If you’re in town, you’ll be able to see the plane in the museum’s East Parking Lot all weekend and tour it from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, and all day Sunday, Nov. 9.
The plane will then be relocated and closed to the public from Nov. 10 until the 21st while it gets prepped for permanent exhibition starting Nov. 22.
This 787 – ZA003 – was the third Dreamliner built. It first flew on March 14, 2010 and, in addition to its role in the flight test and certification program, Boeing flew this plane to almost two dozen countries to show it off as part of a “Dream Tour.”
Air New Zealand and Boeing had a party Tuesday night at the Future of Flight in Everett, WA in advance of the official physical delivery of the first 787-9 Dreamliner, painted with a striking black livery, scheduled on Wednesday morning July 9.
Here are a few snaps from Tuesday evening’s event, which was attended by special guests and perhaps 1000 of the Boeing employees who worked on the airplane.
After speeches and gift-giving, curtains opened to reveal black T-shirt clad Boeing employees and – behind the smoke – the new airplane.
Here’s a closer look at the tail end of the new plane:
And, for country music fans, here’s a photo of the evening’s surprise entertainment: The Band Perry.
More photos tomorrow – when I get to go inside the plane.
David Parker Brown, the key event organizer, has a full report – and loads of photos – on his blog, Airline Reporter.com, but I wanted to share the report filed by 12 year-old Eskil Skute, who traveled from Norway with his dad, Per, just to attend the Aviation Geekfest – and check out Seattle.
Eskil and his dad at Aviation GeekFest. All the way from Norway! Courtesy Boeing
I wasn’t able to attend Aviation Geekfest this year, but did stop by for the closing session and sat down next to Eskil and his dad. They filled me in on all the activities and I told Eskil that if he ended up writing a report of his adventure, I’d be happy to include it on StuckatTheAirport.com.
Eskil sent this to me a week or so back. English is not his first language and I toyed with editing this to smooth it out, but have decided that his enthusiasm comes through just fine as is. So all I did was shorten it a bit.
Thanks, Eskil, for sharing your story!
“My trip to Seattle was totaly awesome!!! We started leaving from our town Sarpsborg and drived to Oslo airport hotel. … At 04:00 at morning we took a shuttle buss up to the airport and took the airplane from Gardermoen to schipol. Then we whaited 2 hours to the 9hours trip ahead of us. When we landed i was whery tired.we also lost our luggage:
We where a lot at the future of flight. We where a lot up on the roof and watched planes land and take off. We saw the Dreamlifter take off. That whas very cool:) next day we where going to the boeing 737 factory. We where first at the museum of flight. I loved museum of flight. The sr-71blackbird and mig 21fishbed and more…
When we comed to the boeing factory we where taked up to a Big room with three Big tv’s. We where not allowed to take pictures inside. When i comed out to where They builded boeing 737 i where like woow. It was huge. I saw a lot of airplanes in Lines ahead. I saw sas, westjet, hainan airlines,northwest airlines and united. It was hot inside.
That was the first time in history that They had lett anobody inside where They builded boeing 737.
Next day i buyed me a model aircraft. It was a boeing 737 800 star allaince. The airline was air nippon(ANA).
Then we went shopping some new clothes beacause we have lost our luggage. The next day we where going to the dreamliner gallery and the main factory for boeing. The dreamliner gallery was pretty cool. We saw things and colors They wanted to have in the plane.
Then we whent to the main factory. I just said wow when i comed in. This plase wasent huge…IT WAS LARGE. We saw the boeing 747,777,787. We saw the first boeing 787dreamliner for Norwegian. The boeing factory is the biggest building in volum in the WORLD.
I had a great time inside the boeing factory. The coolest thing was the 737 ofcourse;). Next day it was back to seatle. We went to pike plase market in seatle. They throwed fish and that was funny:). Then we went to spaceneedle. It was tall and i could see the museum of flight:). We also saw the k5news helicopter take off from the roof:) that was very cool. We saw it from spaceneedle:).
Next day was our last day in seatle. We went on the tallest skyscraper in seatle it was abaout 70-80 floors. On 40th floor the talest starbucks in the world was.
The next day we had to leave. I buyed togheter 6model aircraft and i was happy. When i comed home i was tired. I miss seatle.
Here are some fun photos from a day spent at Boeing’s Everett campus, learning about and touring the 787 Dreamliner and wandering around the 787 factory floor in preparation for Monday’s long-awaited delivery celebration for the first Dreamliner delivery to ANA.
A bit mystifying... No smoking, yet the FAA requires an ashtray.
787 Dreamliner cockpit
More 787s in the pipeline at Boeing factory in Everett
Saving money? Note masking tape fix to turn 777 to 787.
If you’re in the Seattle area today (Friday, August 6, 2010) and can skip work for a while, please join me at the Future of Flight Aviation Center – co-located with the Boeing Tour – in Mukilteo, about 30 miles north of Seattle.
The big attraction there, of course, is the tour of the Boeing airplane plant and the interactive displays in the Future of Flight center, but I’ll be there today as well, chatting with visitors about some of the offbeat and iconic Washington State places in my Washington Curiosities and Washington Icons books.
I’m bringing along photos of some of my favorite Northwest things – including the World’s Largest Egg, the Aeroplane, and the drive-through stump – and the Future of Flight store has scheduled an all-day wine-tasting event (with serious discounts on some Washington Wines) so it could turn into quite a party.
