UMTravels

For some reason Joe was up at 4:30…. For me, it was more like 9:30. He got in some billable hours, I didn’t.

A late breakfast (or more like a brunch) of steak and eggs, some of the leftover potatoes, and some toast as we contemplate the day ahead, a six hour aviation geek fest tour of the Future of Flight Museum and a factory floor tour of the Boeing facility in Everett seeing the 747, 767, 777 and 787 assembly lines.

So off to Everett we go… and traffic is a slog.

Meet and greet the other geeks – and they truly put us to shame in the question and answer period after the “history of Boeing from 1970 on” lecture by Boeing Historian. Yikes.

From there it was wander around a bit, then into the theatre for the canned general tour film before boarding a bus for the VIP Factory Tour. The regular tour takes you up on a catwalk over the 777, 787 lines, but our was winding our way through the plant, and at one point we are up almost inside two halves of a 777. Interesting fact: You could put Disneyland inside the massive hanger and still have a couple of acres left over.

After the walking tour it was a drive down the flight line of planes waiting for delivery – and a lot of them were 787’s and the 747-8 which await certification. Mid-first quarter 2011 to have those things start rolling out to the airlines.

Back at the Future of Flight it was time for beer and pizza – I’m not a beer fan, but what the hell, there wasn’t any wine.

Joe got this great shot of me at the controls of a 727 formerly owned by the Canucks hockey team:

Luckily the engines and most of the plane were missing so I wasn’t going anywhere.

All and all, not a bad way to spent $20…. Since the museum entrance and regular tour was $15.50, they gave us three different 787 lapel pins, safety glasses, pizza and beer.

Then home to pack for Portland and Hawaii.

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