Symbolism

[selenite0]

Our current "quality" initiative is being promoted with pretty posters in the major hallways. For emphasis the poster are in cases, big glass-front boxes with 3 or 4 inches of depth for the poster to be displayed in. The current version is praising a particular bottom-rank employee for his attention to detail. The posters were put up with weak glue, so they've all come off the back of the box and are slumped against the glass. It's been like that for a couple of weeks now. They're still readable even with all the wrinkles, it's fairly stiff cardboard. But I wonder what impression this "attention to detail" message makes on the test pilots.

Comments

[patgund.livejournal.com]

"But I wonder what impression this "attention to detail" message makes on the test pilots."

"This poster was produced by the lowest bidder. As are many aspects of the plane you're about to fly."

[selenite.livejournal.com]

IIRC, we beat Boeing on technical merit. Or at least aesthetics (http://birch.family.tripod.com/jsftwo_sm.jpg).

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Oh, no question about it. The X-32 was an UGLY baby. Looked like a jet-propelled pelican.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

The Air Force nickname for X-32 was "the Monica."

[tmc4242.livejournal.com]

That's harsh. Accurate, but harsh.

Note to Boeing - Air Force jets have pointy noses...

[tygerr.livejournal.com]

OOOOOoooooohhhh! So THAT was the problem!

We'll keep that in mind for next time. :-)

(Seriously, that was one ugly bird.)

[selenite.livejournal.com]

I think that was y'all's intent . . . but by the time there'd been enough design iterations to realize how flawed the vehicle architecture was there wasn't enough time left to start over.

[tygerr.livejournal.com]

One of my generic "rules of thumb" is that a well-designed high-performance aircraft should look (for lack of a better word) "sexy".

This is not an aesthetic judgement so much as it is a recognition of the sorts of shapes that do well in a transonic/supersonic environment--and if it looks like a tub, that's probably how it's going to perform.

There are only two phenomenally-successful aircraft I can think of off the top of my head that are really ugly--the DC-3 and the A-10. And neither of them are intended as "high performance" in the usual sense of the phrase.

Demotivators

[drwex]

http://despair.com/

Re: Demotivators

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Heh. They've come out with some new ones since I last checked the site. I like "Innovation."