Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1441485
JANUARY 2022 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 43 were used more oen than you might expect. e crew on our plane was able to crank down the landing gear manually without too much difficulty, allowing us to land normally. And with the time it took to crank the wheels down, plus the need to burn off some fuel for safety's sake, our trip extended much longer than the half hour it was originally scheduled for. As you can guess, this didn't generate any complaints from me. In fact, I tried to get the flight engi- neer to let me have a go at cranking the gear down myself so I could claim partial credit for "landing" the plane. Sadly, he flatly denied my request, mumbling something about insurance liability or some such nonsense. Pity. And with that our trip was all but over except for one last detail. You see, without a func- tional electrical system, the warning bell we were told to listen for didn't ring as it was sup- posed to when it was time to strap in for land- ing. A couple of us were still in the nose of the plane wondering why the airport was getting so big in the window when the crew realized we didn't know that the Liberty Belle was on its final approach for landing. Once they told us to run back to our seats (which isn't easy in that plane), we barely had enough time to buckle up before the wheels plopped safely back down onto Hillsboro's runway. With sev- eral fire trucks following us "just in case," we taxied to our parking spot where the engines were finally shut down and our trip was safely concluded. And although some of my fellow passengers were experiencing different levels of anxiety due to our in-flight emergency, I must confess that I had the time of my life. Not every PCB design we lay out will play a role in what could become an in-flight emer- gency. However, as more and more designs are increasing their voltage requirements, the consequences of circuit board failures due to how their high-voltage circuits are laid out can have a serious impact. We all need to put as much effort into understanding how to design for high-voltage as we do for high-speed, ana- log, RF, or any other circuitry types. Aer all, learning new types of PCB technology is what makes our jobs interesting, and the way things are going, our jobs look like they are going to be interesting for a long, long time. Until next time my friends, keep on designing. DESIGN007 Tim Haag writes technical, thought-leadership content for First Page Sage on his longtime career as a PCB designer and EDA technologist. To read past columns or contact Haag, click here. Hillsboro Oregon, from the bombardier's perspective in the Belle. I… just… couldn't… flip… that… switch.