It has been set up to perform this menial duty for almost a week—no fewer than 28,000 times, day and night. Not even a bag of peanuts will do for it.
The head of engineering at Thompson Aero Seating in Banbridge, Gerald King, adds, “We can measure the force that the robot’s having to apply to that.” Is it getting higher? which implies increased turbulence.
Thompson manufactures the pricey first-class and business-class seats that are typically found at the front of passenger airplanes. These seats have plenty of legroom, built-in entertainment systems, and their own enclosures that simulate privacy.
The business has a number of devices for evaluating the durability and security of these seats. including a brand-new £7.5 million facility that debuted in the fall of last year and houses crash test dummies that are fastened to seats and propelled down a brief track at astonishing speeds.
The goal is to make sure that both the passenger and the seat could withstand a brief exposure to 16 g’s. On the island of Ireland, it is the sole facility of its kind.
It may surprise you to learn that Northern Ireland produces less than one-third of all airplane seats worldwide, according to the economic development organization Invest NI.