In the past year or so, I have been on quite a few adventures where I was covering an event with legacy media there also. These are the fine folks that you see with big cameras and fancy video trucks. Most of them do an outstanding job reporting the news in an interesting and effective way. But what they have in training, experience, talent, a mass audience and equipment, most lack the passion for aviation.
Don’t get me wrong, that is alright. They have a job to do. Many will report on many different types of stories, not just on aviation. They have a story to get, a deadline to meet. They deliver or print their story and move on to the next. They are trained in journalism or communications and love finding the story and sharing it, no matter what the topic might be. There is nothing wrong with how this works, but a blogger looks at a story in a very different way.
Most bloggers don’t have training in journalism. Heck the king of aviation blogging, Jon Ostrower (aka FlightBlogger) and I have degrees in Political Science. We picked a subject because we love the subject, want to learn more and want to share that passion with others. I know in my case, the passion came first, followed by honing my skills in writing, editing, photography, videography and networking.
So what does this photo represent? To me it represents the difference between bloggers and the legacy media. The photo is of me touching the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for the first time, as I was taking my interior tour. I just couldn’t help it. I felt like a sugar-deficient kid in a candy store. I was so excited to not only get inside the Dreamliner, but to touch it for the first time. Yes, I was a nerd touching the side of the plane, but it is something that none of the legacy media folks did and it put a huge smile on my face.
They were more concerned about the proper angles, getting the sound bites, then off to edit to get it on the news. I took my own photos and video, but I made sure to slow down and realize I was frek’n inside a Dreamliner. At that time, very few people had been inside a Dreamliner and I enjoyed every moment, knowing it was something special.
I freely admit that I am not a professional journalist or even an airline expert. However, I have a huge passion for aviation and learning about new things. I think (and really hope) that passion comes through on my blogs and you sometimes get to learn something new.
All my blogs might not resonate with a wider audience, like legacy media has to shoot for, but I am happy most blogs can resonate with an audience that shares my interest in aviation and the airline business.
You remember being a kid and splashing in the puddles? Well, I guess I sometimes get in the mood to do it as an adult to. Take the excitement of jumping in puddles, add a Boeing 747-8 and you have total awesomeness.
One of the tests the Boeing 747-8 must go through is a water spray test before getting certification. Boeing created a large puddle and ran the 747-8 through it at 30, 40, then finally at 50kts to see how the water would react to the body.
The test was conducted in Glasgow, Montana and Bernard Choi with Boeing Communications told me, “The airplane and engines performed as designed.”
British Airways Boeing 757-200 (G-CPET) in retro Negus & Negus colors. Click for larger.
For me, liveries seem to always look better on a Boeing 757. What better combination of a nice retro livery on a Boeing 757. Unfortunately, this livery is to commemorate the wonderful service the Boeing 757 has given British Airways, since they plan on retiring them shortly.
British Airways has received their second new Boeing 777-300ER and plan to use the additional ones on order to replace the Boeing 757 by the end of the month.
The airline was the global launch customer when the first Boeing 757 took to the skies in 1983 and grew to a fleet that was 54 strong. The aircraft became a familiar sight to customers on British Airways’ shorthaul and domestic network. Three now remain, all of which entered service in 1997.
One of them, G-CPET, has been painted in the origional livery the Boeing 757’s flew in 1983, the “Negus & Negus” livery. So where did the livery get that name? British Airways told me it came from the design house that worked on the livery.
The remaining 757’s will be sold for cargo use, so they will at least still be flying for quite some time!
Want to meet a Boeing historian? Want to walk on the Boeing factory floor among the Boeing 777 and new 747-8I? Then Aviation Geek Fest is the place to be. A limited number of tickets are for sale now. You can get yours via our website, but hurry, when they are gone… they are GONE! See you there.
Last year’s Aviation Geek Fest was awesome. This year is going to be even better. Meet and hear Boeing Historian Mike Lombardi speak, tour the factory floor (like literally on the floor, not on the balcony like with public tours) of the Boeing 767, 777 and 747-8 production lines, meet other aviation nerds and quite a bit more. Oh and guess what Boeing 747-8 has in production right now? That’s right, the very first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental.
If you are going to be in the Seattle area on Saturday, October 23, 2010, you are on Twitter and this sounds like something you might be interested in, get ready! Only 45 tickets will be made available to purchase starting at 11am (PST) this Friday October 15th for $20.00. Once they are gone… they are gone! The event is being hosted at the Future of Flight and will all take place at Paine Field.
If you are not able to make it, do not worry. You will be able to follow on Twitter and I am sure there will be a blog written up on it as well.
