If you have been reading the site for a while, you know that I don”t take as many trips as I used to life priorities have just changed. When Embraer recently reached out to invite me down to fly on their E195-E2 aircraft, I was all in. ”But David, didn”t you just fly their E190-E2 Sharkjet about a year ago and don”t you always complain about how often you fly the diagcon from Seattle to Florida?” Wow, you do read the site quite a bit and you are right… on both accounts.
First off, I was going to be able to fly the Tech Lion vs the Sharkjet this time… meow! Secondly, as part of the media flight, we flew into the Kennedy Space Facility (KTTS), got a VIP tour, and had lunch with an astronaut (Tang drink included). And if that wasn”t enough, I was able to ride jump seat while taking off from KTTS. Yes, this was going to be worth heading down to Florida again to hang out with the fine folks at Embraer, and I was very grateful that I had an invite!
This was a short trip, but that is okay. I woke up in the middle of the night to make my 6:00 am flight out of Seattle to head down to Fort Lauderdale (FLL). I made it there just in time for dinner, then bed time (this old man does no partying). I wanted to see the sun rise, so I set my alarm early again, and it was worth it. Soon enough, I was in a bus heading to Embraer’s offices, located on the northeast side of FLL.
I am going to be a bit selfish here, but I think for good reason! I recently got married (yay) and we wanted to wait a bit to plan our honeymoon; we didn’t want to be planning a wedding AND a trip at the same time. My new bride and I both want to go […]
If you have been keeping up with the 737 MAX, you know that the news hasn’t been super great about the aircraft. There are many, many stories you can read out there about what has been going on and we are not wanting to re-hash it all. We can all agree that things are not […]
The contest has ended and a big congrats to Alex Nieves for winning! He will be giving this model a wonderful new home. Be sure to subscribe to our story email (we shoot you an email when we publish a new story) to make sure you don’t miss the next contest! I get excited every […]
A while back, I started to see photos of a purple and pink 787 and wondered what the heck it was all about. Then I saw that people had the chance to get up close and personal with the plane at the Boeing Future of Flight, and I realized that I needed to figure out the full story. It turns out that the special livery is inspired by the Employees Community Fund (ECF) of Boeing. And what is ECF, you might ask? Good question. According to Boeing:
“Since 1948, ECF has funded approximately $1 billion to local communities across the United States. The ECF has 20 chapters across Boeing, giving employees an opportunity to make a difference where they live and work. Each chapter is managed by local employees who make grants based on the needs of their communities. The special livery celebrates the commitment and generosity of our employees in their local communities.”
I would say that is a pretty worthy cause to support this unique livery. This is also special, since it is not actually all paint, but is comprised of the largest decal ever on a composite aircraft. Boeing has certified the decal technology, so now airline customers can start using them. I am hoping it means more special liveries and please, oh please, I hope it means less European white designs.
