Plane Spotting

BIG BIRD: A couple of days ago, there was big aviation news in the skies above Seattle; Boeing's enormous new passenger jet, the 777-9, took its maiden flight.

The big bird took off from Payne Field  at 10:09 a.m. From there, it flew over the Evergreen State for about four hours before landing at Boeing Field.

I wish we'd had our act together, we likely could have seen its approach for landing. Or, we could have gone to Boeing Field to watch it land. Instead, we have to settle for this video, from C-NET.

One notable design feature of the 777-9 is that plane's wing tips fold up so that it can fit at airport gates. Fully extended, they're 235 feet, 5 inches wide. When folded up, they're 212.75 feet. The plan is 251 feet, 9-inches long. 

The mammoth 777-9 has seating for 426 passengers and a range of over 7,285 nautical miles.
In a press release, Boeing says the plane is the world's "largest and most fuel efficient twin-engine commercial jet."  

Annabelle and I were driving south of Seattle on I-5 yesterday, approaching Boeing Field and I told her to be on the lookout for the 777-9, thinking it might still bet there. Sure, enough, before long we spied the big bird, its nose toward the freeway. 

Later that afternoon, we were headed to South Seattle College and I told the kids we were going to take an alternative route, closer to Boeing Field, to try to get a better look.

The plane had actually been moved in that time span, but we did find it, nose toward the west this time. 

Here's a terrible photo Annabelle took of it through the car window. Can you make out the "9" on its tail?

I told the kids they were one of just a tiny percentage of people on Earth who had seen a plane like that to date, and that's one of the cool things about living in "Jet City."