Hey All,

 

Been a bystander for a while now on the AVSIM forums, my username here predates my time at WSJ...and FlightBlogger...and even graduating from college. In fact, I think my account was created when the 777-200LR was still in flight testing. A lot of you have seen my article on the PMDG 777 development and my interview with Robert Randazzo ( http://on.wsj.com/1acQWQ6 ), but wanted to share something here that I thought would be interesting while you wait for the 777 to come out.

 

As part of the global aerospace beat for WSJ, I get to cover Boeing and a lot of other companies that make airplanes big and small. I've been up and down Boeing's Everett, Washington factory and assembly lines many times over the last several years and as a member of the media I'm allowed to take photos of everything while it's being built. 

 

What follows is a rough approximation - a multi-part photo essay if you will - of how the 777 is manufactured in Everett (KPAE). The photos range over the last several years, but should give you a rough sense of how the airplane is fabricated, assembled, stuffed with its interior and delivered.

 

The factory is still the largest building by volume in the world and there is a seemingly endless list of superlatives that go with the size of the facility.

 

 

The 777 final assembly line, called the 40-25 building, is one of six quarter mile-long bays that host the assembly operations. There are lines for the 777, 787, 767 and 747 - all of Boeing's widebody airplanes.

 

 

The 777, like all of Boeing's airplanes, are built all over the world in pieces, and shipped to its Everett factory to be assembled into the final product. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll continue posting below.

 

Best,

 

Jon Ostrower

And the tour continues.

 

Parts of the fuselage are built up panel by panel into partial barrel sections that are drilled and lifted into a tool called a turn vector that spins them upright and turned into completed sections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fuselage sections in the aft and forward sections of the 777 are then moved into a "horse shoe" position side-by-side to begin the joining of the horizontal and vertical stabilizers.

 

 

 

 

 

While in these horse shoe positions the flight deck, sidewall, overhead bins, interiors fittings (like the walk-up bar) and overhead crew rest are all installed as it advances slowly down Boeing's moving assembly line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another post will follow.

 

Onward,

Jon Ostrower

The built-up wings - which are also assembled in the factory - are sealed and painted. Boeing recently started using robotic painters for additional accuracy and speed as the factory moved up in production rate. Trivia: The black stripes on the wings are only on the 777-300ER and are visual guides for the tail camera to indicate the location of the landing gear when taxiing.

 

 

 

The wings are then brought out to the factory floor and have their systems installed ahead of the join-up with the center wing box and a bonnet fuselage section.

 

 

 

The fuselage sections that were being worked on makes the u-turn around the horse shoe line to meet the joined wings. This is called final body join and really where the airplane comes together.

 

 

At this point a lot of the expensive premium class seating have been installed. The covers give a good sense of the equivalent price of each business class seat.

 

 

The airplane continues down the line for additional installation of components and testing of electrical and hydraulic systems.

 

 

As the single most expensive item on the airplane, the engines are installed in the last position before the front door of the factory.

Those doors are about the size of an American football field, end zones included.

 

 

Landing gear testing is also completed here with the aircraft on jacks, swinging the six-wheeled bogies in the exact same way they'll be used in flight.

 

 

The thrust reversers are lowered by crane down to the engines and installed, one of the last steps before the plane leaves the factory.

 

 

The aircraft is ready to move outside.

 

Jon Ostrower

The aircraft is towed to the flight line where it'll be prepped for their maiden test sortie, known as a B1 production flight. The 777 is either painted in Everett in one of Boeing's hangars at Paine Field or flown down to Portland, Oregon to get its coat of airline colors.

 

 

After it's done being tested by Boeing on functional check flights to make sure everything works, the aircraft are handed over to airline customers for their own evaluations. The first of these is called a C1 flight.

 

 

If the airline is satisfied with the airplane and everything is in working order, it's towed over to the delivery center and all the paperwork is signed.

 

 

The next flight of the airplane is with its formal airline designation flying off to be put into service.

 

 

This was a very cursory look at how the 777 today comes together in the factory. The process has changed a lot since 1995 when the first 777 was delivered. Boeing today builds 777s at a rate of 8.3 per month, or 100 per year. If you want to keep exploring, I've got about 700 more photos of the 777's assembly process and plenty of images of it in operation around the world. ( http://bit.ly/1ad5Gyo )

 

All the best,

 

Jon Ostrower

Find me on Twitter @jonostrower

AWESOME! thanks, the picture with the grey box with black stripes in the fuselage, what is that?

Wow Jon, that was an awesome post. Thanks so much for taking the time and effort in sharing the story and pics, very much appreciated, cheers.

AWESOME! thanks, the picture with the grey box with black stripes in the fuselage, what is that?

Part of the galley, it just that it's covered. Very nice pictures. Thank you.

 

Regards

Thank you Jon. Impressive indeed, and very kind of you to share. :drinks:

Interesting.

Thanks Jon.  Most impressive.

Whoever decided to plug their iPhone in the left EFB hole  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Gives you a really good impression of how huge those engines are, when you see a technician standing alongside.

 

Thanks for posting, really enjoyed that.

Madness !  :Applause: 

Great post Jon, thanks for sharing!

Fascinating pictures, especially the incomplete flight deck, cheers.

That looks a lot like PMDG's factory.

Great post.  Thank you.

Fantastic post Jon! Really interesting to see the delivery line in such a great detail!

Thanks, everyone! Glad you all enjoyed it. 

 

AWESOME! thanks, the picture with the grey box with black stripes in the fuselage, what is that?

 

That's the first class bar. Here's what the final product looks like:

 

 

 

Courtesy: http://bit.ly/1dHTerX

 

Jon Ostrower