Steve and the 787

Hi. Steve here. Just thought I would jump on our family blog and share some of the fun from the past number of weeks. I have been working on the 787 program and with its launch customer, ANA, since 2004. It has been quite a ride and it has been a rewarding past few weeks as we have had a few exciting events as we get closer to delivery. The first exciting event was a big media event where we rolled out ANA's special livery (paint scheme) that they will have on their first two 787s. We also opened up the interior of a completed 787 for the first time. We had media there from all over the U.S. and Japan.

Here's the airplane soon after we rolled it out of the paint hangar to the awaiting media. We had 6 or so executives and representatives that did most of the talking with the media, but I was asked to talk with a few of them. It was a lot of fun. I even had a few seconds of fame on our local news as well as CNN and some flight blogger video clips. None of me speaking - just one of me demonstrating the cool economy class seat that I talked to the reporter about and of me taking pictures or walking inside the airplane. I don't plan to quit my day job and go to Hollywood anytime soon. :) Here's a few links if you want to suffer through them.

Here I am on the local news demonstrating the economy class seat that has a sliding seat bottom and the back stays in place - keeps the passenger in front of you from reclining into your space. It was fun to have friends come up and say, "We saw you on the news, Steve." Oh, it has been rough signing autographs.. :)

http://www.king5.com/news/slideshows/Boeing-rolls-out-first-787-to-127073518.html

Here CNN captured me as I was taking pictures of the ANA team I work with.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/08/07/boeing.dreamliner/index.html?iref=allsearch

This video of the entire airplane cabin was uploaded to YouTube by one of the reporters and captures my smiling face as I was in the cabin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P8SWP2B_Gs&feature=player_embedded

After most of the reporters were gone I took the opportunity to get a picture in the flight deck.

Then on August 14 we had a test flight to test out the air conditioning and In-Flight Entertainment with a full airplane of passengers. I got to go this flight as did my customers who had to witness some of the tests. It was soooo cool to finally get to fly on this airplane and see first hand in flight many of the things I have been involved in. Way cool airplane!

Cynthia and the girls came over before church and watched the airplane take off. They even made a sign to cheer on their Dad. Thanks girls. ILY.

Here I am taking off on my first flight on a 787 - an airplane I have been with since it was first defined. Way long journey...

Here I am in the door 2 entry area with my senior manger - he has also been on the program from the beginning. Check out the cool blue ceiling - the LED lighting is completely programable - you can do some way cool things with the lighting.

Here's a picture of the wing as you look out the window in the lavatory - yes, you read it right - the lavatory has a window - great view at 35,000 feet. :) Don't worry - if you are concerned about high flying birds peeking in, you can dim the window electronically (just like the rest of the passenger windows in the airplane) - another cool thing on this airplane.

We flew for about 6 hours and 45 minutes - here's the route we took - out towards Montana, down to Boise, Idaho, over to the Washington coast and down to around Los Angeles and then back home. It was one of those great days when you feel the reward of years of work. Needless to say my face was smiling the entire flight.

Here we are as we are coming in to land. You can see the Boeing Everett plant and runway in the upper right corner of the picture. Now it is on towards delivery and seeing my customer fly this airplane home to Japan. With that in mind, here's a cool story I want to share.

In mid October of 1981 as a recently turned 19 year old and a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I boarded a Pan Am flight from Los Angeles, California to Tokyo, Japan. I stayed overnight at a hotel near Narita airport and the next day I took a bus to Haneda airport - where I boarded what I believe was a YS-11 (turbo-prop airplane designed and built in Japan) and flew to Okayama on the south end of the main island of Japan. My boarding pass, which I kept in my journal, is pictured above. Check out the name of the airline on the boarding pass - All Nippon Airways (ANA) - yes, a little less than 31 years ago I flew on ANA - my first domestic flight in Japan. It was an exciting ride back then and it has been exciting ride these past few years on the 787 as the Customer Engineer for ANA.

It is also a thrill to know that the first few cities that the ANA 787 will fly to are cities I lived in while in Japan - Okayama and Hiroshima. I hope to board an ANA 787 someday and fly from Haneda to Okayama again - that will be another boarding pass that I will plan to hold on to. Maybe I can get seat 14B on the 787 and then frame the two tickets together....