Two Places At Once

Somehow, I managed to defy the laws of gravity, physics and the universe and be in two places at once. I had an excellent vantage point of the departures at PAE yesterday afternoon. Watching the seven series aircraft lined up for departure one after another was truly an amazing sight. After the 757 departed PAE, I, along with famed night-time photographer Charles Conklin, raced down to BFI in time to see the 777-300ER do a fly over. The 777 had already begun its taxi when we left. I have the honor of saying, I raced a 777, and won.

I took a little video from my cell phone camera and put it on youtube.



Here are some of my favorite shots from yesterday. Please note these are 100% unedited images and have not been modified at all except for the copyright mark.

Parade of Sevens

Post time is EDT. -3 hours for PDT.

Editors Note 1: This is the first post from Seattle.
Editors Note 2: This information was not purchased and was provided at the courtesy of a source.

Last night as I was taxiing to the gate at SEA after my cross country flight, my phone rings and on the other line comes the complete schedule for tonight's events at PAE and BFI.

The rumors are true, the parade of Seven series aircraft will take place tonight, July 7, 2007 (7/7/07). Boeing will leave PAE tonight with eight aircraft (707 through 777) beginning at 1835 PDT.

Saturday, July 7, 2007
All times in PDT
1000 LCF2 Returns to PAE (Wings for Static Frame believed to be aboard)
1300 LCF2 Leaves PAE for BFI
1320 LCF2 Arrives at BFI
1400 FedEx 727-200 (tail N464FE) positions at PAE
1400 Delta 767-300 (tail TBD) arrives at PAE
1415 Alaska 737 (tail TBD) arrives at PAE
1500 AirTran 717 (tail TBD) arrives at PAE
1530 Continental 757 (tail TBD) arrives at PAE
1600 Crew meeting for all involved pilots
1700 Group photo for all aircraft
1820 Crews are in place with all aircraft
1830 Museum of Flight Reception begins at BFI
1835 707 taxis, 717 through 777 taxi behind and depart PAE
1900 NOTAM for BFI released - South Field Shut Down
1902 Welcome Remarks at BFI Reception

1907 Omega Air 707 (tail N707MQ) Operating as Omega 1 - Touchdown at BFI
1917 Air Tran 717 Operating at B717B - Touchdown at BFI
1927 FedEx 727 - Touchdown at BFI
1937 Alaska 737 - Touchdown at BFI
1947 Rolls Royce 747-200 (tail N787RR) Operating as N787RR - Touchdown at BFI
1957 Continental 757 - Touchdown at BFI
2007 Delta 767 Operating as DAL9900 - Touchdown at BFI
2017 Air France 777-300ER (tail F-GSQY) Operating as BOE536 - Touchdown at BFI

2038 Rolls Royce 747 taxis at BFI on three engines
2045 707 + 717 towed to Museum of Flight
- 707 and LCF2 will spend the night at BFI
2200 Rolls Royce 747 heads to BFI

All eyes on the sky. Mine certainly will.

Blowing the Top Off of Paris - Massive Order for American Airlines

UNCONFIRMED BY OFFICIAL SOURCES
Reliable sources inside the aviation industry have told Flightblogger that American Airlines intends to place a "massive" narrow and wide-body order at the Paris Air Show that includes:

- Boeing 787s - 100-125 firm, plus another 100 options
- Additional Boeing 777s - firm number unknown
- Boeing 737s - 100 firm, options unknown

This reasoning behind this order makes sense for the long term growth and modernization for American Airlines. The Boeing 787 fills an important place in the American fleet as older model Airbus A300s and Boeing 767s are retired. American currently operates a fleet of 34 A300s that range from 19 to 14 years old, as well as 73 767s. American has already announced that they will be retiring their non-ER 767-200s which range from 22 to 25 years old. The fleet of 299 McDonnell Douglas MD-82/83 are set to be retired beginning in 2009. The oldest is 24 years old. These aircraft have already been slated for replacement by Boeing 737-800s.

The deal, following completed retirement of the McDonnell Douglas and Airbus fleets, will result in American Airlines becoming an all Boeing fleet, as well as consolidating eight aircraft types to just six. American currently operates the worlds largest fleet of aircraft.

As part of the deal, Boeing will award American Airlines the maintenance contract as part of the Goldcare program. The Boeing Goldcare program is intended to maintain aircraft value and minimize unexpected costs throughout the life-cycle of the 787. American Airlines just completed roughly $100 million worth of upgrades to its Tulsa maintenance facility.

If confirmed, this would be the largest single order for the Boeing 787 program. The details of this order are unconfirmed by official sources, but have been corroborated by sources within the aviation industry. The deal is expected to be officially announced at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Field from June 18-24.

500 (and 14), Part 2

Randy's Blog captured it nicely on this graph.

One of the comments to his post really hit the nail on the head:

Gary Glover (Sydney Australia):
If you think the 787 has sold well just wait 'til you see the 737 replacement
Posted on April 5, 2007 01:42

Here in lies the next REAL challenge for the commercial aviation industry. By 2012 or 15 the market is going to be screaming for a 737/A320 family replacement. The first NGs will be pushing 20, the Classics will be approaching 30, and the older A320s around 25ish. The competition for this market will be more fierce than anything either Airbus or Boeing has ever experienced.

From a globalization standpoint, the middle part of the second decade of the 21st century will provide a truly global playing field for the narrow-body replacement market. I'm not speaking of the customer base, because that was always a global market. I'm speaking of manufacturers. Airbus and Boeing will be offering a replacement for their older products, however, there will be new national players vying for that market. Namely Embraer in Brazil, AVIC I in China, Bombardier in Canada and maybe, just maybe Fokker (though EU politics may handle this one accordingly).

Look for Airbus to expand their manufacturing deal with China on the A320s to the A320NGs to try and keep them from developing their own product for market. I would put my money on national prestige winning the day on this one, which means an emerging Chinese aviation market rocks the industry to its roots. As for Brazil, the E190/195 is already taking the place of the smaller A318 and 737-500/600 market. This is really the prologue to a much larger battle that's coming in the next 10 years.

500 (and 14)

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner broke the half millennium mark yesterday with an add on order by JAL:

From Boeing: The JAL order for five 787-8 airplanes, in addition to several orders from unidentified customers, brings the 787's order total to 514 airplanes from 43 customers since its launch on April 26, 2004, making it the fastest-selling commercial airplane in history. This increases JAL's total 787 order to 35 airplanes from their previous order of 30 in December 2004.

Along with a potential special paint scheme expected to fly with JAL (pictured here), there seems to be a distinct question as to whether or not the 787 can hold this impressive title for much longer. It's older (and shorter) brother the 737 Next Generation, holds the title for fastest selling jetliner by delivery date. When the first -700 NG was delivered to Southwest on December 17, 1997, the NG program had accumulated a very fitting 737 orders.

With that being said, by May 2008 when the first 787-881 is delivered to ANA the title may be revoked if Boeing hasn't booked 738 firm orders. Why not shoot for 787?