I’m in Seattle with Qantas and Boeing, here to watch the Flying Kangaroo take possession of the 175th narrow-body or single-aisle jet to join the fleet since the first 707 came to Australia in the 1970s, and this morning we had a guided tour around the famous aircraft manufacture’s iconic Everett factory.
Boeing builds the wide-body or double-aisle aircraft at Everett – 747s, 777s, 787s and a few special 767s for the military – and during my visit I got to wander across the factory floor and around planes that were in various stages of completion.
The Everett facility is the largest building in the world by volume – more than 32,000 staff work in a structure that occupies 40ha with 13 million cubic metres of space under the enormous roof – and every one of the doors on either side of the factory is as big as an America football field.
Just to put that size into perspective Disneyland could fit inside the building, so could 911 basketball courts.
Just think about the last time you caught a Virgin Blue flight, and walked across the tarmac to climb the back stairs to find you seat in the back half of the plane – remember how big the aircraft looked when you were walking beside the wing?
Now consider the fact that Virgin flies planes that are considerable smaller than those built at the Everett factory, and then think that there are dozens of aircraft in that building being prepared for flight.
That is one massive structure.
We started our walking tour by strolling across the section of factory where the brand new 747-800 Intercontinental is being built.
The 747-800 – the big brother of the Jumbos that Qantas on its international routes – is Boeing’s answer to the Airbus A380, and is longer to accommodate the extra passengers airlines need to make routes profitable.
The planes you see in the photographs are covered in a green film that protects the skin while the aircraft is in the factory, and it’s washed off before the plane rolls into the paint shop to have a particular airline’s corporate colours applied.
Next we walked through the bay where the 777s are put together.
Boeing staffers can produce this sleek aircraft in just 18 days and they start with the front and back sections sitting side-by-side, join the pieces in the back corner of the bay once the tail has been put in place and all the wiring threaded through the fuselage, and then move it towards the doors as it gets closer to being finished.
Our next vantage point was on an observation platform between the 777 and 787 bays where we could get an elevated view of the operation.
The 787 Dreamliner is the hottest thing in commercial aviation at the moment, so it was a treat to see this part of the factory.
Boeing is preparing to deliver its first 787 Dreamliner in just a few days – the first of this revolutionary aircraft will be delivered to Japanese airline ANA a week after our Seattle visit – and we watched as Boeing staff worked on the 43rd, 44th, 45th and 46th planes to roll through the factory.
The Dreamliner is going to change the way we travel, or at least the way we feel after a long-haul journey with a number of features included that will reduce the effect that extended flights have on the body, and it was fascinating to see this new aircraft coming to life in the Everett factory.
The plane that's sitting closest to the doors is almost finished, and a banner on the side of the fuselage told me it was going to join the China Southern fleet.
Qantas has an order for 100 Dreamliners, but a delay in production means we won’t get our first 787 for a couple more years and it will probably join the Jetstar fleet and only come across to the Flying Kangaroo once the last 767 is retired.
From this high spot I also got a better view of the 777 line and could see the two halves sitting together, the sling that holds the parts as they are joined, and the planes that were almost ready to fly.
From this high spot I also got a better view of the 777 line and could see the two halves sitting together, the sling that holds the parts as they are joined, and the planes that were almost ready to fly.
