Boeing Plant Tour

DanTheMan

DanTheMan

New Member
Have any of you guys had a chance to go on the Boeing Plant Tour in Seattle? I was up there this weekend and took the tour. It was pretty cool they take you onto a platform above the 747-400 assembly line, they were only working on two jets though so there wasn't much going on. Also got to go to the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field, that was very cool, lots of planes on display, and they were giving biplane rides. Nice weather up there too.
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I've been. It was pretty interesting. Sucks that they don't let you take cameras. Apparently some lady dropped her camera onto a 747 wingtip and it caused about $45,000 in damages. Yowza. It is amazing how big that building is. Wish I could see the 777's under construction. When I was there (February 2002) all the 747's were cargo configurations. Sad to hear that you only saw 2 under construction.

Paine Field sure is a neat place, I watched 777s doing touch and go's from the Boeing parking lot. Wouldn't it be great to work at Boeing and use the employee's flight club benefits? In fact Boeing will pay you something like $5,000 when you get your pilot's license... executive guy Condit wanted people to have a license. Cool.

I took these photos from the parking lot. Given how crummy low resolution my digital camera is, you can tell how close I was. Neato.

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one of the 747's was a cargo and the other was a passenger, I was wondering what reason they would have for not letting you take your camera, I just thought it was so you would buy the video at the end of the tour (which I did).
They had about 8 planes on the ramp undergoing testing, so I waited around for a while hoping to see some flying, but to no avail, all I saw was a couple of cessnas.
 
I'm heading up to Seattle next week to tour the plant, I can't wait! What's the best way to get there from SeaTac? I was planning on renting a car ($60 for the day) because I can't find any other reasonable transportation up there. Any suggestions?
 
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In fact Boeing will pay you something like $5,000 when you get your pilot's license... executive guy Condit wanted people to have a license. Cool.

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That is actually not true. Boeing pays $500 for solo and $1000 for your private and that is all. This is the reason I switched from working at Boeing last year to Cessna. Cessna pays $500 for solo, $1k for private, $1k for instrument, $1k for commercial, $1k for CFI, $1k for CFII, and $1k for ATP!! Also at the time you could rent C-172R for $36/hour wet. I'll take the Cessna flying club over the Boeing flying club anyday.
 
The Boeing Employees Flying Association is a great place. Although they don't pay 5k, the rates are great compared to most FBO's. As BraidKid stated, it is 500 for solo and 1k to complete the certificate. They will pay this amount no matter where you get your training at though.
 
If you have the time to mess around, you could probably find your way up to Everett on the bus. It could be a fun way to see different parts of the area and you can look around and not worry about driving in an area you don't know. You can probably find bus schedules on line if you so a search. The only other thing would be a van service like Supershuttle but I'd bet it's nearly as expensive as renting a car.
 
Hey, sorry I got the $5k figure reimbursement wrong. $1k is pretty sweet though.

You switched to Cessna b/c they'd pay a bit more for flight training? I'm surprised you'd change employers for just a few thousand dollar change in benefits.

I take the bus from SEA to Green Lake area in Seattle and that takes about an hour (and that is just to 3 miles north of downtown Seattle). I can certainly say that you DO NOT want to take the bus to Everett. Rent the car, it is the only way. Even driving it takes about an hour (maybe 45 minutes) from SEA.
 
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Have any of you guys had a chance to go on the Boeing Plant Tour in Seattle? I was up there this weekend and took the tour. It was pretty cool they take you onto a platform above the 747-400 assembly line, they were only working on two jets though so there wasn't much going on. Also got to go to the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field, that was very cool, lots of planes on display, and they were giving biplane rides. Nice weather up there too.


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hey ya know.. that's a great idea!!! I'd love to see how they build the planes!!

maybe, if doug thinks it can work, we could do a seattle fly-in and have a jetcareers group tour at boeing, kinda like a school field trip... that would be awesome!!

whatcha think doug?
 
Everyone lined up behind Doug and Kristie.... "keep together now kids"... ha ha. Mr. Eikenberry can be the "principal"...
 
Thanks for the insight, I think we're going to just rent the car. I checked out the bus system website and they're plan was a 3-hour trip with a bunch of transfers from SEA to Everett. That's longer than the flight from PHX! Plus, if we took the bus, we'd miss our flight to LAS that night, so we'd be spending the night in Seattle rather than Vegas. As far as nightlife goes, I'd rather be in Vegas.
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Any suggestions on where to spend the few hours between our tour and flight to Vegas? If any planes are going out for test flights, we'll probably just stay in Everett. Maybe we could go downtown and watch them fling fish, that's always entertaining!
 
I've been ...when I was 11 years old...(about 10 years ago). My dad flew me in a Beechcraft Duchess from Sacramento Executive to Boeing Field...geeze that is a long runway! We got to take the tour...really amazing.
 
Had a Boeing tour of the Long Beach MD11 line, amazing, simply amazing how how it works. Took a tour of the 717 line, shame, all of that wasted space...


Mike
 
I non-rev'd to SEA last summer, rented a car and drove up to do the Boeing plant tour. The Seattle area is beautiful and there are plenty of aviation sights to visit. The tour wasn't everything I expected, due to security issues, but it is great to see the HUGE facilities and the aircraft in progress. They have a gift shop full of some pretty nice gifts too. I would definately recommend it. Also check out the museum they operate, located in Seattle. It has a nice selection of aircraft including an old Air Force One that you can tour. I arrived at SEA by 10am and departed on the red-eye back to PIT, and I was able to see everthing I wanted. The monorail and Space Needle are also well worth it (the view from the space needle is absolutely amazing). Go visit Seattle, I would definately like to go back.
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yeah I spent waaay too much money at that gift shop at the end of the tour! I haven't gotten a chance to watch the video yet, because I just got back the other day. The Museum of Flying at Boeing field is a good place to go if you have a couple of hours to kill. Boeing field is about a 15 minute car ride from SEA-TAC. The view from the top of the space needle is outstanding.
 
How long does it take to wander around the museum? Is it something you can observe in a couple hours, or is it not worth it for that short of time? I want to go down to Tucson again to see their SR71, but if I could sit in the SR71 cockpit at Boeing, that would be awesome!
 
Panamguy, yeah Tucson (Pima Air & Space Museum) is awesome, probably one of the best three air museums in the nation. Tucson is my home town; I regret not going to hang with the planes more often. They have a great, restored B-29 in a hangar, what an incredible plane. I've always been partial to the Commando parked next to it, as well. That whole museum rocks! Highly recommended... and your flight into TUS can give a good look at the AMARC... the "bone yard" with over a thousand stored aircraft.
 
Panamguy,
I would say that I spent an hour or so at the Boeing Museum. We were kind of on a schedule so we limited our time. They have a pretty nice aircraft selection and a mock ATC tower that overlooks the field. I didn't see any heavies come in while I was there but it was cool to watch some GA planes arrive and depart. I also believe they had some movies you could watch, but I might be mistaken. The admission was a little pricey in my opinion, but what tourist attraction isn't? Overall, it is a great way to start the day before heading up to do the plant tour. What a cool city, we ate lunch at the burger king right by the plant and even they had Boeing posters all over the walls. Hometown pride
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Hey if anybody is in the midwest area and wants to check out a pretty good museum, fly here to KAZO and check out the Air Zoo. We just got an SR-71 from NASA about a month ago and have a great selection of other warbirds and jets. They do a flight of the day each day around 2pm, usually the T-28 will do some low passes down runway 35 in front of the museum. Not a bad way to spend the day if you're looking for somewhere to fly. Check out the website Air Zoo They are opening up a huge new museum in April of next year - it will rival some of the best museums in the country. Let me know if you're coming into town!

Happy Flying!
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