AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - May 2012 - 67

Boeing factory
FUNNEL INC / AOPA/ 04 02 12 / BOEING FACTORY CHARTS

• Largest building in the world by volume according to the Guinness Book of World Records • 472 million cubic feet • 98.3 acres (4.3 million square feet) • California’s Disneyland and 12 acres of parking would fit inside • 1 million light bulbs • 21,000 parking spaces
about the population* of • 19 cafeterias Poughkeepsie, NY

32,000 =
• 39 miles of ceiling tracks • 2.33 miles of pedestrian tunnels
The Museum of Flight, located at Boeing Field/King County International Airport, is an aviation destination all its own, with dozens of aircraft and spacecraft on display—from light GA to airliners, and military aircraft. The museum also boasts a theater and many hands-on exhibits.

airliners and their engines, allows visitors to design their own airplane, and to clamber around in various airliner flight decks. Tickets can—and should—be purchased in advance online (see “If You Go,” page 68). Numerous FBOs serve Everett’s Snohomish County (Paine Field), and they offer transportation to the center. You’ll know you’ve found the right airport when you get to the one littered with airliners in various states of completion—and no obvious airliner terminal. The factory tour guides enjoy mesmerizing visitors with facts that help provide a sense of the outrageous size of the facility—California’s Disneyland could fit inside, with 12 acres left for parking. There are no environmental systems inside. People, equipment, and lights warm the place in the winter (some 32,000 Boeing employees work at the Everett complex; 65,000 in the Seattle area; and 170,000 worldwide). In the summer, opening those football-field-sized doors cools the place. So many employees work at the

factory that their arrivals are staggered practically down to the minute of who is supposed to arrive when, in order to get one of the 21,000 parking spots and ease traffic flows. While you’ll only walk about a third of a mile on the 90-minute tour, a trip around the perimeter is equivalent to a five-kilometer run. On the tour, you’ll see just how different the models are one from another. For example, it takes three to four months to build an all-metal 747, but the company’s goal is five to seven days to complete a mostly composite 787—not including the three to five days to paint it. In one of three paint hangars, workers spray some 120 gallons of paint, weighing about 1,200 pounds, on each 747. Finally, one last fact: There are 16 coffee shops inside the factory. This is, after all, Seattle. Beyond the factory After your Boeing tour and experience at the Future of Flight Aviation Center, fly south down Interstate 5 (IFR—I Follow Roads) about 35 miles to Boeing Field/King County International Airport (BFI), which is home to the Boeing customer delivery center and a host of flight test operations. Unfortunately, none is available for public tours, but as you taxi by you’ll see airliners emblazoned with airline names and liveries from around the world. Any of the several FBOs on the field can

EMPLOYEES

1,000 • 1,300 bicycles for employees

*US Census 2010: 32,736

• Has its own fire department and security force • The mural on the six factory doors is the largest digital graphic in the world

16
COFFEE SHOPS

CAFETERIAS

CHRIS ROSE

AOPA PILOT • 67 • MAY 2012

AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - May 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - May 2012