Darrell Marmion

Liaison Engineer

B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington

Darrell was raised on a farm just outside of Yakima, Washington and quickly learned the meaning of hard work and how to use his imagination to solve technical problems with minimal resources.  He had to create new tools or repair equipment with the materials his family had.

Darrell's formal education started at Washington State University where he initially pursued business because he thought it would be easy to get a business degree. After realizing it wouldn't be so easy, he switched to his true passion, mathematics and engineering, and graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Darrell received job offers from three companies at graduation:  Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Rocketdyne.

Darrell accepted the position at Boeing as an engineer performing analysis for fuel systems on the NASA High Speed Commercial Transport program.  He thought it would be a great job because the work was analytical but after a year Darrell began to consider other areas of engineering.

The turning point for Darrell occurred when he took a tour of the Boeing 757 factory in Renton.  He struck up a conversation with an engineer working on landing gear.  He helped the engineer find the problem area and discussed ways to fix it.  At that point, Darrell realized that he had found his dream job - a Liaison Engineer - a career where he could use his technical training and experience to solve issues on the factory floor.  Two months later he transferred to the Boeing 747-400 program.

Twenty-one years later, Darrell is solving technical problems on aircraft.  But what has changed over the years is the scope of the work - from working on one hydraulic tube to performing aircraft modification work.  He became one of the lead engineers on the Everett Flight Line responsible for delivering Boeing 747/767/777 airplanes.  Later his work expanded to being the lead engineer responsible for modification projects around the world including freighter conversions in Israel, Alabama, Singapore, China and the biggest of all - the 747 Large Cargo Freighter also known as the "Dream Lifter" in Taiwan.

Speaking of his work, Darrell said, "My career has been extremely rewarding because of the opportunities opened by engineering.  I am currently leading the Boeing 747-8 "Follow the Airplane" Team which is providing Liaison Engineering support for the 747-8 program from design, to supplier fabrication, to factory build, and soon, into flight test."  All these years later, he is still looking forward to more travel and rewarding experiences.