<p dir="ltr">Thanks for sharing that. Wow.</p>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Aug 12, 2016 4:35 PM, "Rick Moen" <<a href="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com">rick@linuxmafia.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">A year ago, Deirdre and I were privileged to take this extraordinary tour:<br>
<a href="https://milepoint.com/forums/threads/ffg-ua-july-2015-sea-mini-do-with-boeing.125077/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://milepoint.com/forums/<wbr>threads/ffg-ua-july-2015-sea-<wbr>mini-do-with-boeing.125077/</a><br>
<br>
Trip report follows (posted last year to a mailing list of frequent<br>
travellers, including background details for their benefit):<br>
<br>
<br>
----- Begin forwarded message -----<br>
<br>
This is a story about time spans: 47 years, 59.2 seconds, a Saturday in<br>
December 1968, six years, another 47 years, and a Saturday this July.<br>
<br>
At 6:15 AM on Thursday, December 26, 1968, Pan American World Airways<br>
Captain Arthur Moen had First Officer Johannes Markestein apply takeoff<br>
thrust to Pan Am flight 799. The plane was this beautiful Boeing<br>
707-321C, the Clipper Racer:<br>
<a href="http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/pictures/b707-320c_pan-american_1964_321c_n799pa.jpg" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/<wbr>pictures/b707-320c_pan-<wbr>american_1964_321c_n799pa.jpg</a><br>
<br>
Captain Moen was 47 years old, a married father of two. 47 was as old<br>
as he was ever going to be: 59.2 seconds later, he and his crew of two<br>
were dead from ground impact -- victim of a known but unfixed<br>
manufacturing defect in the Boeing freight-transport jet.<br>
<br>
That Saturday morning, two strangers rang the Moen residence's doorbell.<br>
These were private detectives, arrived to dissuade Mrs. Moen from suing<br>
Boeing, by threatening further harm to her family. Big mistake. Turned<br>
out, this young widow didn't intimidate well.<br>
<br>
The three Pan Am widows immediately filed in Federal court. Boeing<br>
stalled the court action for six years. Dirty-tricks intimidation<br>
tactics were tried, none worked. Long story short, on opening day of<br>
the trial in 1974, Boeing capitulated and settled on plaintiffs' terms.<br>
<br>
Arthur's 10-year-old son Rick grew up dreading Christmas season -- the<br>
anniversary -- and hating Boeing.<br>
<br>
Roll forward 47 years to this past Saturday. That's a lot of years;<br>
all the principals are dead or long retired. What sort of fanatic would<br>
hold a grudge for 47 years?<br>
<br>
<br>
Hi there. My name is not Inigo Montoya, but I'm a Princess Bride fan.<br>
<br>
This past Saturday, my wife Deirdre and I flew up to Seattle to join a<br>
group of frequent flyers in two spectacular behind-the-scenes tours<br>
(<a href="https://milepoint.com/forums/threads/ffg-ua-july-2015-sea-mini-do-with-boeing.125077/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://milepoint.com/forums/<wbr>threads/ffg-ua-july-2015-sea-<wbr>mini-do-with-boeing.125077/</a>)<br>
at Boeing Company's production plants in Everett and Renton, followed by<br>
a dinner inside Boeing's historic 1909 'Red Barn' original building,<br>
adjoining the Museum of Flight<br>
(<a href="http://www.museumofflight.org/event-space/red-barn" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.museumofflight.<wbr>org/event-space/red-barn</a>). As we circled<br>
Seattle for landing, I commented to Deirdre 'One does not simply fly<br>
into Mordor'. The strangeness was beginning.<br>
<br>
<br>
Our group was picked up by two Boeing Company buses driven by helpful<br>
and pleasant bright young men in Boeing-branded light-burgundy company<br>
shirts. ('Ah, redshirts', I said.[1]) The strangeness was increasing.<br>
<br>
I personally was indulging a private gag I've been sharing with Deirdre<br>
all of our marriage, that some day I'd go on the Boeing factory tour and<br>
sign in as 'Inigo Montoya'. (Death by corporate negligence is blander<br>
and more bureaucratic than murder by sword thrust, but you're just as<br>
deceased.)<br>
<br>
Obviously, tight corporate security made that impossible, but tactical<br>
choice of t-shirt permitted the next best thing:<br>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Princess-Bride-Montoya-Heather-T-shirt/dp/B00TII2CJW%3Fpsc" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/<wbr>Princess-Bride-Montoya-<wbr>Heather-T-shirt/dp/B00TII2CJW%<wbr>3Fpsc</a><br>
<br>
The kind redshirted employees drove us through tangled Seattle traffic<br>
(where are our flying cars, fellows?) to the Boeing plant in Everett,<br>
where all the larger models (787 Dreamliner, 747, 777, etc.) are<br>
manufactured. Unlike the standard public tours, ours wasn't limited to<br>
looking down from public galleries; instead, we walked about a mile<br>
through the middle of the production floor. Our very engaging guide had<br>
been a Boeing Company tour guide about 35 years; before that, she'd<br>
taught music in elementary school. Even though not an engineer, she<br>
knew the answer to every question instantly.<br>
<br>
Everywhere, you saw signs of a very appealing company culture: These<br>
are people who work hard on sound engineering and safety. It's a<br>
firm that is based on real achievement and not just PR. This is<br>
pocket-protector and sliderule America, the one I grew up in.<br>
<br>
I was reminded very much of the late Michael Crichton's novel<br>
_Airframe_, which I'm sure was based in large part on long hours spent<br>
among Boeing engineers. <a href="http://www.michaelcrichton.com/airframe/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.michaelcrichton.<wbr>com/airframe/</a><br>
The novel, fruit of Crichton's typically exhaustive research, describes<br>
the investigation of a commercial airline disaster based closely on a<br>
real incident, but paints an (accurate) picture of the industry as<br>
highly scrupulous and delivering a fantastically safe product. You'd<br>
have to be very unlucky to be die from one.<br>
<br>
<br>
A passing employee inside the Everett plant noticed my t-shirt and said<br>
'Hey, it's Inigo Montoya'. I brightly replied 'Yes, it really is. And<br>
you don't have six fingers.'<br>
<br>
This building is almost unfathomably large, so large that it's really<br>
difficult to keep a mental grasp on its scale.<br>
<a href="https://twitter.com/deirdresm/status/625022988979601408" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/deirdresm/<wbr>status/625022988979601408</a><br>
<br>
After we exited, Boeing catered our group with some nice boxed lunches,<br>
compliments of the company. At this point, I'm starting to feel...<br>
let's call it gratitude with an asterisk.<br>
<br>
<br>
Next stop was the Boeing company store -- authentic company merchandise<br>
and collectibles. <a href="http://www.boeingstore.com/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.boeingstore.com/</a> I was surrounded by a<br>
thick forest of prominently Boeing-branded t-shirts, bomber jackets,<br>
posters, pins, luggage, airplane models, watches, books, refrigerator<br>
magnets, hats, sunglasses -- feeling a bit like Indiana Jones at<br>
a snake convention. I was keeping a tight grip on myself, but unsure<br>
I'd be able to keep breathing.<br>
<br>
Deirdre showed me some nice leather jackets, suggesting I buy one. I<br>
recalled to her that my late mother had said I'd look good in a<br>
WWII-style leather jacket and wanted to buy me one -- but I don't think<br>
she had in mind one saying 'Boeing' on the front. Deirdre asked if I'd<br>
buy her a blue Boeing shirt. I deferred the question.<br>
<br>
I joked that the DC-3 model[1] might make a nice purchase because it<br>
said 'Douglas' on it, but Deirdre didn't get my further implication. A<br>
few minutes later, I voiced the bit she hadn't gotten: 'About that<br>
shirt: I never want to feel revulsion against you, and....' She<br>
withdrew the request.<br>
<br>
We left. I gradually felt as if I could breathe again.<br>
<br>
<br>
Another trip in the comfortable Boeing Company buses brought us to the<br>
Renton plant, small only by comparison, where the workhorse 737 commuter<br>
jet and similar models are cranked out very efficiently. Again, we had<br>
an extremely knowledgeable guide.<br>
<br>
At 4:30 pm, we made our last stop, at the Museum of Flight and attached<br>
'Red Barn' original Boeing factory, now a museum and special events<br>
location. One highlight was the privilege of walking through several<br>
historic aircraft outside: a British Airways Concorde -- still iconic<br>
but every bit as cramped as rumoured -- a 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's<br>
finest engineering achievement to date, and, best of all, one of the<br>
B-707 jets that served as Air Force One for Eisenhower and JFK. This is<br>
the first time since around 1972 I've been inside my dream and nightmare<br>
aircraft, the Boeing 707, and it was like getting a little bit of my<br>
boyhood back. I was able to be just one small plexiglas crowd-control<br>
panel away from sitting in the captain's chair, in the left side of the<br>
cockpit.<br>
<br>
Dinner was a fine catered affair inside the warm and inviting Red Barn.<br>
I also wandered through the two-story building's museum exhibits. The<br>
upstairs portion was devoted entirely to the post-WWII era of flying<br>
boats, propeller passenger planes, and early jets, i.e., my father's<br>
career. I was once again gut-punched with nostalgia and longing mixed<br>
with lingering doom seeing my airline-family world in museum photos --<br>
lovely and innocent, but, seen from my own perspective, like a Hirohito<br>
scrapbook from that nice Hawaiian vacation.<br>
<br>
All of these are outstanding places to visit if you can arrange it.<br>
And, for me, it turns out that you can indeed fly into Mordor, and back,<br>
and that Mordor's full of pleasant and guileless engineers working hard<br>
and honestly to build a quality product.<br>
<br>
But, on the whole: Yay, Airbus Industries.<br>
<br>
<br>
[1] <a href="http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Redshirt" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.<wbr>com/wiki/Redshirt</a><br>
<br>
[2] I'd have bought a B-707 model if they'd had one but they didn't.<br>
(Of course, it _would_ have to be a model that comes apart.)<br>
<br>
----- End forwarded message -----<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div></div>