Engineer designed 727, 737, foresaw air travel's growth

John Edward "Jack" Steiner, a Boeing aerospace engineer who recognized the potential for commercial airline travel in the early 1960s and promoted it by designing the company's two best-selling jets, died Tuesday afternoon near his Medina home. He was 85.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office determined yesterday that Mr. Steiner had drowned in Lake Washington. His death was ruled an accident.

"He is recognized as being one of the best airplane designers of history," said Michael Lombardi, Boeing's corporate historian. "That goes beyond his career at Boeing."

Born and raised in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood, Mr. Steiner was best known for designing the Boeing 727, unique in the 1960s because it was a high-performance airplane able to fly in and out on short runways.

Mr. Steiner introduced the triple-slotted flap, a technology on large airplanes that helps improve low-speed handling, allowing the plane to take off and land in shorter distances. The design is still important today.

Mr. Steiner also was the program manager in charge of testing and certification, and on his watch the 727 became an airliner ideal for domestic flights serving medium-sized cities. Commercial jets had begun flying only in the late 1950s, and at the time, the airline industry catered primarily to long, international flights.

Lombardi said the 727 — the first was built in 1963 — made the St. Louis-to-Los Angeles-type routes feasible and affordable. Boeing sold 1,832 727s between 1963 and 1984, making it the second-best-selling commercial jetliner of all time.

No. 1 is the more modern 737, which has sold about 5,000 units. Mr. Steiner was the chief engineer on that project as well.

With the success of the 727, Mr. Steiner recognized that Boeing could build a family of jets, with different kinds of planes fulfilling different market needs: long intercontinental flights, short domestic flights, cargo transport and everything in between.

"He saw the potential that commercial jets could really expand air travel," Lombardi said, "that people could fly from all over the world and go about anywhere you want in a matter of hours, and it wouldn't be that expensive."

Mr. Steiner's first love was boats. As a child, he built a model sailboat, and during high school he rebuilt an old sailboat named The Rogue.

Mr. Steiner's daughter, Christine Schwager of Whidbey Island, believes the innovations in the aerospace industry of the mid-20th century caught her father's attention.

"He had an active, creative, curious mind," Schwager said. "He liked being involved in important designs. He liked being the head of things, being at the cutting edge of what was going on."

Mr. Steiner graduated from the University of Washington in 1940 and received his master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1941.

He began working for Boeing later that year, and he and his wife were married in 1942.

In 1981, Mr. Steiner was selected as the only industry participant in a White House aeronautical policy study. From 1982 to 1990, he served on the White House Aeronautical Policy Review Committee, part of that time as chairman.

During his career, Mr. Steiner gained a reputation as a workaholic, at one point employing two administrative assistants. Mr. Steiner retired in 1984 as Boeing's vice president in charge of corporate product development.

In retirement, he went salmon fishing in the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia and took his family on extended sailing trips. He also enjoyed beachcombing and inner-tubing.

"He loved learning and reading and discussing important issues, and probably every mealtime, he had something to teach us," Schwager said. "He didn't like small talk."

Mr. Steiner also is survived by sons John E., of Lake Stevens, and George, of Seattle; sister Betty Christensen, of Bellevue; and five grandchildren. His wife, Dorothy, died in January.

A public memorial service is planned for 3 p.m. Monday at the First United Methodist Church, 1934 108th Ave. N.E., Bellevue.

Michael Ko: 206-515-5653 or mko@seattletimes.com