Boeing Tour

The Boeing plant tour leaves from a modern aeronautical-styled museum built in 2005. Neither the museum nor the plant tour are free as Boeing is a money making business not only in the air, but on the ground too. The museum had exhibits that demonstrated how conventional Boeing jets are fabricated. It was interesting to see the inside story of the jets that we have flown on our entire adult lives. The aluminum skin and frame of the fuselage are fastened mostly with counter sunk rivets that are pressed on with tools applied simultaneously from the inside and outside by Boeing workers. The basic fuselage framing consists of circumferentials that are circular frames connected by “stringers” running the length of the fuselage. This type of structure flexes and is subject to metal stress and thus has a limited service life. On the other hand, we saw how the new 787 (Dreamliner) uses a radically different construction technique pioneered in the aerospace industry. It uses carbon fiber strips that are “wrapped” around a fuselage jig by special machines. The strips are applied with a bonding agent and the completed fuselage sections are then heated under pressure in special ovens. The result is a structure that has 100 percent fastening area whereas the conventional constructed fuselage is fastened only where there is a fastener (rivet). The new fuselage of the Dreamliner is consequently much stronger AND much lighter than previous models. The 787 is 40,000 lbs lighter than a same size plane of conventional construction technique. The additional strength allows for larger windows and a lower altitude cabin pressure. The only question about this technique is it’s rigidity since it does not flex. The company is currently using a large vice-like device to squash the fuselage to test its breaking point. It is also dropping finished out fuselage sections with a crane to test its integrity all while the FAA watches closely. Other exhibits showed how the Dreamliner cabin is laid out, and there were exhibits about the new avionics and flight deck design including “heads-up” instrument displays. There was a full size Pratt and Whitney jet engine on display and an actual vertical tail section from a retired Boeing 747 that had put in 28 years of service. The plant tour was fairly brief due to the fact that visitors cannot go on the floor of the plant area due to safety reasons. Instead, we rode up on a freight elevator and viewed the factory floor from an elevated platform. The Everett plant builds 747’s, 767’s, and the new 787. We got a close up view of the 747 line. The planes were surrounded by huge gantries and “saddles” that allow workers to reach all surfaces of the plane. The factory building is the largest building in the world (68 acres) and employees are issued bicycles to get around the plant. The building is so large that clouds were forming in the ceiling in the early days. This problem was solved with the installation of fans that mix the warm and cool air in the building and prevent cloud formation. The building was constructed in 1968 for the 747 project. 27,000 employees work at the Everett plant. The plant has doctors, nurses, and nineteen cafeterias. We were fortunate to see two of Boeing’s fleet of four specially modified 747’s called Dream Lifters that are capable of holding any of the 787 assembled parts including the wings that are made in Japan. The planes fly parts for the 787’s to the Everett plant from all over the world where they are made by a multitude of international subcontractors. A 747 takes about four months to build, has six million parts, and costs about 200 million dollars. Customers must pay a third down on order, another third when the plane goes to the paint hangar, and the final payment upon delivery. Delivery is a big ceremony customized to the customer’s culture. We saw quite a few planes painted in their owner’s livery awaiting delivery or being tested by the owner’s test pilots after already having been thoroughly flight tested by Boeing test pilots. Boeing’s lead test pilot is female and forty percent of the workforce is now female. All-in-all a very informative and interesting tour that took a half day. After the tour we had lunch at a bay side restaurant as we watched ferries go and come from the ferry landing. We also checked out the Mukilteo light station and enjoyed an ice cream and the sunny weather.

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