Marin, how exciting it must have been to work so closely with the planes during all those years.
Mike--- From my perspective it is a very cool industry to be part of. I started with Boeing in 1979 and still have a bit to go before I move on to career #3.
It's a huge company, even back in 1979, and while those of us who do what I do get to experience and work with quite a bit of it as well as our customers around the world, there is a lot more that goes on here that we never have the opportunity to experience or learn about.
My own direct experience with the B-52 is limited to the record flight I described earlier and the introduction of the ALCM to the B-52 SAC fleet. But in the course of other projects I came to know a number of Boeing's real heroes, people like Ed Wells, George Schairer, Maynard Pennel, Tex Johnson and the list goes on.
I'm currently producing a project about the passenger experience on the 787. In the course of this I had the opportunity to meet and interview the man largely responsible for the whole concept behind the airplane's interior. The best aspect of my job is meeting and talking to the people like this who make it all actually happen. Hearing and learning about the psychology and research that went into creating the 787's interior and passenger environment is truly fascinating to me.
From day one at this company I have been amazed at the creativity, vision, skill and talent of the people behind the products, be they aerodynamicists or assembly mechanics.
When I hired in we we still building 707s (for the military) and 727s. From the Dash-80 to the 787, it's been an evolution, not a revolution. It's been quite a ride to be witness to the process.
Go to an airport waiting lounge and you will invariably hear someone, while looking out the window at a 747 or 777 or A380, "I can't believe that thing can fly." I've never had a problem with that. The big planes fly for the same reasons as the little planes I fly.
But even after 36 years and seeing every aspect of our airplanes being built, from being beside the massive wing spar milling machines in Auburn, WA to riding on the arm of one of the 787 fuselage winding machines in South Carolina, I still cannot believe we can actually build one. Not just the fact that the parts can be physically manufactured, but that they all fit (eventually
).