fighter jets. While working in the aerospace industry, I had the opportunity to work on many programs for GE Aircraft Engines and McDonald Douglas Missle Systems. The company I worked for was one of only two companies in the country that could super-plastic-form titanium parts--a kind of duopoly. The most significant project I designed on was for a small titanium duct that would allow fuel to vent to the exterior of the plane should the engine develop a fuel leak. This was important, as the jet was the F-16, which only had one engine. If it should develop a leak, you could not shut it down and limp home on the other engine--you ejected before it went up in a ball of flames.