Northwest Aerospace News August | September Issue No. 4 | Page 50

THE BIOLOGICAL COMPONENT OF
AIRCRAFT
MANUFACTURING
By: Mary Kaye Bredeson, executive director; and Jennifer Ferrero, APR, marketing communications Center of Excellence for Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing
Jennifer Ferrero
APR, Communications and Marketing
COE for Aerospace and Advanced
Manufacturing
www.coeaerospace.com
I
n mammals, the circulatory and respiratory systems carry blood and oxygen through the
body to keep us alive. The skeletal system protects our organs and keeps our bodies upright
and walking. On an aircraft, James Del Pinto, vice president of research and technology and
director materials and process engineering at Zodiac Aerospace/Safran, thinks that these body
systems could be replicated to make lighter, more fuel-efficient and organic aircraft.
Mary Kaye Bredeson
Executive Director, COE for Aero-
space and Advanced Manufacturing
www.coeaerospace.com
COE SPOTLIGHT
At a recent conference for the Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation (JCATI) in
Spokane, Washington, Del Pinto served as a keynote speaker, elaborating on the details of na-
ture, biology, chemistry (and super heroes) in the use of aircraft manufacturing. This concept
seemed novel to the group of students studying in areas of aerospace, aeronautics, avionics,
engineering, chemistry and more. The speech offered inventive, yet fact-based concepts that
the students could grasp, and Del Pinto used Star Trek and super hero humor to help explain
complex facts about body systems in aircraft engineering.
He said, “If you look at anything man has designed, going back to the bow, everything starts
as an animal, vegetable, mineral. Everything that we do tends to mimic what we are — more
an animal than a tool.”
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NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS