Image Credit Fortune Magazine/Gregg Segal
Fortune magazine was given a peek inside the 787 assembly line and the result is amazing. They have a 40 shot slideshow that is just jaw dropping. Best I can tell, these photos were taken early last week.There's also a video and article to go along with the photo essay.
UPDATE 6:44 AM: A little investigative work shows that the photos from the factory floor of Dreamliner 1, 2 and the Static and Fatigue airframes were taken on March 10 and 11. The Spirit and LCF photos from the flight line were taken March 20 and April 1 respectively. The photos from Japan were taken in late February.
on April 23, 2008 2:55 PM | Reply
Excellent. I really enjoyed that.
I assume there will be a lot of zooming done on the photos of Dreamliner One and its status of completion.
on April 23, 2008 5:00 PM | Reply
'jaw dropping' is apropos. Just the tooling alone is a phenomenal accomplishment.
With all of what seems to be hide-and-seek, word games, and other shenanigans, the fact that many people have been working hard for several years can get lost. Some of them must be very frustrated with the turn of events.
This program is stereotypical of many types of things that will be of interest and that will require continued attention, meaning, of course, that it goes far beyond just being about a plane.
on April 23, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply
Just looking at all those guys working beside the aircraft gives a sense of how determined they are to get her in the air.
on April 23, 2008 5:45 PM | Reply
Just looking at all those guys working beside the aircraft gives a sense of how determined they are to get her in the air.
I just noticed that Dreamliner One seems to be missing her engines?
on April 23, 2008 5:51 PM | Reply
Yeah, you observe correctly. As a point of comparison, the first 777 didn't have its engines installed until Feb 1994. Power on was in January 1994.
on April 23, 2008 6:52 PM | Reply
Note all the cubicles on the factory floor too.
on April 23, 2008 11:48 PM | Reply
Fantastic. . . . Boeing is truly breaking new ground . . taking (what seems to me) an unprecidented step into an unknown level of commitment (and risk) to pioneer the next generation of air transport.
This is heady stuff.
on April 24, 2008 4:10 AM | Reply
Well spotted Jon - brilliant set of pics
on April 24, 2008 6:57 AM | Reply
Given that you don't see people on the floor running around tearing their hair out, could it be that Boeing is finally getting a handle on it's problems?
Come on Boeing, get it into the air!
on April 24, 2008 7:47 AM | Reply
Regarding the missing engines and also what appear to be some missing control surfaces:
I assume they removed the wings in order to modify the wing box?
on April 24, 2008 8:55 AM | Reply
Boeing only pays the final $$ when the engines get installed. They are always put on last to save $$$
Airbus does the same thing - look at all the pix of the A380 assembly building and the engines are missing.
on April 24, 2008 9:46 AM | Reply
quoting Fred:
''Boeing only pays the final $$ when the engines get installed. They are always put on last to save $$$''
The reason I asked is because the engines have been installed on Dreamliner One in previous pictures.
on April 24, 2008 1:56 PM | Reply
T. Varadaraj: I assume they removed the wings in order to modify the wing box?
Nope.
on April 24, 2008 3:39 PM | Reply
I find it odd that the MCP (mode control panel) in picture #37 is missing.
on April 25, 2008 12:56 AM | Reply
The cubes on the factory floor is actually a great source of frustration for the workers.
Birds inside the hangers are constantly pooping on the desks, computers, chairs, papers, etc. Whenever the hanger doors are opened, the wind blows all the paperwork off of the desk surfaces.
Moreover, it's REALLY cold inside the hanger.
Engineers and techs have been asking to have some trailers moved into the hangers for more than a year. Their complaints have been ignored by Boeing management.
on April 25, 2008 9:50 AM | Reply
1. It is not that cold in the building.
2. Get some paper weights or extra coffee mugs to hold down the paper.
3. There are plenty of people working on the 787 at Boeing (think the 40-88 and 40-87 buildings) that would love to be working in the factory rather than a 10 minute walk away. We don't get to see those airplanes very often. Bird poop, 'wind' and 'chill' all worth it to be that close to the airplane every day.
Thats like complaining "I had the worst day today they made me go on a flight test and I had to bring my own lunch and sit in this little coach seat while we did stalls all afternoon." I would take vacation days to do that!