Boeing employees work on the first 787-9 horizontal stabilizer. Photos by Matthew Thompson / Boeing.
The first horizontal stabilizer for the first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner has arrived to Paine Field — early. The new version of the Dreamliner will seat 40 additional passengers and be able to fly 8000-8500 nautical miles.
Boeing expects that the first 787-9 will go into final assembly by mid 2013, first flight will occur during the second half of 2013, it will be delivered to Air New Zealand in early 2014 and start flying passengers in mid 2014.
The Flying Heritage Collection expands at Paine Field. Photo by Brandon Farris.
What is better than a collection of old war birds? A larger collection of old war birds. Recently, the Flying Heritage Collection (FHC), located at Paine Field in Everett, WA, expanded their facility to show off more of their collection and I was invited to check it out.
The 26,000 sq foot expansion is directly next to their facility that opened in 2008. The initial construction for the FHC started in 2004 by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and used a classic 51,000 sq foot hangar once used by Alaska Airlines.
A whole bunch of go-arounds turned the JFK airspace into a tangled web of flight paths
Shortly after noon today at New York’s JFK airport, a powerful thunderstorm cell with cloud tops of 40,000 feet passed over the field and subsequently turned the NY airspace into a tangled mess.
Lightning struck the field a first time, taking down the airport’s runway visual range (RVR) equipment, which is used to measure exactly how far a pilot in the center of the runway is able to see the center line markings. Lightning strikes happen and equipment failures occur all the time, butmoments later, lightning struck yet again, this time taking out the ILS glide slope for runway 4R, the active runway. At that moment, several international heavies were on final approach, forcing missed approaches and go-arounds.
United Airlines First Boeing 787 on Launch Day at the Boeing Factory in Everett. Phone: Mal Muir airlinereporter.com
Recently United Airlines decided to increase their change fee on all domestic bookings from $150 to $200 per person. US Airways followed suit shortly after. Eventually Delta & American matched. With those change fees in mind, it got me thinking, “where is the spectrum of these fees in the US right now?”
Before we look at all the change fees each airline charges, we first need to look at what a change fee is and why airlines charge them. A ’œChange Fee’ to the airlines is a fee that is charged when you need to change the date or time on your flight booking. On heavily discounted airfares, changes are restricted so that you can be given the cheapest price possible. At least’¦ that’s the idea. In essence this is a fee charged by the airline, as a penalty to you for changing your mind.
Changing the airfare on the airline’s end probably doesn’t cost them much, if anything. In this day and age of overselling most flights, the airline has probably already sold it within seconds of your change.
A ride like this deserves a top hat. BBJ parked at Boeing Field and me ready to fly.
BOEING BUSINESS JET 737 REVIEW BASICS
Airline: Haha, who flies on airlines?
Aircraft: Boeing 737-700 BBJ1
Departed: King County International Airport [aka Boeing Field] (BFI)
Arrived Airport: Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC)
Stops: Non-stop
Class: Yes, there was lots of class
Seat: Jump seat, big chair, nice couch, bed and another big chair.
Length: About 3 hours.
Cheers: Too many to list. It also gave me an excuse to purchase and wear a top hat.
Jeers: I had to get off.
Overall: If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. Also, if you do, can I have a ride?
