Designer brings foreign expertise home
Print Edition
DING Wei, who holds a doctorate in composite materials from the University of Birmingham, quit a high-paid job in London to return to China and work on the nation’s domestic passenger aircraft manufacturing project. He calls it his “Chinese Dream.”
The 53-year-old Chinese-British engineer had previously worked for both Airbus and Boeing. He was a senior experimental engineer for tire and landing gear systems on the Airbus 380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft. Before coming to work at the Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), Ding was a senior executive with Dunlop Aircraft Tires Ltd.
“No matter how high the jobs I had abroad, I always felt I was working for others, but now I feel I am working for my country,” said Ding, assistant vice chief designer with COMAC.
The corporation has recruited 110 professionals from overseas, many of whom worked for Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and other major aircraft makers. Their expertise fills a gap in China’s experience in the design and manufacture of narrow-body aircraft.
Ding is now in charge of the tire and landing gear systems on the C919 narrow-body passenger aircraft. He is drawing on his 20 years of study and work in the United Kingdom.
On a wall in his 15-square-meter office is a large diagram of the structure of the A380 superjumbo. When young engineers come to him for consultation, he is happy to explain the diagram to them. A prototype tire he designed for the C919 sits on a nearby bookshelf.
“Aircraft design has always been my special interest, but the industry in Europe is quite mature and lacks challenges for me,” he said.
Small wonder that he was enthusiastic to take the opportunity to work on China’s first domestic passenger aircraft project.
“The new aircraft is exciting because of its challenges,” said Ding, who was born in Harbin in the northeastern Heilongjiang Province. “I am proud to bring to my homeland knowledge that I have gained overseas.”
After resigning from his job as director of research and development at Dunlop Aircraft Tires, Ding flew to Shanghai with his wife in February 2012. On the recommendation of a former Chinese colleague from the UK who was working at COMAC, Ding became a “foreign expert” on the C919 project.
His only regret is having to leave his 21-year-old daughter behind in London.
“I was quite worried about her at that time because she had just graduated and had yet to find a job,” he said.
He said he had real-time online chats with his daughter every night. She supported his decision to return to China.
Ding said he found it a bit difficult at first to get used to environmental and cultural differences upon returning to China. Shanghai’s polluted air, for one. Different communications styles at work, for another. He also said he was surprised at the long hours required of him every day at work.
“But none of these things damped my enthusiasm for the C919 project,” Ding said.
He has been doing research on how to redesign aircraft tires to prevent them from splashing ground water into the engine during takeoffs and landings. He thinks he will be able to come up with a solution.
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