big day for boeing

I often forget that the title of this blog is "From the Seattle Gottulas," and there are three of us -- myself, Wesley, and the Shanester. This post is for him.

Yesterday was a BIG DAY. Many of you know that the Shanester works for Boeing, and the goal, since 7-8-07, has been to get the dang 787 airplane off the ground. There have been delays delays and more delays, schedule slides, order cancellations, and more, making most if not all Boeing employees crazy. But yesterday, history was made! (At least we like to think of it that way.)

The 787 took off. And Shane got to be there to see it.




He said it really was one of the coolest experiences ever. He and a bunch of people from his office trekked down to the airstrips near their offices at Paine Field. They were told it would take 2 hours to navigate all of the way-finding and stake a spot, but it only took 45 minutes. And then the 10 am takeoff was delayed 30 minutes or so.... so Shaner was waiting outside in the cold and wet for a couple hours yesterday. (His shoes were still wet this morning.)

But, he reports it was well worth it. He said the 787 was taxiing for a bit and getting ready for takeoff, and what he noticed most was how quiet it is. Interesting! There were two "chase planes" which stay with the aircraft during flight, and those two little planes had already taken off and were circling above. The 787 taxied out of view, and then Shane noticed the chase planes circling again overhead and getting into position where they'd fly straight along the jetway and be on either side of the 787. Shane knew this was it.

Sure enough, as the chase planes approached, he heard the 787 taking off, barrelling down the runway -- even though again, it was relatively quiet. It took off right in front of him, and one of the chase planes ROARED directly overhead. He said that is another reason he knew the 787 was pretty quiet -- because those dang chase planes were so loud. It absolutely shook him when they passed by.

I knew it was happening at home and tried to watch it online, but technology hates me so that didn't work. Every time I heard something outside I ran to the balcony to check it out... twice it was a helicopter (news crews everywhere), and once it was a bi-plane! Weird, huh!?

Anyway, very very cool day. I can only imagine it's rewarding for Shane, since this is something has has put his blood, sweat, and tears into. Shane didn't design that plane exactly, but the 787 is the line he works on every day. He does the "livery," and if you know what that means I'm ridiculously impressed. It's the paint schemes. He is coordinating all sorts of things for the various paint schemes on the hundreds of 787s that have been sold to airlines. Since he has hundreds to design, and they're only on like the 10th or something, I happily call that job security!

We always said if the plane took off successfully we'd sell our condo and buy a house! So maybe. We'll see what happens. Test flights on this one plane will go on for the next 9 months or so, then I guess they'll be ready to deliver planes to the airlines.

Congrats, Boeing! What a big day!