We stayed in Mukilteo, Washington to plan the next leg of our trip. Mukilteo's biggest claim to fame is the world's largest building by volume at 472 million cubic feet. To put that in perspective that's 75 football pitches. And inside they make something we have all used in the past.... yes it's Boeing, home to the 747 (jumbo jet), 777 and 787 (Dreamliner).
Jakki accused me of getting a bit geeky once inside and I think she may have been right.
Me with an engine.
Me with a 787 fusilage
Me with the landing gear
Me with a 727
Me with a.... Ok that's enough.
No camera's allowed on the factory tour but we saw the assembly areas where they were making 747's, 777's and 787's. There are three shifts per day to ensure a continual production line five days per week. Each month they churn out eight 747's, seventeen 777's and seven 787's with plans to increase to ten 787's by the end of the year. A 747 costs $350 million and that doesn't include engines and seats. Didn't like to ask what use a plane was without an engine.
Check out the dreamlifter which is a converted 747 used to bring the parts in for assembling. The front folds back so whole wings and parts of fusilage are delivered ready for assembly. The first one is in front of the factory and the second one shows 2 of the paint shops in the background;
The final engineering area has 33 engineers who are assigned to each plane for final testing and then test fly each plane before handing over to customers. The bright green one is waiting to go in the paintshop. Lots of tails we all recognise;
Jakki had to get into the action and after her flying in Alaska she had to try a 727 and didn't feel a co-pilot was strictly necessary
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Attack of the apostrophes...
ReplyDeleteI like the scale