Author Topic: GE Commercial (Read 4402 times)

Randy Powell · « **on:** November 18, 2011, 07:49:44 PM »

I was watching TV (go figure) and GE has a commercial about building jet engines. The guy talks about building planes from balsa as a kid and that was what got him interested in full scale planes and led him to building jet engines for GE.

Wonder what GE is going to do when there are no people building planes as kids.

Clint Ormosen · « **Reply #1 on:** November 18, 2011, 08:07:28 PM »

I saw it too. However, my love of model airplanes has never given me the urge to stand on a jet engine assembly line.

But to answer your question, maybe they could start working on something like a teleporter to eliminate airplanes?

phil c · « **Reply #2 on:** November 19, 2011, 04:08:47 PM »

GE has plenty of young people in China willing to work for low wages just to eat. Even highly educated people over there get a lot less than in the US. With well over a billion people they are doing just fine. Some of them even fly model planes.

Tim Wescott · « **Reply #3 on:** November 19, 2011, 04:28:05 PM »

Quote from: phil c on November 19, 2011, 04:08:47 PM

GE has plenty of young people in China willing to work for low wages just to eat. Even highly educated people over there get a lot less than in the US. With well over a billion people they are doing just fine. Some of them even fly model planes.

And quite a few of them build model airplanes -- for us to fly.

qaz049 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 19, 2011, 05:28:30 PM »

Quote from: Randy Powell on November 18, 2011, 07:49:44 PM

I was watching TV (go figure) and GE has a commercial about building jet engines. The guy talks about building planes from balsa as a kid and that was what got him interested in full scale planes and led him to building jet engines for GE.

Wonder what GE is going to do when there are no people building planes as kids.

GE wouldn't be worried in the least. Google General Electric Finance and you'll find that they are deeply involved in the International Credit Card and Consumer Finance "industry". Jet engines are just a minor sideline in with Electrical Equipment.

Randy Powell · « **Reply #5 on:** November 19, 2011, 10:12:02 PM »

Such a cynical bunch.

Andrew Tinsley · « **Reply #6 on:** November 20, 2011, 10:55:09 AM »

Hello Randy,
You are quite correct about being cynical, I should know, having worked for them. I was so cynical that I left.

Regards,

Andrew.

dave siegler · « **Reply #7 on:** November 20, 2011, 11:34:25 AM »

I talked to the GE guys up at oshkosh this year. They seemed like an OK bunch. But the policies of GE are prety tough and greedy. I wonder if the guys in the comerical were ever ranked in the bottome 10% of their group?

Randy Powell · « **Reply #8 on:** November 20, 2011, 01:10:53 PM »

Look guys, I was just pointing out that if kids aren't building or interested in planes, mechanics, structure, whatever, where will companies find engineers, designers or related fields? I don't give a rip about GE. They may be the devil incarnate for all I know. It wasn't the point.

dave siegler · « **Reply #9 on:** November 20, 2011, 03:59:14 PM »

I work with engineering students, and there are a LOT of kids that can build stuff. Google FIRST sometime and see what highschool kids can do. Also or Team America Rocketry

http://www.nar.org/TAchallenge.html

They just are not building model airplanes. Kids lives are so structured now, that the long self directed journey we all took to get good at aeromodeling is not happening anymore. But kids are still building stuff, just they are part of a project or program.

I will keep my comments on GE to a minimum.

John Stiles · « **Reply #10 on:** November 20, 2011, 06:56:04 PM »

Quote from: dave siegler on November 20, 2011, 03:59:14 PM

They just are not building model airplanes. Kids lives are so structured now, that the long self directed journey we all took to get good at aeromodeling is not happening anymore. But kids are still building stuff, just they are part of a project or program.

Yeah, I've seen this.....structured towards what end, though; I do not know.

john e. holliday · « **Reply #11 on:** November 21, 2011, 05:55:53 AM »

Young adults will do what their parents, schools or organizations will let them. You should see the custom cars a few are driving to school they have been working on in a class as well as those who's fathers have been helping them. One is a little panel truck I would like to have to transport my planes and me.

Randy Ryan · « **Reply #12 on:** November 21, 2011, 07:01:36 AM »

Quote from: Randy Powell on November 20, 2011, 01:10:53 PM

Look guys, I was just pointing out that if kids aren't building or interested in planes, mechanics, structure, whatever, where will companies find engineers, designers or related fields? I don't give a rip about GE. They may be the devil incarnate for all I know. It wasn't the point.

I hear you Randy. Reminds me of something Hap Arnold said during that war. Can't quote from memory but the jist was that in his experience that pilots and mechanics with a modeling background were the best. Not exactly your point but certainly in the same vein.

dirty dan · « **Reply #13 on:** November 22, 2011, 01:13:10 PM »

Staying with Randy's point, the same thing applies to the US automobile industry in that fewer and fewer kids spend a lot of time in working on cars and so are not motivated to a career with an automotive firm.

Dan

Randy Powell · « **Reply #14 on:** November 22, 2011, 02:33:19 PM »

As usual, Dan cuts to the heart of it. That was largely my point; if kids don't become interested in planes (or cars or boats or whatever), they are less likely to come to it as adults and even if they do, they are less likely to have a passion for it.

Thanks, Dan.

Joseph Lijoi · « **Reply #15 on:** November 23, 2011, 03:14:34 AM »

There is also a really nice British Airways commercial with a beautiful DeHavilland Rapide(?), DC 3 and other vintage transports.

pipemakermike · « **Reply #16 on:** November 23, 2011, 05:41:41 AM »

A good friend of mine, Dusty Miller, got involved with the restoration of a Rapide when he and his son Mark were flying with the local model aeroclub at Duxford aerodrome in the 1970's they were asked to help push it into a hanger after it had flown in for restoration and slowly got sucked into the restoration until they bought the airframe and did most of the work themselves. It is one of the best restorations I have seen.
Mark is now chief engineer at DE HAVILLAND SUPPORT LTD. The picture below is the aircraft that they restored.

When I was a boy and flew with the local model club Dusty and his wife Sue used to fly competition freeflight models which they transported in a large box fitted to the back of their 350 Norton motorbike.

http://www.dhsupport.com/profile.html

GGeezer · « **Reply #17 on:** November 23, 2011, 09:04:42 PM »

Quote from: dirty dan on November 22, 2011, 01:13:10 PM

Staying with Randy's point, the same thing applies to the US automobile industry in that fewer and fewer kids spend a lot of time in working on cars and so are not motivated to a career with an automotive firm.

Dan

Hi Dan,
Although I agree with many of the points in this thread, I'm not sure I totally agree with you. There is a healthy "Tuner" movement out there in that the young guys are working on compact cars, unfortunately, mostly Foreign not American. Whether this motivates them to enter the automotive industry, I'm not sure.
Our generation may also be to blame. Parents nowadays just buy their kids new cars. In my day, we worked and saved our money to buy a jalopy which we were forced, by lack of cash,to maintain.

Orv.

FLOYD CARTER · « **Reply #18 on:** November 23, 2011, 09:23:11 PM »

Any giant corporation that pays NO federal income taxes surely has my admiration for the height of cleverness! I wish I had it!

Floyd

John Stiles · « **Reply #19 on:** November 24, 2011, 05:51:57 AM »

Quote from: Randy Powell on November 20, 2011, 01:10:53 PM

Look guys, I was just pointing out that if kids aren't building or interested in planes, mechanics, structure, whatever, where will companies find engineers, designers or related fields?

Sure but these days, with all the Constitution changing political-correctness....most parents just bury their heads in the sand and forget about it. My favorite saying is this: .......bring your children up teaching them the right way to go, and they won't stray from it........

Wayne Collier · « **Reply #20 on:** November 24, 2011, 03:26:03 PM »

Quote from: GGeezer on November 23, 2011, 09:04:42 PM

Hi Dan,
Although I agree with many of the points in this thread, I'm not sure I totally agree with you. There is a healthy "Tuner" movement out there in that the young guys are working on compact cars, unfortunately, mostly Foreign not American. Whether this motivates them to enter the automotive industry, I'm not sure.
Our generation may also be to blame. Parents nowadays just buy their kids new cars. In my day, we worked and saved our money to buy a jalopy which we were forced, by lack of cash,to maintain.

Orv.

There's still a good many young folks working on cars. For example, a "Tuner" mechanic doesn't just recurve a distributer with vacum cans and weights. He adapts software to acheive optimum spark advance at any RPM under any load at any manifold pressure at any ambient temperature using real time data from multiple sensors. He no longer sets the mixture on a carburator, he programs the multi-port injection to deliver an optimum dose of fuel to each cylinder at the optimum moment; etc.