Day 90 - Wednesday, October 15, 1997Lake Pleasant, Bothell, Washington - Today we went to the Boeing plant in Everett again, and this time they still had tickets left for their FREE (our favorite kind) tour. It started off with a video telling us how great Boeing is. The tour guide then asked us all where we were from. It turns out that about seven or eight of us were from Maryland. Who woulda thunk it?Next we boarded a bus that took us to the assembly line, which is housed in the world's largest building (by volume). This place is freaking huge!! They build 747s here in Everett. Their assembly line holds seven 747s in various stages of assembly. If you can imagine it, each station holds the plane for about a week. During that time various parts are attached. We actually got to see them lower a vertical stabilizer (rudder to you common folk) on to a plane. This assembly is about 70 feet tall. It is lowered on to the plane by a crane which runs along tracks built into the ceiling. Amazingly, though, it is only secured with a couple of finishing nails and carpenter's glue. Go figure! We also got to see the new 777s. The engines for this plane are gigantic. To give you an idea of the size, the engines on the 777 are the same circumfrence as the fuselage of a 737, the most common airliner and one you've probably flown. At then end of the tour they pick one person from the tour to take a 747 up for a solo test ride as an actual pilot. Believe it or not Jim got picked! So he put on his leather flight jacket, took a shot of Jack Daniels, and fired up the four Rolls Royce engines. He seemed so proud as the plane took off over Puget Sound. While he was up there, Jim took the 747 through a couple of barrel rolls, then took it down to just 50 feet above ground level, sending school children and senior citizens scrambling. However, when he went to land it, he forgot to put down the landing gear and scraped the hell out of the bottom of the plane. Fortunately, State Farm will cover the damage after the $500 deductible.
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