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I know I already posted about the Boeing Tour, but here's something I wrote up for Airliners.net, but can't post because their forum tries to be smart, and fucks it up too much..
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So this will be a trip report with a difference. I didn't actually fly anywhere, but I got to see a whole bunch of aircraft. For the sake of interest, let's say it's a journey from CYVR to KPAE, KBFI and KPDX. By car.
Every day, the Future of Flight Museum puts on tours of the Boeing factory, walking through high level galleries and observing construction down below. I'm sure many of you have been on it, and it's very interesting. I've done it twice, once in 1999, which almost ended very unplesantly due to a high speed car chase we came across as we were leaving the factory, and again in 2009, which was substantially more unremarkable.
Once a year though, they put on a special tour, called the Aviation Geek Fest. This geek fest however, includes a tour with a difference.. it's actually walking through the factory floor.
While my wife and I live within spitting distance of CYVR, we had a fair few diverse places we wanted to go in the Pacific North West, so driving was the most convenient option. For the sake of demonstration, this photo was taken from our balcony.
So, having decided to drive, we packed up our mighty 2005 Toyota Prius, and started heading south at 9AM, for a 1:30PM rendezvous at KPAE. On a saturday morning, the Peace Arch (I-5) Border Crossing into the US generally takes about 2 hours, and that would be pushing things, so we went to the Pacific Highway (SR-543) crossing instead, which only took us 60 minutes of sitting in a lineup to get to the actual frontier. But my wife and I are Australian, and hadn't been down since April, so we can't just drive straight through, we have to go visit US ICE and get a paper entry permit. Which takes about 45 minutes. So, 1 hour and 45 minutes later, we had moved about 500 metres, and were on our way.
We made our rendezvous time at KPAE with about 15 minutes to spare, and headed into one of the function rooms at The Future of Flight. We had a greeting from the director of The Future of Flight, and David Barker Brown from AirlineReporter.com, who had helped organise it. Then we were treated to a session by Mike Lombardi, Boeing's official historian, about Boeing from 1970 to today. Mike's session was great, he talked about how Boeing got through the 1970s by diversifying, building boats and mass public transportation systems, as well as development of their product lines through that time.
After Mike's talk, we had about 15 minutes wandering around the stratodeck, taking photos of the flightline. Which is currently pretty full, with 787s and 747-8f's, as well as the general pre-delivery aircraft, and apparently some other aircraft waiting for seats (thanks Koito!)
At the appointed time, we headed to the FoF cinema to watch the standard video about Captain Vancouver's 14 month journey to seek settlement with Spain over the loss of some British ships, "or in other words, it was a business trip", followed by a short Q&A with the tour leader while our bus arrived. We then hopped on the bus, and off to the factory.
Because this was a factory floor tour, we had a brief safety induction to begin, and were issued safety glasses and confidently informed that "no-one dies here today". Which made me feel a lot better...Unfortunately it was still a no-cameras or electronic devices tour, but Boeing did have someone with a camera there, so we did get some photos taken of us during it.
We got to do a walk through of what seemed like the whole factory (seriously, it took well over an hour..) and saw probably 30 aircraft in various stages of production, including:
The first 747-8i
The 787 Static Test Article
And a 777 nearing completion
And many, many more. After the time in the factory, we headed to the flightline for a tour around all the aircraft in pre-delivery. A great cheer was let out when this was announced. We saw all of the "completed" 747-8fs waiting for certification and engines, lots of 777s and a few 787s.
Then, sadly, the tour had to end. If you've ever been on the tour, you'll remember their parting comment about "what we say here, it's it's not Boeing.. I'm not going". This was no different.
My wife and I spent the night at one of the local hotels (really great rates compared to downtown Seattle!) before heading down to Federal Way, WA. I dropped her off, and then headed back to the Museum of Flight, at KBFI. While Boeing has a factory (or two or three..) there, there are no tours, but the Museum is still well worth a visit. It was a rainy PNW day, so no photos from that visit of the airpark, with the first 747, first 737, A Super Constellation and a former Air Force One KC-135, but I did get to see a 787 flight test flight arriving in..
Sadly I mis-judged where it would land/taxi, so didn't have my long lens on at the time.
It was a great trip!
--
So this will be a trip report with a difference. I didn't actually fly anywhere, but I got to see a whole bunch of aircraft. For the sake of interest, let's say it's a journey from CYVR to KPAE, KBFI and KPDX. By car.
Every day, the Future of Flight Museum puts on tours of the Boeing factory, walking through high level galleries and observing construction down below. I'm sure many of you have been on it, and it's very interesting. I've done it twice, once in 1999, which almost ended very unplesantly due to a high speed car chase we came across as we were leaving the factory, and again in 2009, which was substantially more unremarkable.
Once a year though, they put on a special tour, called the Aviation Geek Fest. This geek fest however, includes a tour with a difference.. it's actually walking through the factory floor.
While my wife and I live within spitting distance of CYVR, we had a fair few diverse places we wanted to go in the Pacific North West, so driving was the most convenient option. For the sake of demonstration, this photo was taken from our balcony.
So, having decided to drive, we packed up our mighty 2005 Toyota Prius, and started heading south at 9AM, for a 1:30PM rendezvous at KPAE. On a saturday morning, the Peace Arch (I-5) Border Crossing into the US generally takes about 2 hours, and that would be pushing things, so we went to the Pacific Highway (SR-543) crossing instead, which only took us 60 minutes of sitting in a lineup to get to the actual frontier. But my wife and I are Australian, and hadn't been down since April, so we can't just drive straight through, we have to go visit US ICE and get a paper entry permit. Which takes about 45 minutes. So, 1 hour and 45 minutes later, we had moved about 500 metres, and were on our way.
We made our rendezvous time at KPAE with about 15 minutes to spare, and headed into one of the function rooms at The Future of Flight. We had a greeting from the director of The Future of Flight, and David Barker Brown from AirlineReporter.com, who had helped organise it. Then we were treated to a session by Mike Lombardi, Boeing's official historian, about Boeing from 1970 to today. Mike's session was great, he talked about how Boeing got through the 1970s by diversifying, building boats and mass public transportation systems, as well as development of their product lines through that time.
After Mike's talk, we had about 15 minutes wandering around the stratodeck, taking photos of the flightline. Which is currently pretty full, with 787s and 747-8f's, as well as the general pre-delivery aircraft, and apparently some other aircraft waiting for seats (thanks Koito!)
At the appointed time, we headed to the FoF cinema to watch the standard video about Captain Vancouver's 14 month journey to seek settlement with Spain over the loss of some British ships, "or in other words, it was a business trip", followed by a short Q&A with the tour leader while our bus arrived. We then hopped on the bus, and off to the factory.
Because this was a factory floor tour, we had a brief safety induction to begin, and were issued safety glasses and confidently informed that "no-one dies here today". Which made me feel a lot better...Unfortunately it was still a no-cameras or electronic devices tour, but Boeing did have someone with a camera there, so we did get some photos taken of us during it.
We got to do a walk through of what seemed like the whole factory (seriously, it took well over an hour..) and saw probably 30 aircraft in various stages of production, including:
The first 747-8i
The 787 Static Test Article
And a 777 nearing completion
And many, many more. After the time in the factory, we headed to the flightline for a tour around all the aircraft in pre-delivery. A great cheer was let out when this was announced. We saw all of the "completed" 747-8fs waiting for certification and engines, lots of 777s and a few 787s.
Then, sadly, the tour had to end. If you've ever been on the tour, you'll remember their parting comment about "what we say here, it's it's not Boeing.. I'm not going". This was no different.
My wife and I spent the night at one of the local hotels (really great rates compared to downtown Seattle!) before heading down to Federal Way, WA. I dropped her off, and then headed back to the Museum of Flight, at KBFI. While Boeing has a factory (or two or three..) there, there are no tours, but the Museum is still well worth a visit. It was a rainy PNW day, so no photos from that visit of the airpark, with the first 747, first 737, A Super Constellation and a former Air Force One KC-135, but I did get to see a 787 flight test flight arriving in..
Sadly I mis-judged where it would land/taxi, so didn't have my long lens on at the time.
It was a great trip!