Aviation Study Tour Blog

As we woke up to a beautiful crisp clear morning in Seattle (which doesn't happen very often), we have been told this would be our first day at Boeing. We were then bussed out to the Everett Centre, which is where the 747, 767, 777 and 787 are being produced in the biggest building in the World, by volume.

The facility was absolutely massive, around 100 acres (That was just inside!) Our awesome tour leader Melodie accompanied by our Boeing escort Allan, showed us the classic way 747's are made, compared to the new 'pulse/moving' line for the 787. We were able to view 787 #1, which was a pretty rare sight. A 747 is produced in 4 months and a 787 in just three days.

We then headed off to the 787 gallery just down the road. This is where airlines come and ?fit out? their new aircraft, with seats, galleys, crew rest, lighting, interior fittings, appliances, safety equipment and IFE. Mark showed us around his facility and explained the complexities of what happens when it comes to deciding how your aircraft will look. Here we had the chance to experience the 787 up close and personal. We were told the choices available to customers had been cut right down, to enable Boeing to reduce costs incurred by the supplier and Boeing itself. This insures each 787 is quite similar in the way it is setup, enabling maintenance and support to be conducted much easier.

By this time we were all very tired and quite eager to get home, but decided to head to the mall and ate at our favourite place called the Cheesecake Factory (WE LOVE IT!) We made friends with a lot of the staff, and probably nearly got them all fired J We have already had an amazing time!

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