OF THE SKY!NG KiDS takes a tour of the world’s biggest building – a Boeing aeroplane factory… GIANTS

We’re about to enter the most enormous building on the planet!* The size of 55 football pitches, the scale of the Boeing aeroplane factory, near Seattle in the USA, is

staggering! In this vast arena, some of the world’s largest and most hi-tech jets are created – in the first nine months of this year, a whopping 563 planes were made. Cool!

BUSY WORKERSAfter taking a lift larger than a living room up to the third floor of this building, we walk along balconies overlooking the production floor. From up here, the workers look like ants swarming around giant fragments

of aeroplane. Over 30,000 employees work here day and night. Nineteen canteens serve 17,000 meals a day to keep staff well fed and the factory even has its own fire and police departments!

A CENTURY IN THE SKIESBoeing is the largest aerospace company in the world and it's been building jets for commercial airlines and defence for 100 years. It even manufactures spacecraft, and helped build the International Space Station! Founded by William E. Boeing in 1916, it’s safe to say that the company has really taken off since it made its first aircraft – which was made out of wood and cloth!

If you’ve ever flown on a big plane that has two aisles, there’s a good chance it was made here at this factory!

Workers built wings from canvas and wood in the old days

Built in 1967, the Boeing factory is so huge it could fit the whole of Disneyland inside!

SUPERSIZED ASSEMBLYThe factory floor is divided into manufacturing lines, one for each type of aeroplane. As the planes move down the lines, teams of experts have different jobs to do – from installing the electrics, to fitting the flight deck or the plane's seating. Above our heads, networks of colossal cranes lift and transport huge pieces of plane from one area to another, until eventually the entire aircraft is fitted together like a ginormous jigsaw puzzle.

TESTING, TESTING!Next, it’s time to power up and ensure everything works! Huge doors, each the size of an American Football Field, roll open on tracks to allow the finished plane to be taken to a hangar where it's painted in the customer's colours. Then it will undergo ground checks before having its first flight, a four-hour round trip that tests everything from the enormous engines, landing equipment, emergency breaks, electrical systems and even the toilet!

Fancy buying a plane of your own? Well, you’ll need a cool £150-300 million, depending on the model – and that's before you even think about the interior. So start saving up now, kids!

* At over 13 million cubic metres, it’s the biggest building by volume.

The planes in this assembly

line are all Boeing 777s

but this factory also makes 747s,

767s and 787 Dreamliners –

all at the same time!

It takes teamwork to build a plane!

5 FLIGHT FACTS1 The first successful

aeroplane was invented by the American brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright. Its maiden voyage in 1903 lasted just 12 seconds!

2 Worldwide, there are more

than 100,000 flights per day! Air traffic controllers on the ground manage all the aircraft and make sure the flow of air traffic is safe.

3 A Boeing aeroplane's

steering wheel is known as its yoke. The pilot controls the plane's altitude, using the yoke for both pitch (up and down) and roll (side to side).

4 Every large passenger

aeroplane has a pilot and a co-pilot. They share the flying during long flights, giving the captain a well-deserved break!

5 The world’s fastest successful

commercial plane was Concorde, which flew at twice the speed of sound! Cruising at up to 2,179kmph, it retired in 2003 after 27 years in service.

This green wrapping is put on the aluminium

aeroplanes to protect them

during the build.

Around 100 Boeing 777s are built at the Everett

factory each year!

The factory is so large that

some staff use tricycles to get

around!

NG KiDS travelled to Seattle courtesy of Port of Seattle and America

As You Like It. We stayed at Hampton Inn &

Suites Seattle North/Lynnwood. We visited

the Future of Flight Aviation Centre and

Boeing Tour courtesy of Future of Flight and Snohomish County

Tourism Bureau. Find out more at Seattle-WashingtonState.co.uk and futureofflight.org

OCEAN

PACIFIC ATLANTIC

OCEAN

USAEverett

The Boeing factory is located in the city of Everett, Washington.