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.

Since the pets will be kept in the main cabin, I decided to do a quick search to see if I could find anything about pets getting oxygen on traditional airlines when in the cabin. All I could find was this page from Continental Airlines, that simply states:

No oxygen will be administered to a pet in the event of an emergency.

Seems simple enough. It was the only airline I could quickly find with any statement, and I have never heard of airlines carrying animal oxygen masks.

Pet Airways seems big on keeping the animals safe by keeping the animals out of the cargo area and a Pet Attendant monitors and checks the comfort of all passengers every 15 minutes during the flight.

I figured they may actually have something onboard to keep all the animals alive during a loss of cabin pressure. To check on that I sent a message to the company's Twitter account and had the following exchange:

craigd @PetAirways how do you protect the pets against loss of cabin pressure?

PetAirways @craigd you know i dont know answer but i will look into it and see if i can find that answer for you.

craigd @PetAirways thanks; I look forward to the answer.

PetAirways @craigd i looked into it and i believe we are still working on developing those procedures but will have them in place soon

So, that is the answer: they plan on it but don't have anything yet. I actually hope that they do find a way to protect the pets; however, even if they don't, I think that the airline will be a success. They don't charge [currently $150 each way] much more than the traditional airlines, and, yet, the safety and health of the pets seems to be much better. I know I will use them when they start service between Seattle and Kansas City.