ANA’s Star Wars R2-D2 arrives to gate S16 at SeaTac. This was the first time the aircraft had been deployed to Seattle.
My initial assignment, with AirlineReporter long ago, was to cover the arrival of the first ANA 787 to Seattle. It is befitting that my long history with AirlineReporter officially ends with another ANA 787; this time though it is the ultimate 787 – the R2-D2 Star Wars jet.
The special 787-9 rolled out in October and began service later that month to Vancouver. Now that it is operating out in the wild, I eagerly awaited my opportunity to spot it in my current hometown of Seattle. Being a Star Wars and Astromech droid fan myself (R5s are better than R2s in my opinion), how could I not take this on?
This is it folks. The big game. On Monday September 26, 2011 at 9am Pacific Time, Boeing will deliver its first 787 Dreaminer — to All Nippon Airways (ANA).
I wanted to give you all a quick run-down of what will be happening when, so you can follow along. I plan to try and cover this historical, multi-day event as best as I can on my blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts. Here is a basic schedules of the events over three days so you know what to follow when:
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 25:
Starting in the morning, Boeing will give media and guests briefings on the 787 interior, engines and overview. After a tour of the factory, media will be off to the Dreamliner Gallery. Be sure to follow the Twitter list (seen below) to catch any news, information and of course photos all through out the day. If you have any questions about the 787 test program, ANA or Boeing, let me know, I might ask it for you.
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 26:
The official delivery celebration will start at 9am PT, but I will most likely start my coverage at about 8am PT. Boeing will offer a live feed to cover the delivery events starting at 9am PT. You will find the feed on their special ANA 787 First Delivery website.
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 27:
Early in the morning in Seattle, ANA will fly their first Boeing 787 from Paine Field to Japan, where Boeing will be providing another live feed of the take off. According to ANA, the take off is scheduled for about 7am PT. I will be covering the event starting at about 5:30am PT (with lots of coffee).
MUST FOLLOWS ON TWITTER:
@AirlineReporter
@FlightBlogger
@BoeingAirplanes
#ANA787
DOWN 787 DREAMLINER MEMORY LANE:
* First 787 ANA routes announced
* Video tour of ANA’s first 787 JA801A
* Photo tour of JA801A: Interior and Exterior
* Photo of ZA001 and Boeing’s first 747-8I flying side-by-side
* Interview with ANA about working with Boeing on the 787 Dreamliner
* Photo tour of the 787 line in the Boeing factory
* See the different liveries on 787s at Paine Field in Nov 2010
* Amazing photos of ZA001 flying next to a Boeing 40C
* Interior tour of ZA003
* The Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s first flight
This is just a basic idea of the scheduled events, they of course are subject to change.
UPDATES:
* Take off on Tuesday is set for 7am PT.
* Changed some times and events as I received an updated schedule.
