Friday, June 22, 2007

Seeing is believing

Today I walked over and looked at 787 Line Number 1 - the first 787 Dreamliner (the plane I'm working on), for those of you not familiar with my work.

I really, really like being able to go see what it is I (and many others) are actually trying to DO. So much of the time it seems that my job is nothing but paperwork and manipulating electrons. I didn't become an engineer to fill out forms, nor to attempt to instill common sense into the M&PT group, nor for the occaisional satisfaction of outsmarting my group lead. I became an engineer to make things. Right now, that means airplanes.

We've got the entire fuselage together and the engines hung, although the engines are still exposed. The landing gear is attached - I hadn't noticed but it appears that the nose gear retracts up and forward, instead of up and aft as I normally think of nose gear. It isn't painted yet - the much-publicized "roll out" on July 8th, 2007 (7/8/07 for those who didn't spot it right away) is actually a "roll in" from the paint hanger. The windows don't look all that much bigger, but perception at that level of detail isn't my strong suit. The nose is distinct from most of the other planes we build - the radome almost seems to be drooping.

I can't wait to see this bird fly.

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