Whenever a new commercial airplane is built, before it can be certified by the FAA to carry passengers, it must complete a series of flight tests. During flight test, passenger seats and overhead luggage bins are replaced with sensors and computer racks. Once flight test is complete, the airplanes used for testing must be refurbished for delivery to the customer. As results from the flight tests are collected and airplanes continue to be assembled in the factory, changes to the original airplane design are required. Because the assembly line continues to operate during this time, some of the airplanes already in flow are too far along in the build process to receive the identified changes. In these cases, the changes must be incorporated after final assembly of the aircraft is complete.
The production schedule for the 787 is so tight here in Everett that program leaders decided to outsource the refurbishment of the flight test airplanes and the incorporation of certain changes into the airplanes that need them. Boeing San Antonio won the contract for this work. Depending on how the flight test program proceeds, 787's should begin arriving in San Antonio early next year, hopefully sometime in the first quarter.
With partners and suppliers all over the world, technology plays a huge role in allowing us to communicate requirements and status. There is no true substitute however for hands on experience. So for the next four weeks, I am here in Everett to meet our teammates stationed here, get first hand experience with the various systems I will be using in San Antonio, and hopefully to actually see and touch the airplane.
I will keep you posted if anything exciting happens with respect to my work here with the airplane (don't hold your breath). You can also track progress with the first flight and flight test program on Randy's Journal, a blog written by Randy Tinseth, Vice President of Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA).
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
On The Road Again
In the spring of 1999 I got the travel bug, an unawakened passion for visiting new places and experiencing life "on the road". Before that first trip with Medinet, I had never even flown on an airplane. Now, ten year later, I have frequent flyer accounts with nearly every domestic airline in the United States. As I sit here preparing to share the itinerary for my latest adventure, I realize that in ten years, almost without fail, I have been "on the road" every summer. That's something I never expected or even realized until now. In case you missed it, here's a quick recap:
1999 - Technically by the time summer rolled around I was done with my trips, but from March until June I was busy testing biomedical equipment nationwide for compatibility with the year 2000.
2000 - Certainly the official start of my annual summer travels, and the trip that launched The Road Scholars as we know and love it today, the Year 2000 Road Trip Extravaganza. Maybe I'll be able to afford a reunion tour in 2020.
2001 - I stayed local that summer, but my experience working as an intern at The Disneyland Resort provided experience and memories on par with any trip I've taken.
2002 - A bit late to be considered a summer trip, but I did visit Chicago, and more than just the airport.
2003 - College graduation followed by Sean's European Excursion, finally realizing my dream of visiting Europe.
2004 - I suppose this was the exception to the rule. I started work full time in March and although I was supposed to travel to New Mexico in early Fall, the trip was postponed until February.
2005 - Perhaps the most significant (in terms of life impact) trip of all so far, my relocation to San Antonio.
No wonder I have 23 GB of photos on my computer.
That brings us to 2009. It's weird to think how TRS has changed over the years. When I first started, before I even knew what TRS was, there was a short list of email addresses belonging to people who asked me to "keep them informed" of my internship experience. I got in the habit of sending regular email updates to my parents and blind copied these people. The Internet was still relatively new to me and most of the world. The web was just beginning to evolve and I think my ISP was CompuServe. I remember after the first couple of weeks "on the road", we had to settle up our extra expenses with our hotel in New Jersey. WiFi hadn't been invented yet and high speed Internet was a 56k modem. I had about $100 in unexpected local toll charges because the "local" number I picked was not so local. Now I get online almost anywhere I go, and I turn my nose up if I'm asked to pay.
In the beginning the updates were private, at least to the extent they were sent directly to specific people. TRS remained a fairly private email-only list up until a few years ago when I finally gave in to the blogosphere before my trip to England. Now almost all the old updates are "online" and future updates can be read by anyone in the world via email, web, Facebook, Twitter, and RSS. Half of you reading this don't even know what most of those are. The times they are a changin'.
Up until my business trip to New Mexico in 2005, TRS was based on my own personal adventures. I wasn't going to offend anyone with my witty, matter-of-fact musings on life. When I started traveling for business that changed a little. I was no longer a for-hire college student beholden to nobody. I still don't think of my Road Scholars persona as being "beholden", but I do find myself tempering my life musings more than I used to. Par for the course I suppose.
And now there's Kaitlyn, and that introduces an entirely new element into life on the road. The last time I took a trip worthy of being considered a Road Scholars excursion was a year ago when my family reunited in Ireland for my grandmother's funeral. At that time, Kaitlyn's age was still being measured in weeks and I hadn't ventured away overnight from Kaitlyn or Jen since my return from England in the fall. Now, here we are almost exactly a year later and I'm preparing to leave for an entire month. It's amazing how different a year can make you feel; this is going to be hard.
I don't think it's any secret by now that for the past five years I have been employed by The Boeing Company. I am currently assigned to the refurbishment and change incorporation program for the 787 and tomorrow I depart on a four week trip to Everett for training and exposure to the new airplane. I'll explain more of that project in the next few weeks. For now, I'm trying to get a handle on how I'm going to spend an entire four weeks away from the Fuzzy Headed Oracle and not go completely mad. There are a lot of things I would not have expected ten years ago on that first TRS trip to New Jersey. Missing a 17 month old child was certainly one of them.
So as I get ready to finish packing, let me acquaint you with a few things to make sure you are up to speed on the 2009 version of TRS.
First, if you are not aware, there is an entire blog devoted to the adventures of raising our precious princess (and her sibling arriving in January). http://genoveseparents.blogspot.com
Second, for those of you reading this via email, you can now receive TRS updates via RSS if you are so inclined. If you don't know what RSS is, I'll try to write about that on my new, personal blog soon.
Third, I now have a new, personal blog. This is where I'm free to write about things that might not fall into The Road Scholars theme.
Finally, I am now on Facebook and Twitter and have made my Tweets available on the main Road Scholars homepage at http://www.theroadscholars.com. I will update the blog (and this mailing list) as often as I can, but in the meantime you can visit the main TRS page anytime you want to see my most recent two cents in 140 characters or less.
As always, thanks for traveling with me and I'll see you on the road.
State Mug Collection
One day I will post the entire collection (there are international pieces as well) and maybe if I get bored I'll even take a photo of each mug. For now, this will do.
The rules for my State Mug Collection are simple:
- I must personally visit the state.
- The mug must display the state's name.
There are currently 29 in the collection, although I am entitled to 30. I once spent 30 minutes on an airplane in Boise but didn't have enough time to buy a mug. Also, among the 30 is Washington, D.C., so my collection will be complete when I acquire 51.
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