Still Building the Dreamliner, originally uploaded by Craig Damlo.

Despite the image and title, this post is not about the 787 but is instead a rant (so fair warning). First, I will point out that those of us in the aerospace industry are not surprised at all with the delays that have plagued Boeing's 787. Almost all new aircraft are late and one with so many new technologies is bound to have problems in development. But I have to say that I'm happy to see that Boeing has not adopted the modern electronic/software ethos to push items out the door and update them later. We have all experienced getting new products that require updates out of the box before you can use them. This drives me insane. I could just imagine during the first commercial flight of a new airplane and the pilots would have to connect to the internet to update the firmware if they planned to use the landing gear because the aircraft manufacturer wasn't ready when they shipped the first plane.

I think it is telling that Microsoft had to create  a "Patch Tuesday" because even they recognized that more than one patch a month wasn't enough. But I want to take it even further and end Patch Tuesday; let's see companies release products that are fully tested and ready for release. And I think consumers need to take responsibility in judging products not just on how they work after updates, but rather on how many updates and how long did it take for that product to get to that stage. Don't get me wrong; I believe in updates for significant improvements and expansions, but not for correcting errors missed because of a lack of testing or time. We shouldn't have to pay for something that will require patches when factory seals on the a box imply "This product is complete."

From my in-depth study of modern society—through TV reality shows—I know that it's the children of the rich that live the easiest lives with the most comfort. And now their pets get the safest travel (they are already getting the most luxurious travel). I've talked here about Pet Airways and asked if pets get oxygen in the event of the loss of cabin pressure, and they didn't. Now 4 Paws Aviation is offering supplemental oxygen hoods for dogs; well, dogs that fly on private jets anyway! These hoods still won't help my dogs who are down in the cargo area because you can only carry this onto a private jet at this point. Then, you would need to don it on the dog (after you have donned your own mask first) after a loss of cabin pressure. I've only flown with my dogs once in the cargo hold, but I still wish there was some way of ensuring that they would be able to continue to breathe in the event of a loss of cabin pressure.

The bigger animal oxygen issue that still hasn't been addressed is that of race horses being flown to and from races. Now these animals can be worth millions of dollars and are flown on cargo planes—ie, with the rest of the cargo. The issue with horses in the back is this: when a fire is detected in the cargo area, the procedure is to decompress the aircraft and fly at a high altitude to starve the fire of oxygen. There are two problems with supplying these animals with oxygen; first, a supernumerary (ie, a person flying on a cargo flight who is not part of the flight crew) would have to go back into the cargo hold with the fire to don the hood onto the horse. Mind you, it's not just the fire that's the problem; the person would need to be wearing a positive-pressure oxygen mask with a portable oxygen source, but the aircraft would also be maneuvering, which would make it even more difficult to navigate the cargo hold. Secondly, let's look at the fire itself. One of the reasons for not providing the horse with oxygen is that, if the fire burns for any amount of time, the horse would be cooked alive in the cargo hold. If it isn't given oxygen, it simply dies while passed out and isn't put through the pain of the fire.

I know I'm about a week behind on this post as far as coverage of the first flight of The Boeing Company's 787, but I'm sure everyone has read enough and seen enough pictures of it already. I want to talk about the crowd and the fun of going to see the first flight. I had some what of a vested interest in seeing this plane fly because I have been working on parts for it for the better part of the last four years. I had fun watching it fly. My wife, Sherri, also came with me and she had fun, too, despite not being into aerospace. So what is it that can make watching an empty airplane take off in the cold drizzle so much fun? For me, it could easily have been that I am an aerospace nerd and had a vested interested in seeing it fly, but that doesn't explain why Sherri had a good time. It could have also been the incredible spot we got to watch it from. But, I think it really was the same reason people gather torches and storm the castle: good ol' fashioned mob mentality.

And I think the crowd did make it more fun for me, too, despite the fact that I hate crowds and almost didn't go because of them. Everyone knew the plane was scheduled to fly, and some people had paid >$100 for a place on the roof of the Future of Flight at the north end of the airport. I was also assuming that the plane was going to take off going north because, if it had crashed, it would have been more likely to hit the water rather than homes to the south. So, with that in mind, Sherri and I drove past the north end of the runway, about 30 minutes prior to scheduled flight time, and we just kept driving past the throngs of thousands of people already lined up waiting for the event. I had seen on the news that people started showing up to claim the best spots at about 1:30 am.

We instead went around to the south end of the runway to watch the plane take off away from us. And, boy, did that work to our advantage! Just prior to the plane taxing down to the south end of the runway, the airport staff was nice enough to open the fence and allow us to line up on the grass near the taxi way. As you can see in Sherri's picture above, that gave us one great view. And, although that helped make the event an exciting one for us, it was still cold and ultimately short. But as the plane lifted off and the crowds cheered, the excitement was simply contagious.

I think this is why sporting events—with the exception of baseball—are so much more fun to watch in person rather than on TV. This was also the scheme I used to get Sherri into watching college basketball—because anyone can have a good time in Allen Field House watching the Jayhawks play in front of a home crowd. I can also see how easily an angry mob can form and turn dangerous because people simply get caught up in it. So, in the end, I don't think you needed to be an aviation nerd like me to enjoy it; you just needed to get into the spirit of the event, made even easier with people excited for the day. Also, if you want to see more pictures, including the second 787 painted in ANA colors, then go here.