This picture was taken in Ottawa, Canada where we were inspecting the installation of passenger loading bridges like the one shown. While boarding and unboarding planes may be a largely mundane action for you as a passenger, a lot of engineering thought goes into the loads and dynamics associated with ensuring safety and movement of these bridges to your gates.
I have a Professional Engineer’s license in Ontario and have been involved with this engineering project. We work with the respective Fort Worth manufacturer of this passenger loading bridge to certify the installation with the local airport authorities.
We also assist this company with analysis services and design many of their fixed walkways. If you fly much, there’s a good chance you will be enjoying our design work.
I know a lot of people get frustrated at airports and have horror stories. There are a lot of moving parts to operating the airlines and airports. Consider the engineering around you when you are waiting on a gate next time. Gates must be matched to specific types of aircraft.
If you wanted to build a ramp from the building to the aircraft, there are many considerations. Among them is the regulation that you must keep the ADA rules in mind while trying to tilt the bridge to match the aircraft doorway.
Sometimes a fixed walkway is necessary to allow passengers to walk out to the pivot point of the bridge. Furthermore, the extension which we call the bridge is the telescoping, elevating, steerable wheeled section. Again, lots of dynamics and considerations of something that we can underappreciate as consumers.
We pay attention to these details and work with manufacturers and designers to ensure safety and functionality. It’s great to brag about it here and share some of the underlying problems we face as well as celebrate accomplishments that are more or less expected.
Today, we are licensed in 15 states and 4 Canadian provinces, BC, AB, NS, and ON. By following the rules for the entity, we are allowed to sell our Engineering services in those entities and/or provide proper Engineering certification of our designs.
Ever notice things that look ordinary and realize how extraordinary the thinking and work has to be?
If you have these kinds of problems already in your world, let us know how we can help you.