Boeing ecoDemonstrator integration engineer Erin Greenleaf (left) as a Horizon Airlines flight attendant with former Horizon coworker Chrishana Gates in 1999. (second photo) Greenleaf presenting on the ecoDemonstrator program at Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany in 2024. (via Erin Greenleaf @ Boeing)
Boeing ecoDemonstrator integration engineer Erin Greenleaf has worked at the company for 16 years, but her decision to pursue an aviation career started long before that.
“In grade school, I loved math and science, and I was fascinated by airplanes. The part of our family vacations I looked forward to most was the flight. I always wanted the window seat so I could watch the wings in action,” she said.
Her early interest first led her to work as a Horizon Airlines flight attendant. But her fascination with physics and how airplanes fly landed her back in school for engineering, and then eventually to Boeing.
“I’ve spent much of my engineering career working in Interiors and Payloads at Boeing, and my perspective as a former flight attendant has always been at the heart of my work,” Greenleaf said. “I’m passionate about cabin innovation that can improve how flight crews interact with the aircraft interior.”
Greenleaf is one of 30 Boeing engineers who supported the recent ecoDemonstrator testing of advanced flight deck communications with a United Airlines 737-8. She worked alongside platform lead Rami Slim and acting manager Justin Ford. The ecoDemonstrator program, part of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Product Development, and a broad team of collaborators conducted tests to evaluate modernized avionics that improve how real-time flight data is shared between pilots, air traffic controllers and airline operations teams.
Erin Greenleaf (front) with Rami Slim and Justin Ford (left to right in back) on board the 2025 ecoDemonstrator Explorer during testing. (via Erin Greenleaf © Boeing)
Ford, Slim, and Greenleaf worked across Boeing’s engineering and flight test teams to ensure Boeing had engineering and parts ready for the flight test while also working closely with the test partner, United Airlines, to help prepare the test airplane and flight crew. Like Greenleaf, Ford and Slim point to an early interest in science and airplanes that led them to work at Boeing.
“My dad was a commercial airline pilot, and I was always kind of a math nerd when I was a kid,” Ford said. “When I was ten years old, I could identify all the airplanes in my dad’s fleet, just by engine and tail configuration. Fast forward to picking a college major and employer, aerospace and Boeing were a natural fit.”
“Airplanes are very complicated and challenging machines to work with,” Slim said. “Aerodynamics and fluid dynamics were particularly attractive to me. Now, I get to help figure out how to get a technology out of a lab and into a flight test environment, collect the data to get back to the engineers to support our future products.”
Engineering & Technology Innovation technical fellow Greg Saccone led this project from its beginning 12 years ago through the technical validation in these flight tests. His father was in the Air Force, so Saccone also grew up around airplanes and was always interested in electronics. Years later, as principal investigator for testing the advanced avionics, Saccone collaborated with industry partners and government agencies around the world to develop the system architecture and data standards that have culminated in this international flight test.
“To take something from initial concept into the standardization process and to see it actually flying is pretty complicated,” Saccone said. “It is really rewarding.”
Greg Saccone (right front) participating in ground tests with software engineer Ryan Hale (left) and BCA cyber security engineer Brandon Nepute. (photo Paul Weatherman © Boeing)
A large contingent of the team supporting the Houston-based flight tests were from Boeing Test & Evaluation. Mike Torres and Mike McIntyre served as flight test directors and made sure the team safely executed the mission requirements and test conditions.
“I love my job,” Torres said. “It’s a great opportunity to learn new technologies coming to the industry – like avionics or propulsion. I was in Civil Air Patrol in high school, then I joined the Air Force for more than seven years where I got my master’s degree in electrical engineering.”
McIntyre recalled a moment at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University: “A Boeing representative walks into class and I knew right then and there that I was going to work at Boeing. As an engineer, you can do anything here – I work on different products and systems, flight decks, military and commercial aircraft. I travel the country and the world.”
Mike Torres (sitting) and Mike McIntyre (podium) leading test team during a flight briefing. (photo Paul Weatherman © Boeing)
Perhaps most rewarding is seeing their enthusiasm pass on to a younger generation. Greenleaf says her 19-year-old son just completed his first solo flight.
Greenleaf’s son, Koen Greenleaf, during his first discovery flight (via Erin Greenleaf © Boeing)
“I’m extremely proud that my son is studying to become a commercial pilot and may one day fly Boeing airplanes. I know first-hand how challenging the work environment can be,” Greenleaf said. “So, my commitment to ensuring that our products are safe is stronger than ever, not only for passengers, but for the crew members that operate these airplanes every day.”
By Elisa Hahn