Our final day in Seattle was unofficially declared to be “airplane day,” which we celebrated with visits to the Museum of Flight and the Boeing factory in Everett. (More photos on Flickr.)
The Museum of Flight turned out to be much larger than we expected, and we could have easily spent the whole day there. We ran out of time to see the Warbird wing, and skipped the space display as well — we’ll put those on the list for our next visit. As it was, we made the best of our limited time and saw quite a few cool things. The highlight was the outdoor “airpark” that is home to the last Concorde, one of the first jet Air Force One planes (Air Force One is not a single plane, rather it’s the name assigned to whichever plane is carrying the President), the first-ever 737, the first-ever 747, and a 727. The Concorde and Air Force One were both open to visitors so we got to walk through them! The Concorde was surprisingly dull inside — it looks just like a normal airplane, except even more cramped. Sure, there were luxurious leather seats and a cool mach meter that showed passengers how fast they were going, but I guess I was expecting caviar or something. 🙂
Air Force One was cooler. It was a Boeing 707 used in the 60s and 70s by Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, and the interior decor reflected the style of the years it was in service. It was cool to see where seats were taken out to add a typewriter, copier, meeting table, presidential stateroom, communications center, and more. There was a pipe rack that belonged to Kennedy, and a hat rack under the desk that held Johnson’s cowboy hat.
We walked around the first production 737 which is actually on loan from NASA Langley, and then gawked at the size of the 747 (serial number 1) used for extensive testing over the years. I wish it had been open — I’ve always wanted to see the upper deck of a 747.
Though we skipped the space exhibit in the interest of time, I did make a pass through the area long enough to see this 60s-era board game that I totally need for my office, the Rendezvous Guidance and Procedures group. They actually had a large exhibit dedicated to rendezvous and Pete Conrad (not sure why, he must be from that area) and that’s the one exhibit I regret not examining more closely.
Alas, we had to leave the museum because we needed to be in Everett in time for the 3:00 Boeing factory tour! Everett is home to the largest building in the world by volume — the building that houses the assembly lines for the Boeing 747, 767, 777 and new 787 “Dreamliner.” Yep, all the big boys. They didn’t allow photos (in fact, they didn’t even let you carry a purse or any personal items on the tour) so unfortunately I can’t really share photos, but it was pretty cool. We saw the assembly lines for the 777 and 787.
The 787 “Dreamliner” is a new plane that was just rolled out for the first time in July. It hasn’t flown yet, and we saw the first two planes still on the assembly line. Once up and running, they expect to assemble each 787 in only 3 days, since all of the components come pre-assembled from other factories and locations and the Everett plant simply has to put them together like Legos. The first 787 is going to All Nippon Airways, while the second is designated for structural testing. It’s interesting that the first plane will be going into service while the second plane will be used for testing. I guess they’re pretty confident that the plane is well-designed! The plane has a lot of composite material used in construction, making the structure strong enough that they can actually increase cabin pressure from the equivalent of 8000 feet to 6000 feet, while also including bigger windows. The windows don’t have pull-down shades — instead, you touch the window and it magically darkens. You can buy one — without engines and without any interior furnishing — for the bargain cost of ~$150 million, but the earliest delivery you can expect is 2016 since they already have more than 700 orders to fill.
We finally headed back towards Seattle and Auburn and met Jen and Boyfriend for dinner at (ironically enough) a Mexican restaurant. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast and they could seat us immediately, so that’s where we went!
Our flight on Monday left at 11:00 so we didn’t have time to do anything that morning but play a few games on Katie and Joel’s Wii. All in all we had a great (and very busy!) vacation and it was nice to get out of town for a while. It might be rainy and it might be cold, but Seattle is somewhere I think I could live…
