Cool Picture - This Has Never Happened Before

[res0o7eb]

Allright this is just about Boeing airplanes - not sure if anyone cares here.
The latest all-new commercial airplane to roll out of a Boeing factory is the 787.
There was a huge celebration at the Everett, WA (20 miles north of Seattle, WA) factory on Sunday, July 8th, 2007 - that's 07/08/07.

I got this in the email yesterday:

Amid all the 787 roll-out hoopla, perhaps the coolest event went unnoticed.
On Saturday night, Boeing had all of the 787 airline representatives at an event at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA.
At 7:07 PM, an Omega Air Refueling Services 707 landed at Boeing Field in front of the crowd (after taking off from Paine Field in Everett, WA).
At 7:17 PM, an AirTran 717 landed.
At 7:27 PM, a Federal Express 727 landed.
This continued until 8:17 PM when an Air France 777-300ER landed.
In the end, the 707, 717, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, and 777 were lined up nose-to-tail on the taxiway.
It is the first time in history that one of EVERY Boeing 7x7 jet has been in the same place at the same time
(not counting the 787, which couldn't make the flight, of course).

[zeke]

Thats cool eh, there must have been some red faces when the star of the show didn't show tho.

[res0o7eb]

...there must have been some red faces when the star of the show didn't show tho.

Airplane manufacturing is a little different than automobile manufacturing. The 787 roll-out is just that - the airplane is rolled out of the factory. It is the physical manifestation of a very complex (and costly) multi-year engineering and manufacturing development program. All new airplanes don't happen very often - about once every 10-15 years.

But, the 787 cannot be flown, yet. Thorough ground-testing is done before it ever lifts off. First flight is in September, 2007. I hope to take some pictures of that event.

There is a lengthy FAA-certification that must be passed before Boeing can begin delivering 787 airplanes to its customers. I think 6 airplanes are being used for the flight-testing certification which includes a static-test article. First delivery is in May, 2008. The approx. 8-month flight-test schedule is aggressive. The 777 took 11-months back in '94-'95.

[Kev442]

Very Cool, The wife said she got goose pimples as I read it out loud.