Third and fourth year level 8 Mechanical Engineering students from Dundalk Institute of Technology recently took a trip to Thompson Aero Seating’s Engineering Centre in Banbridge. The company designs and manufactures premium airline seating and its Engineering Centre includes a world-class dynamic test facility which allows their engineers to reproduce conditions of a plane crash. DkIT staff and students were lucky enough to be able to view the dynamic test facility and see a crash simulated as part of their visit.

The educational trip included a tour of the Engineering Centre where students met with a number of engineers working in Thompson Aero Seating and they were able to test out some of the airline seats designed and manufactured in the facility. A design exercise was also undertaken by the students during the visit where they were asked to solve a real-world problem encountered by engineers working in Thompson Aero Seating. The visit provided the students with a great opportunity to apply what they are learning in the classroom in a realistic situation.