I'll have three of those please

Today was a day I'd been looking forward to and as Tom would later describe me "you're on the verge of becoming a plane spotter" may have some truth in it.

We were off to the Everett airfield. Technically it's owned by Washington state but it happens to be the home to the biggest building by volume in the world which is also the manufacturing facility for all Boeing wide body jets. We were going plane spotting.

I'd booked a tour from the UK long before setting off on our trip and 11.30 was our time. We thrashed Sally up I5 to Everett in plenty of time and spent half an hour looking round the Future of Flight museum prior to our tour.

The tour started with a PR video about the history of Boeing and how two blokes fancied making planes 80 years ago. Then under security escort we made the short bus journey to the first hanger. This is the home of the 747 production line. They were finishing the last batch of 747-400 freighters as the 747-800 and 800F are due to start production very soon. We observed the 5th 744F for UPS sitting in the penultimate position. They explained how the line worked and how the parts moved about this gigantic building to be in the right place at the right time.

From 747 production we headed back along one of the tunnels, we noted the suitability for segway racing in these tunnels, before having it explained that Boeing a fleet of bicycles for their employees to navigate this massive building and tunnel network!

The 777 production line was next. This line is a moving line. This means the plane is progressing through the plant a quarter of an inch an hour during production as demand requires such quick turn around. There was a complete 777 for Air France sitting ready to go to the paint shop and a Qatar 777 waiting to be moved to final position.

The last stop on our tour was the 787 assembly line. An airliner set to revolutionise air travel for point-to-point routes as the A380 did for hub-to-hub. It's amazing to think that the aircraft sitting in the line here will not be delivered until Q4 2009! The 3rd 787 every built, due to delivery customer ANA was sitting by the doors having the modifications that early testing had identified as necessary fitted. This, unlike the other lines, is an assembly line and all parts are delivered on an 'as-needed' basis from all over the world. Boeing do not manufacture any of the 787 in Everett.

From the 787 hangar we headed back to the museum. On the way we passed the paint hangers. All capable of painting one of 767, 777, 747 but each designated a type, incidently all paint detail of commerical craft is applied by hand using stencils and not robots! Then we passed the delivery area, where a sellection of new aircraft were sitting awaiting delivery to their customers.

A memorable and jolly tour had, we spent some more time in the future of flight museum marvelling at the scale of aircraft technology and played in an old cockpit, and yes there is still a switch for the no smoking signs!

We returned to hill billy land contented and ready for a feast which duely followed before our exploration of Seattle starts.