Engines not included

The Boeing factory in Seattle claims to be the world's largest building. The whole area is so large it has its own zip code! They employ approx 60,000 employees, working 24/7 in 3 shifts. The employees have to come to work over staggered times each shift just to avoid a traffic jam! There are 13 cafes on site, otherwise it would take too long for an employee to have lunch. Each door is 80 feet high by 100 yards wide (24m x 91.5m), it takes 20 minutes to open the doors to each assembly line. They have their privately owned freeway overhead pass, heavily reinforced to be able to withstand the weight of the plane, once it is completely assembled and ready to be moved to the runway for test flights. Just for an idea of how massive the whole place is.

On the tour they took us to see the Boeing 747, 777 and the latest 787 Dreamliner assembly lines. The 787 is the latest aircraft, being outfitted on a moving assembly line like the 777. When they get up to full production estimates are to be able to have one fully assembled in 3 days! All the materials are pre-fab and flown in on the 747 Dreamlifter, which has been modified to have a bigger almost bubble like look to it. I liked the fact that the engineers have their desks right on the side of the assembly hangar, so if there are problems/questions, they are not far away. The 787 is made of 51% composite, which makes it lighter and less likely to corrode, as a result they can have cabin humidity up to a comfortable 35%, LED lighting, larger windows, and 1-1.5 inches wide seats in economy. Dreamliner indeed!

Engines are not included in the price of the aircraft. You have to buy the engines separately, then have it delivered to Boeing for it to be installed.

Once assembled it is then painted with a special ionisation technique, so it does not shear off at high speeds. Now why do you think majority of aircrafts are painted white? There is a good reason for it.

-Y-