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| By Carmelo Turdo |
The Aero Experience is very fortunate to work with many talented aviation and aerospace professionals, and our friend Marie Curia is an excellent example. You may recognize her as a student mentor for the Wings of Hope SOAR Into STEM program from our recent 2025 Spring Session series of posts. Her contributions to this aviation STEM program are invaluable as she guides the local high school students through their aeronautics projects and group activities. She brings a wealth of knowledge and real-world experience to SOAR Into STEM that compliments the contributions of the volunteers who make the program possible.
Marie Curia's contributions to the aerospace industry are also quite impressive. Along with earning her Private Pilot Certificate, she will be completing her Master's Degree in Aeronautics (Aviation Safety) in May and has been accepted into the Ph.D. in Aviation Program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. After just over a year at the Boeing Company in St. Louis, she has been promoted to Level Two System Safety Engineer for the F-15 Program. She works with Roland Diaz, F-15 Lead System Safety Engineer at the Boeing Company, who serves as a guest speaker one week of each SOAR Into STEM session. Safety Engineering is relevant to the development of aircraft, their components, weapons and support assets that may affect operations under all known environments. The key is to enhance the effectiveness and survivability of the aircraft and crew while preserving mission capabilities. The safety and reliability records of Boeing fighter aircraft over the decades proves the value of this sector of aeronautical engineering.
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| Boeing Company photo via Marie Curia |
Marie Curia recently participated in the human factors design process for the new Boeing T-7A Red Hawk jet trainer cockpit. She answered a request to join a representative sample pool based on height, weight, age, sex and ethnicity to provide crew measurement data. Curia describes the experience:
I had an opportunity at work with the T-7 Human Factors Team to be a part of their anthropometric evaluation in an active jet! The day of [the evaluation] I was in athletic wear, and they started off taking my measurements such as my arm, leg, core, hand, wrist, finger, and total body lengths. After my measurements, I was fitted into a flight suit and harness. From there I loaded into the pilot seat, buckled in, and adjusted the rudder pedals to my desired length. Then we started the test with the harness in the locked position, and I would reach for different items in and out of the cockpit and they had a tool which would measure how far I could reach. The tool would essentially build a 3D model of arm length in the cockpit. There was also a photographer who was taking pictures of every movement as well. Then we did the same test with the harness in the unlocked position. As you can see in the photos, I had a flight helmet on and off. They wanted to see the seat height range in comparison with the canopy. We then repeated the same test in the back seat.
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Boeing Company photo via Marie Curia |
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| Boeing Company photo via Marie Curia |
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| Boeing Company photo via Marie Curia |
The Aero Experience thanks Marie Curia for sharing this special inside look into the engineering behind the world's leading tactical military aircraft made here in St. Louis at the Boeing Company. Flight testing continues as four additional pre-production Red Hawk jets are added to the test fleet this year. Production is slated to begin in fiscal year 2026.
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| Boeing Company photo |
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