1,000
The 1,000th Boeing 777 rolled off the line today, after 17 years in production. Plenty more where that came from.
Man I love that plane. Some think it charmless, and there's no question it's a rougher ride than the stately 747 or the elephantine A-380. But it flies, man, you can feel it flying. And it's got the power/weight ratio of a turbocharged wolverine. And it's strong (see the original wing test here).
They say it can be kind of a pig to fly, but dig the crosswind landings. Or just dig this one, at the late, lamented Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport:
A friendly pilot's review is here. Well done, Boeing - here's to the next 1,000.
posted by The Other Front at 7:42 PM
1 Comments:
For unknown reasons, I sort of enjoy reading about the airplane biz- it's interesting to distinguish the corporate ownership of Boeing and the many interesting engineers and assemblers I've met who work for it.
How do I put this? Apparently, I should have been running Boeing.
It was obvious to a total amateur that the 777 program was going well and under-rated, (I remember an engineer telling me 10 years ago about what an awesome plane it really was) and that the 787, a great idea and design, was going to be chopped apart by corporate anti-union, anti-American manufacture, evidence-free ideology; the nominal move of headquarters to Chicago was the sign of what was to come- and it was a matter of timing. It was intended to distance decisions from manufacturing, to isolate labor from management- fine if you're in off-brand tupperware, I suppose, but there are airplanes with one million parts.
There is some SKILL involved. And, surprise, surprise, the 787's South Carolina rear fuselage is crap, relatively speaking; another pointless anti-labor move that decreased quality, increased costs, and endangered the whole commercial program.
The 777 was built by a Seattle-centric system. The 787 had Japanese bits on Italian Bits on Carolina bits in a Seattle assembly- and they ran out of the fancy bolts you need to staple all that stuff together. That cost 4 years.
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