Tom Imrich '69, SM '71
From Flight of Fancy to Fancy Flying
As Boeing's chief research pilot, Tom Imrich's, SM '71 "office" is the cockpit of a wide variety of passenger aircraft.
The photo on the wall inside MIT's Building 10, the one of a guy sitting at the controls of an airplane flight simulator, is a source of nostalgia for Capt. Thomas Imrich '69, SM '71. But it is more than just a warm memory for Imrich, today the chief research pilot at the Boeing aircraft company in Seattle. It is a document of historical significance.
Imrich took the photo in 1970, when he was a 23-year-old graduate student in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department working toward a master's degree and part of an informal but active subculture of flying fanatics at MIT. Imrich was a flyer from a flying family when he came to Aero-Astro as a freshman in 1965 and the student in the photo, Jack Howell, was an Air Force veteran who flew F-4s in Vietnam.
Reminiscing about the photo and his student days from his home in Mercer Island, WA, Imrich recalls that MIT was providing him the thorough scientific grounding that he had sought in preparation for a career in aeronautics. But as a licensed pilot, he felt something was missing.
Tom Imrich stands with the Piper Seneca he flew in formation with the Boeing S-307 Stratoliner (in the background) so Boeing photographers could record one of final flights of the historic airliner. The plane, the last of its kind, has since been delivered to the Smithsonian.
"The MIT education, while terrific, was very theoretical," he says. "There were no throttles or sticks or instruments."
The young Tom Imrich knew some people at Boeing, and they told him that the company no longer had use for several cockpit mockups it had built for the recently cancelled 2707 supersonic transport. Arrangements were made with Boeing for donation of one of the mockups, which was flown from the manufacturer to Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, MA, aboard an Air National Guard C-130 and then trucked to MIT. "We had to knock down a cinderblock wall in Building 35 to get it in," says Imrich. Together with grad student Bob Anderson and Division of Sponsored Research staff member Mark Connelly he combined an old Adage graphics computer with some salvaged CRTs to transform the mockup into a homemade 707 simulator.
While the story is a pleasant tale of youthful pluck, Imrich points out that it is more than that because the simulator provided useful research outcomes for the aeronautical world. He was the first of several students who used the simulator for their theses. Imrich's project used the machine to examine computerized air traffic display, then in its infancy, and the forerunner of today's universal traffic alert and collision-avoidance system.
"I strongly support the department's new dedication to the 'hands-on' approach," says Imrich. He's a big fan of the department's syllabus and curriculum based on conceiving, designing, implementing, and operating aerospace and related engineering systems. Referring to curriculum changes that stress design and workshop-based projects as well as the learning of engineering science: "I wish we had more of that when I was there. But we always found a way. We had no flight deck, so we built one. We had no soaring club, so we started one. No one told us things couldn't be done or that they might be hard, so we just did it."
Imrich says both the education he received and the people he met during his years at MIT have played an instrumental role his career. "MIT gave me the solid engineering technical foundation I needed. And, I continue to interact with former classmates and faculty on issues of common interest." Imrich stays in close contact with the aero-astro department, often participating on committees and review boards. He also is occasionally found back in the classroom, speaking to students about his career.
Imrich considers himself fortunate for having coming come of age in the early part of what he calls "the modern jet era," placing him in a position to experience a variety of firsts in aircraft developments and safety improvements. His post-MIT career started with an active-duty stint in the U.S. Air Force, where he was involved in groundbreaking work on windshear avoidance, an expertise that drew the attention of the Federal Aviation Administration, which hired him in 1976 to work in its Office of Systems Engineering Management in Washington, D.C. He stayed at the FAA, where his work in several leadership roles focused on improving flying safety, until 2001, when he joined Boeing.
As Imrich explains, his work at Boeing is still essentially aimed at improving safety for the flying public. But now operational efficiency is also part of his charge.
"My principle role at Boeing and serving as chief research test pilot is to deal with the cross-model features of our product line and new aircraft to help develop and implement systems that are important for our customers to fly these airplanes in the evolving air-space system and applying new technology that brings benefit to our customer base," he says.
What that means for Imrich is well over 300 hours a year flying huge Boeing aircraft. Recently, for example, Imrich has been piloting 737s and gauging the effectiveness of a new autopilot system that he says will "significantly improve low-visibility landing capability."
Although his primary work has dealt with Boeing's existing product line, he says that he will be devoting more time to the "experimental" division and continuing development of the model 777.
In addition, part of Imrich's job is to take part in the ongoing certification of every airplane that comes off the Boeing production line. Each plane is test flown, during which every aspect of the airplane's operation—including in-flight engine shutdown and restart—is tested.
Not all of Imrich's work involves testing big jets. One September he had the enjoyable task of piloting a small prop plane in formation with the last remaining 1940 Boeing S-307 Stratoliner while photographers aboard his aircraft recorded the airliner in action. The historic aircraft, which Boeing restored, has since been delivered to the Smithsonian.
Among his career achievements, he counts his work with the FAA in developing U.S. and international criteria for low-visibility landing as a particular highlight. In addition, the TCAS technology that he first studied on the old MIT flight simulator that he and his friends created long ago has played an ongoing role in his career. Much of his work at the FAA dealt with TCAS.
As Imrich looks back to how the world of aviation has changed during his career, he marvels. "The ability to massively integrate flight-deck functions and features and connect them in important ways that improve both safety and efficiency are vastly better. Our ability to communicate with different parts of the airport and to the external world is vastly different. We're now in the process of connecting smart airplanes with smart ground systems to fly effectively and efficiently."
Inevitably, evolving aeronautical technology is changing the role of the pilot. While there's no doubt that Imrich loves the throttles, sticks, and instruments as much as he did when he was an MIT student with his hands on a flight simulator, he's also excited by the future of piloting. While pilots traditionally have had to focus their attention on such matters as flying at a certain level for hours on end, now smart machines can take care of that job.
"Now the pilot can elect to offload that task and have the aircraft do that itself while the pilot focuses on the bigger picture of Where am I going? What's the weather? What are the constraints on the operation of my vehicle to best match airport connecting flights? If the weather is bad there, where would we rather be for the convenience of our passengers and for the airline schedule? And so forth."
As Boeing's chief research test pilot, of course, Imrich will continue to keep his hands on throttles and sticks, which makes him happy. But he says that he takes even more satisfaction from the purpose of his work. "The fun and the excitement of flying will always be there," he says. "But I think the bigger picture for me is helping make things better, make them safer, and operate aircraft in ways that provide services and capabilities that weren't available before. It's a tremendously interesting activity. It's a lot of fun."
And, by the way, Tom isn't the only Imrich with a connection to aero-astro. Younger brother, Steve Imrich MAR '80, who holds a master's in architecture from MIT, was the main designer and project manager for the recent creation of aero-astro's Learning Laboratory and the renovation of Building 33, MIT's Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory.
By Dick Dahl
(First published in Aero-Astro, the annual publication of the MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Department, 2004)
