Boeing Tour in Everett, WA

Date: September, 2013

I wanted to fit this in before my 5pm flight out of PDX so I drove to Future of flight first thing in the morning and got there a few minutes before 8:30am, which was when they opened. There was heavy fog in the area and this affected the tour a bit as we couldn’t see more planes on the various runways and holding areas at the Boeing factory.

The first tour was at 9am so I got a ticket for that. During the 30 minutes, I went around the gift shop to see what they had.

Below was the main area you enter into when you go to the Future of Flight exhibit. Down the corridor with the blue paint is where the tour starts.

The store has a lot of items. Anything you can think of, Boeing branded it and are selling it in the gift shop.

The back of the store carries clothing while the front carries many models along with a few stuffed animals.

Below is a picture of a height measurement tool for the tour. Only Boeing and probably NASA would have a machine to accurately measure this.

Boeing Tour

Needless to say, photos were not allowed as we would be walking on the catwalk above production lines of the 747, 777 and 787. The only notable plane I could see is a 747-8 for Lufthansa.

Seeing such machines being built was very cool.

The other half of the building was a gallery of parts of the plane, including the engines, cockpit and some business/first class seats.

When I went, the Passenter Experience Research Center wasn’t open but I would’ve loved to see what the research entails.

Below was an EADS display of their premium class seats. Unfortunately, you cannot sit in it. I would’ve tried to take a nap in the first class seat.

The below engine is the GENX, which powers the 787. It shows the carbon fiber intake foils that are on the engine. Pretty cool.

Gallery