Geeking Out…Again

My alarm jolted me awake at 6:30 the next morning after just 5 unsatisfying hours of sleep. I had wanted to get an early jump on the day to beat the crowds and traffic. My plan for the day was to head up to Boeing’s Everett Plant at Paine Field to take Boeing Factory Tour, head back down to Renton to visit the History of Flight Museum, and hopefully have enough time to visit Pike Place Market. After making myself halfway presentable and grabbing a light breakfast downstairs, I headed north up I-5 toward Everett. A few miles later, I passed by Boeing’s Renton factory, where I would headed later that day. The weather was actually pretty nice with just scattered clouds, a stark contrast to what I expected to find in Seattle this time of year. Unfortunately, Mother Nature must have read my thoughts as heavy cloud cover began rolling in not long after I passed downtown Seattle. Less than an hour later, I pulled into the parking lot of visitor’s center of Boeing’s Everett Factory.







The aforementioned Renton facility was Boeing’s original production facility; however, it was too small to handle the production of the world’s first widebody aircraft, the 747. Therefore construction on a new facility specifically designed to handle the assembly of the huge jet began in 1966. At that time it was the world’s largest building by volume, a title it still retains after additions were made for the production of the 767, 777, and the 787. While I knew this ahead of time, the building was a still an impressive sight to behold.



Tickets for the factory tour are $18 if purchased ahead of time online, and $20 dollars for a walk up ticket. I had pre-purchased a ticket for the first tour of day at 9AM. All electronic devices, especially cameras and cell phones, are not allowed to be taken on the tour. There are lockers for rent at the visitor’s center, which I took advantage off. While I wasn’t happy about the rule, I suppose it was necessary to prevent corporate espionage.

Prior to commencing the tour, we were ushered to an auditorium where we watched a couple of short promotional videos. Paying to watch advertisements… Classy. But it certainly did get better.

The first stop on tour was the 747 assembly line, which was also unfortunately the saddest stop. It took up the largest area of building, compared to the 777 and 787 assembly lines. Yet it was the emptiest. There were many platforms used to assemble the cockpit section of the 747, but all but two were empty. Moving on to the final body joint portion of the line, there were three airframes nearing completion. Two of those airframes were freighter variants of the 747. The third was a passenger variant, destined to serve in Lufthansa’s colors. I suppose none of this is really surprising as Lufthansa and Korean Air are the only major airlines to order the passenger variant of the 747-8i, a fact my tour guide and I lamented on. That said, the slow sales of the 747-8i and the A380 compared to their twin engine brethren are reflective of the global trend toward more fuel efficient aircraft.

The next stop was the 777 assembly line, which appeared to be significantly more active judging by the number of airframes in various states of completion. In the fore front of the assembly line are a 777-200LR bound for Qatar Airways and a 777-300ER ordered by Cathay Pacific. Both aircraft have been completed and are just awaiting seat installation before they head to the paint hanger. The 787 line was the smallest and least interesting of the three assembly lines, as most of manufacturing is done elsewhere. Only the final assembly occurs in Everett. The only noteworthy to report from the 787 line is the control room used to monitor all of the subcontractors who manufacture components of the Dreamliner. Talk about big brother looking over your shoulder…

While I did enjoy the tour, I don’t think I’ll be compelled to do it again. It was very interesting for the most part, but it wasn’t quite the in depth behind the scene look I was hoping for. I was expecting a tour similar to what Petrus’ experienced and chronicled in an excellent report last year. Now that I have reread it, it seems that group was granted special access during the event. Nevertheless, it was good experience and something any av geek should experience at least once.

After I finished the tour, I headed up to the observation deck for a better view of the flight line and of the massive Dreamlifter parked next door. The flight line was comprised nearly entirely of Dreamliners, and few 777 and 747-8i freighters. Also visible on the flight line was the first prototype of the 787-9, which was located nearly directly in front of the paint hanger. I really wish I had brought my good camera along, but this will have to do.












Paint hanger, and the prototype 787-9 on left









Afterwards, I headed back south on I-5 toward Renton. The Renton Factory is still in use today churning out those 737s as fast they can; however, no tours are offered of the facility. The reason I was headed there was to visit the History of Flight Museum, which is located right next to the Renton Factory. When I pulled into the museum parking lot, I noticed it was adjacent to what looked to be Boeing’s facility used for defense projects. One of more interesting aircraft I spotted was the 757 modified to test the avionics used in the F-22 Raptor. I went over to snap a picture, which earned me a chat with a Boeing Security Guard. He actually very nicely told me that I could look all I wanted, but they would appreciate if I didn’t taking pictures. Fair enough. But when I got into the museum, there was an observation deck which gave me the exact same view of what I wanted to take a picture on the ground level. Go figure.


The Forbidden Picture

Since I’ve seen most of the aircraft on exhibit elsewhere, here a few pictures of the more rare and/or interesting ones.




McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk in Blue Angel Colors


Alaska Airlines DC-3


United Ford Tri Motor

The Red Barn building is actually one of the original facilities used by William Boeing in the early days of the Boeing Airplane Company. It was located somewhere else before it was shipped by barge to its current location and restored. Pretty cool


The Red Barn Exhibit: Old Boeing Factory