Večernje novosti – From Boeing into SMATSA

Upon achieving his American dream, Nenad Bjelogrlić, 33 year old Belgrade citizen, returned to his native country Serbia.

Večernje novosti – From Boeing into SMATSA

14.07.2013

T. SPALEVIĆ | 14th July 2013. 12:05 |

Upon achieving his American dream, Nenad Bjelogrlić, 33 year old Belgrade citizen, returned to his native country Serbia.

Why on earth have you returned to Serbia? This question has been haunting Nenad Bjelogrlić, 33 year old air engineer, for more than a month, from the first moment when he came back to Belgrade, his native place. He managed to accomplish his American dream and now he lives like other Serbian people. His two year old daughter is extremely happy since she spends time with her parents, with her kindergarten coevals, as well as with her grandfather, grandmother, family, enjoying their hugs and time spent together.

Bjelogrlić “flew” from Boeing to Seattle, leading world aircraft manufacturer, to Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services SMATSA Llc who is European leader in air traffic safety. But “Boeing” didn’t give up of him, they told him that he should only call, at any time, day or night, and he will get a job.

These are the answers to the set questions. And his goal is to learn more about what his colleagues “from the other side of the wire” are doing, as well as to contribute to further SMATSA Llc success with his knowledge and experience. He already got his first task – application of the new technologies in pilots and ATCOs training as well as better distribution of those services on the world market.

– I never had a feeling that I moved from Serbia for good, the idea of returning back to my country had always been present for those 20 years. – Bjelogrlić said. – Furthermore, I used to send my CVs to the Ministry of Diaspora hoping that they would call me to come back, but there was no reply. When my daughter was born, two years ago, this wish to return became even bigger. So I made a contact with SMATSA Llc new management and we reached an agreement. Young and successful people from diaspora are eager to return to their country, believe me, and they only want to have good job and safe and secure living. I noticed that among my friends as well, since they have been calling me constantly, from the moment I arrived in Serbia, asking me about the situation here, about working conditions etc…

SERBIAN ASTRONAUT – MY WISH was to be first Serbian astronaut – said Bjelogrlić.
– My faculty group made an experiment for NASA. We were invited to Huston to fly with zero gravity aircraft which is used for astronauts training. It was the fourth flight in NASA history, that none of the “passengers” vomited. We had that honor to meet the man who was choosing future astronauts. He invited all of them to apply, except me, pointing his finger at me. The problem was my height of 2.07 meters, since the maximum allowed was 1.90 meters. And that was the end of my dream to become an astronaut.

As far as aircraft are concerned it was love at first sight for Bjelogrlić. He can still recall his first flight. It was the flight from Belgrade to Split, with “boing 737-300”, type of the aircraft, which was first delivered to Yugoslav Air transport in Europe.

After that he was fascinated by the “Apollo 13” movie with Tom Hanks in the main role. He got the wish that his future occupation should be flying into space. So he graduated from Minnesota University in aeronautics, astronautics and mechanics. Then he got master degree and enrolled for doctor degree studies. He performed research on turbulence. In the middle of his doctors study he realized that he was leaning more towards physics than aircraft.

He applied for three positions in “Boeing”, so he got three invitations, had three conversations and received three offers. He chose one and moved to Seattle, in the center of one of the biggest aircraft manufacturers.

His first job was – aerodynamics and flying simulation. He was promoted – became the member of avionics design group, producing cockpit displays. Last three years he had been several hundred million worth project team leader. Together with the group of 20 other experts, he developed avionics design for 767-2C.

American Army is satisfied with what has been done so far, so, the first aircraft should be launched next year. Actually, it is commercial aircraft which will be modified into military tanker KC-46. It was not easy to transfer modern cockpit from “boing 787” onto the platform of “767”. But this young team of experts, succeeded in doing that. Bjelogrlićs group was in charge of developing cockpit displays, maintenance systems (meaning mechanics in the cockpit can see on the devices everything that should be done in the aircraft) and aircraft surveillance system.by cameras. This project is currently priority project for the American Army.

– Working for “Boeing” is a great honor and privilege, it is not a company but an institution – Bjelogrlić said. – When people come to “Boeing” they stay there. Everywhere in the company you can see employees offices walls covered with placards for 25, 30, 40 years of employment. They get excellent salary, bonuses, paid extra work, state pension allocations, then, there is also “Boeing” pension. Also, “Boing” gives additional 75 cents on every employee. dollar, into private pension fund, but of course there is a limit to this.

“Boeing” does not regret money when it comes to talented people. My second master degree in business economy was mostly paid by “Boeing”. I was lucky to have the best experts for my mentors. “Boing” gather these talented people into special groups, appointing them at the working positions where they can learn a lot, in order to manage the company later on. Personally I participated in four to five rotations in the company. “Boing” chooses only two lowest level of management from the open competition, and after that, these talented people are monitored, guided, upgraded and, depending of their knowledge and experience, they advance towards top management positions.
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