NASA’s The Quiet Crew | Don Durston

In this episode of The Quiet Crew, you’ll learn how a flight over Disneyland inspired Don Durston's fascination with airplanes. Don is the Sonic Boom Wind-Tunnel Testing Lead for the agency’s Low Boom Flight Demonstrator project. He is part of the crew on a mission to transform aviation as NASA and communities work together to verify that the X-59’s quiet, supersonic technologies will allow airliners to fly faster over land, cutting passenger travel time in half without disturbing people on the ground.

What is said in the film

I'm don durston I do sonic boom wind-tunnel testing for the X59 when we run these tests we hope to measure a sonic thump instead of a loud sonic boom I lead the group of researchers that are involved with the sonic boom wind-tunnel testing but I would never plan a test just on my own to run a wind tunnel test it takes not just the researchers who bring the model to the tunnel but the whole tunnel operations crew it's just such a big team effort I feel like a small cog in this giant wheel of progress in doing wind-tunnel testing what got me into actually flying is that I just enjoyed the experience of being up in the third dimension getting off the ground being free to fly the airplane around wherever you want see whatever you want from the air I grew up in southern California I think from the first time I looked up in the sky and saw an airplane and realized that there was a person flying that I said I have to do that I want to fly airplanes for my seventh birthday I told my dad I don't care about any of the presents I just wanted the airplane ride I want to feel the controls of an airplane so we did that we went for a half hour flight over Disneyland and back as I was growing up we heard lots of fighter airplanes pass overhead that were going supersonic and I heard sonic booms from them so I got very excited about that and I wanted to study airplanes and learn how they fly so I'm a one-fourth owner of Cessna 182 we formed a small flying club and it's just the four of us I have taken my family up in my airplane a number of times I took the youngest son and his wife up to the wine country to Napa and their friends are so impressed that instead of driving there they got to ride in a private airplane to get there when I see the X-59 take to the skies for the first time that is going to be a really exciting day for me I can't wait for that day and I'm not retiring until I see that you

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