AEDC's Bob Lindeman reflects on a long career

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  ``Science is the study of what Is, Engineering builds what Will Be.''

``The scientist merely explores that which exists, while the engineer creates what has never existed before.''

Theodore Von Kármán, c.a. 1957

From an early age, Bob Lindeman, ATA system engineering lead for the Space Threat Assessment Testbed (STAT), showed an interest in anything electrical, but he also acknowledged his limitations.

"I found out early on I wasn't any good as a technician," he said. "I could think of things -visualize things, but wasn't 'handy.'"

His father, who was an electrician, had the hands-on skills Lindeman lacked, but the older man was intrigued by his son's ability to grasp the big picture and his ability to communicate those engineering concepts to others.

"He was an electrician, so he would take what the engineers would draw up and then he would do the practical side of it," Lindeman said. "He understood what was going on there. He was interested in my relationship with other people and how we worked together to get things done."

Lindeman said, "I liked math and science, I always had a desire to find solutions and fix things and come up with different ways to do things."

With a career spanning more than 30 years, much of it at AEDC, Lindeman first came to middle Tennessee and Arnold AFB as an engineer employed with North American Rockwell in 1973.

"They were building a new bomber and so [they] sent me out here to work in third shift, like they do with the new guys in wind tunnels and stuff," he said. "I'd never seen wind tunnels or heard of them before I went to work for them. We tested it in 16T and 16S for almost two years."

The move from southern California to middle Tennessee took some adjusting.
Lindeman recalls thinking, "'This is a culture change here.' Then it was pretty amazing when you find a place like AEDC in middle Tennessee and the people who have been here through the years - really the trailblazers in all fields and my field's instrumentation and controls. So many people have done so much work here to support the aerospace industry, it's just amazing."

Lindeman and his wife liked the area and decided to stay.

Regarding career highlights at AEDC, he said, "The first one was being able to support a wind tunnel test. We had a specialized data system; it was called the analog distortion analyzer.

"The purpose of that was to measure the inlet distortion going into the engines on the B-1 bomber - to determine stall margins and things they do with engines I don't know anything about. But the instrumentation was really interesting with specialized Kulites.

"We built our own analog computer that did the calculations. Today you could do it with your iPhone, but this was using op (operational) amplifiers and building up circuit boards and filters. The programming was done by changing the wiring on the back frame - literally changing the wiring. It was for a propulsion test, it was done in the wind tunnel."

A Kulite is a specialized high response pressure transducer that measures dynamic pressures and is very small. It is based on strain gauge technology.

"You could get 40 of those per inlet and make a lot of measurements and with relatively minor intrusions into the airflow," he said.

Lindeman enjoyed working with what was then state-of-the-art technology, but mostly, it
was the challenge of working autonomously and being able to influence the course of a test.

"Just being responsible to maintain and make changes [while working with and supervising] 20 engineers was pretty awesome," he said. "My boss was 2,000 miles away. You learn a lot, get a lot of responsibility early on - that was a great experience."

Keith Holt, AEDC's STAT program manager, has known Lindeman for at least 25 years.

"Bob and I have both run and been involved in these major programs, building these major facilities for most of our career out here," Holt said. "He is, in my opinion, the best at what he does. He definitely knows system engineering better than anyone else out here. That's why he's such a good fit for the role that he's in now.

"This [STAT] is a big program that we want to make sure the system engineering is done correctly. Bob is also the lead for integration and testing. He's been involved with the systems engineering processes at AEDC for 25 years and in writing processes and procedures."

Holt said the right man is overseeing the system engineering for the project.

"Bob's leadership in this program (STAT) has been invaluable at helping us to be as successful as we are," he said. "It's more automated than anything we've built at AEDC, it really is a turn it on and walk away from it facility. I always tell people this is the most Dr. Frankenstein thing we've ever built out here; there's not another facility like this in the world.

Regarding who would want to conduct testing in STAT, Lindeman said, "Anybody who uses satellites or puts things into space - this could be of use for them."

Lindeman, the current International Society of Automation (ISA) president and a longtime ISA member, has promoted engineering and science to young people for years.

When he wants a break from work, Lindeman and his wife enjoy attending concerts.

"I like the old classic rock and roll," he said. "My wife and I have made several trips, seen lots of the old timers. My very favorite is Jimmy Buffet.

"We've [also] seen John Fogarty, Bob Seger and [recently] saw Paul McCartney up in Nashville at the Bridgestone - that was a great show. We keep adding them up, Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks and we're going to see the Moody Blues in March."

However, there is another side to Lindeman that few know about.

"I mess around with the guitar some, just for enjoyment," he said. "I was about 10 - 12 years old and took lessons.

"I have an acoustic guitar, but I just got a new Fender Telecaster and I have fun with it. And I've got an amplifier that's really cool. It's really a computer, so, you can program different types of sounds. You can make it sound like a classic vintage amplifier with the right reverb and echoes and all sorts of stuff."

Lindeman plays the guitar for one simple reason.

"It's fun," he said.