Sleepless in Seattle

After arriving in Seattle before the bikes, they finally arrived on Sunday evening, ready to be uncrated on Monday morning, so it was a quick dash down to the Air Korea freight office, then a wee visit to customs (why do the customs office boys in the US require revolvers, handcuffs and full utility belts !!??), then into the warehouse with a crowbar;

It took about 2 hours from arrival (including customs) before we were out, riding our English motorcycles on Seattle streets :-)

In the afternoon we managed to squeeze in a visit to the Boeing factory, which was rather good - 3 production lines building 747, 777 and 787. Amazing to see the factory - the largest building in the world, which (before getting air conditioning) used to have its own weather patterns - it would rain inside the building. The 747 production line had 4 747's being built at a time, the 777 production line was a rolling production line (as in the planes were constantly moving whilst being fitted out), and contained 8 (I think) aircraft.

Some facts:

$350million will get you a basic 747 !

A Boeing 777 rolls out of the factory every 3 days

There is a back log of 250 Boeing 787, and a few thousand Boeing 767 - I thought the air industry was hit by the recession ????

Boeing has it's own airport, and on the runway were 2 (out of 4) 'Dream-Lifter's) extended and widened 747's purely for carrying parts for the 787 (wings and fueslage that are built elsewhere)