Telstar Logistics

Press Release: Telstar Logistics Delivers New Brand Extension

PRESS RELEASE

TELSTAR LOGISTICS LAUNCHES NEXT GENERATION BRAND EXTENSION

Genetic Technology Yields Robust, Scalable, Cute New Life

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - 25 July, 2007 Telstar Logistics Genetics Systems, working in collaboration with the Biological Imperative Group and Evolutionary Solutions Inc., is proud to announce the successful launch and deployment of our newest brand extension, Miel Avril Lappin.

Miel achieved re-entry at 4:54 pm on July 24, 2007 in San Francisco after a mercifully brief and uneventful labor.  Her gross delivery weight was 7 pounds 1 ounce (3177 grams), with a total platform length of 19.5 inches (49.5 cm).

A state-of-the-art newborn, Miel is equipped with the latest onboard diagnostic and maintenance technologies, including fully autonomic respiratory, circulatory, and waste-disposal systems, as well as pre-installed grasping and suckling subroutines. A built-in acoustic alarm alerts the executive team when ambient conditions are sub-optimal, and the user interface is calibrated for maximum cuteness. After rigorous third-party testing, Miel also achieved the prestigious Apgar 10 certification for superior build-quality.

"Adopting a standardized infant platform that supports heterogeneous brand propagation enables Telstar Logistics to improve long-term connectivity and increase overall performance levels," said Todd Lappin, co-chair of Telstar Logistics Genetics Systems. "In the years ahead, we anticipate that Miel will help expand our conceptual footprint among the much sought-after Generation Z demographic."

Miel said, "Wehhhhhhh  pfthhhhhhp-p-pt fwptttthhhhhhht gug-g-g-g-g." Her mother is doing very well, and trying to get some sleep.

About Telstar Logistics
Telstar Logistics is a leading provider of integrated services via Land, Air, Sea, and Space. For more information about Telstar Logistics, its products, and its history, please visit our Investor Relations page.

UPDATE, 30 July, 2007:
Day Six. Trajectory and telemetry are still good. Returned to Telstar Logistics headquarters for permanent basing. Cuteness increasing, in tandem with sudden interest in social activism.

(Photo above: Miel Avril Lappin, 10 minutes after she was born)

Separated at Birth? One Rincon Hill and the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze GP

While we're on this little architecture kick...

Since our exciting visit last month to the top of One Rincon, a 62-story residential skyscraper under construction on the San Francisco waterfront, more of the building's exterior facade has been added, with the result that it's now more apparent what this prominent addition to the city's skyline will look like upon completion. The picture is not pretty. In fact, it's kind of tacky -- like a castaway from Shanghai's Pudong New Area without all the neon to give it pizzaz.

The problem isn't the scale or the height; as a friend of Progress and Industry, Telstar Logistics welcomes high-rise construction in San Francisco's downtown area.  No, the problem is the exterior curtain wall designed by architects at Chicago's Solomon Cordwell Buenz.  The curtain wall achieves a remarkable effect: The more finished One Rincon gets, the less interesting the building becomes.

Indeed, over at our Flickr site, one of our Associates shrewdly observed that One Rincon resembles an Ionic Breeze air filter -- the kind made famous by San Francisco-based gadget retailer Sharper Image.  As you can see above, the resemblance is uncanny.

The thing on the left is One Rincon.

The thing on the right is the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze GP.

One Rincon will be 605 feet tall.  The Ionic Breeze GP rises 28 inches.

Apartments in One Rincon begin at around $500,000.  The Ionic Breeze can be yours for just $399.95, and if you act now Sharper Image will throw in a second unit for just another $199.98.

Presented with a bargain like that, it's no wonder the architects at Solomon Cordwell Buenz may have looked to the Ionic Breeze when searching for a San Francisco landmark that could provide some site-specific inspiration for One Rincon.

LINKS:
Glass Curtain Rises on Tower (July 21, 2007 San Francisco Chronicle article featuring an interview with John Lahey, an architect with Solomon Cordwell Buenz)

PREVIOUSLY:
Taking in the Views from One Rincon

Meet the Architect Behind the Ultimate NorCal Surf Shack

While out on the town with us for a high-class dinner at Joe's Cable Car on Saturday Night, Telstar Logistics Senior Design Consigleri Joshua Aidlin mentioned -- with humble reluctance, and only after some insistent prodding -- that one of his recent projects would be the subject of a major to-do in this weekend's Sunday New York Times Magazine.

Sure enough, when we opened our Sunday Times this morning, we immediately flipped to the article about the house that Josh calls the "Great Highway Residence." When he's not on assignment for Telstar Logistics, Josh is a partner at the architectural firm Aidlin Darling Design, and his work is drop-dead gorgeous -- warm, modern, sophisticated, thoughtful, and richly detailed. The Great Highway project entailed a renovation and addition to a beachfront house in San Francisco owned by a gent who is a hedge fund manager and surfer (not necessarily in that order). Pilar Viladas picks up the rest of the story in the Times:

The original house, which was designed by the architect Ernest Born for his own use, faces the ocean dunes on a site that is three lots wide and two deep (real estate was cheaper then). The modest two-story wooden structure has two bedrooms, an open kitchen and a double-height living room that looks into the garden, which is planted with stone pine and cypress trees.

Tom Lloyd-Butler, a hedge-fund manager who is the house’s third owner, loved the house exactly as it was — essentially unchanged since Born built it. So when he needed more space to accommodate his two growing sons, himself and his partner, Dan Zelen, who owns Zelen, a design store in Los Angeles, he wanted to tread lightly. He was introduced to Aidlin Darling Design, a local architecture firm, by Steven Miller, who created the comfortable, midcentury-tinged interiors of the original house. “Tom wanted a minimal intervention in the existing house,” says Joshua Aidlin, who designed the addition with David Darling and Michael Hennessey.

The architects came up with a freestanding building that is connected to the existing house at the second floor by a glass-walled bridge. The 1,850-square-foot addition contains a rec room with surfboard storage (this is a family of avid surfers) on the first floor, a master bedroom and bath on the second and a family-media room on the third; each floor is open-plan to maximize light and views. On the windy ocean side, the top two floors offer chances to check out the surf (the dunes block the view from the first floor), while on the garden side, sliding glass doors retract completely, making the structure seem like a giant treehouse.

The Great Highway Residence is one hell of a surf shack. What's more, our sources say it will also appear in the September issue of a certain au courant home design and architecture magazine that shall go nameless. (HINT FOR SURFERS: The mag's name rhymes with Swell.)

The Great Highway Residence isn't open to the public, but if you want to see Aidlin-Darling in action, pay a visit to another one of their recent projects, the delicious Bar Bambino Italian cafe and wine bar in San Francisco's Mission District. Elsewhere, Aidlin Darling have designed a mixed-use building in SoMa that's set to become the city's first commercial LEED Gold sustainable architecture project. Congrats to Josh and all the aesthetes over at Aidlin Darling Design for getting some of the recognition they've long deserved.

LINKS:
Twice as Nice (article on the Great Highway Residence from the July 22, 2007 New York Times Magazine)

Aidlin Darling Design

(IMAGES: Top: Joshua Aidlin in his home on Potrero Hill, photo by Telstar Logistics. All others: Great Highway Residence by Dwight Eschliman for the New York Times)

Crash Test: Smart Minicar vs. Concrete Wall

Like our friends over at CurbedSF, we're intrigued at the prospect of one day owning a Smart minicar.  (Smart cars are set to go on sale in the United States beginning in 2008.) As regular visitors to this site know, Telstar Logistics will go to great lengths to find a parking space, and in the urban jungles where we operate, the Smart looks like the ultimate off-the-shelf parking solution. Plus, we've seen lots of them in the wild during trips to Europe, and they simply look, well, smart. There's much to be said for a car that actually manages to make a Mini seem Maxi.

Yet as red-blooded Americans who grew up riding in the back seat of an supersized chunk of American iron, one question nags at us: How safe is the Smart in a crash?

The answer, it seems, is rather safe indeed. That's because beneath its thin skin, the Smart hides a steel skeleton that does a gallant job of shielding passengers from direct impact forces. But don't take our word for it; check out this Smart crash test video produced by a British TV station a few years ago:

Call us impressed, with two caveats:

First, the Smart that's coming stateside will be a redesigned model that's slightly different from the ones shown here. But let's just assume similar levels of safety performance will carry forward, even though the 2008 Smart has not yet been tested by the U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

More importantly, side-impact collisions are a particular hazard in the urban grid, where clueless red light-runners are a constant threat. (Indeed, our previous command vehicle, the venerable E54129, suffered mightily in a T-bone collision under precisely that scenario.) We would have liked to see the results of a Smart side-impact test as well. Apart from that, our minds are now much more at ease at the thought of one day adding a Smart to the fleet.

(Tip of the helmet: CurbedSF)

LINKS:
SmartUSA (The Official American distributor of Smart cars)

Smart cars (Flickr photo group)

(Photo top: Radio controlled Smart crashes into a pedestrian dummy. Crash test at Airport Telgte, Westphalia, Germany. Photo from mompl)

Xtreme Tech Support Atop the Bay Bridge

As you well know, Telstar Logistics is dedicated to bringing you to exciting and generally off-limits places through the miracle of Internet-based "teletravel." 

We've taken you to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge.  We've landed you on the deck of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. We've shown you the pimpin' views from San Francisco's towering One Rincon skyscraper. And we've even escorted you on a secret tour inside the brand new Oakland Bay Bridge.

Now we stand ready to take you someplace new.  Courtesy of a source who goes by the handle of Unaesthetic, we invite you to take in the scenery from the tippy-top of a San Francisco Bay Bridge suspension tower! And on a sunny day, no less!

Through what unholy connivance did Unaesthetic gain access to this rarified place?  A clever young man, he did it in the most shrewd way imaginable: He contrived to receive an invitation!

He explains:

I wish I could say it were unauthorized because that has been a dream of mine for many years, but unfortunately after 9/11 you just can't do that sort of sh*t and come out unscathed. My first choice was the Golden Gate Bridge of course but this one was just fine by me.

I work for a company who does wireless networks and IP camera systems. We had some equipment up there that wasn't working properly and when the opportunity arose in talking to them I basically made it absolutely clear that I would definitely have to go up there to fix it.

Like we said... A very astute play.  Check out all the photos Unaesthetic took during his "mission-critical" traffic-cam repair adventure.

LINK:
Bay Bridge Climb (a Flickr photoset by Unaesthetic)

UPDATE (20 July, 2007):
Reader Brad Templeton provides this magnificent tip:

Back in 1971, my friend, photographer Bruce Steinberg, was doing a photo book on the bay bridge crews and went up there.    At the top he shot a series of overlapping photos, long before stitched panorama techniques where developed.  I scanned his moldy old slides and was able to assemble a panorama. This panorama can be seen here.

A few then-and-now details to notice (moving left to right): The big oil tanks on Potrero Hill, the warehouses and Navy warship tied up at pier 30/32, the rail yards in South Beach, the miserable Embarcadero freeway, the construction underway at the Embarcadero Center, and the Transamerica Building is but a humble stump.  Thank you Brad!
 

 

Star Sighting: The Alvin Submersible Visits San Francisco

Speaking of the Ship of the Day...

While patrolling the San Francisco waterfront this morning, Telstar Logistics observed a new guest tied up at a local pier: The R/V Atlantis, a marine research vessel owned by the US Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. It seems Atlantis arrived here after spending a few days exploring Monterey Bay, south of the city.

Upon approaching to take a closer look, we noticed that Atlantis is, in turn, carrying a celebrity submarine in its aft hangar bay: The famous Alvin submersible!

There aren't many subs that can lay claim to superstar status.  The Nautilus subs (of both Nemo and nuclear power) are two. Jacques Cousteau had his "Soucoupe" (Diving Saucer), and the Beatles had that Yellow Submarine (although it was merely a drug-induced hallucination).  The USS San Francisco is sort of famous -- but infamous is more like it.  Alvin, however, is the real deal; the J-Lo of underwater machinery. Woods Hole summarizes the sub's storied history:

[Woods Hole] operates the U.S. Navy-owned Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin for the national oceanographic community. Built in 1964 as the world’s first deep-ocean submersible, Alvin has made more than 4,200 dives. It can reach nearly 63 percent of the global ocean floor.

The sub's most famous exploits include locating a lost hydrogen bomb in the Mediterranean Sea in 1966, exploring the first known hydrothermal vent sites in the 1970s, and surveying the wreck of RMS Titanic in 1986.

Alvin carries two scientists and a pilot as deep as 4,500 meters (about three miles) and each dive lasts six to ten hours. Using six reversible thrusters, Alvin can hover, maneuver in rugged topography, or rest on the sea floor. Diving and surfacing is done by simple gravity and buoyancy—water ballast and expendable steel weights sink the sub, and that extra weight is dropped when the researchers need to rise back up to the surface.

The sub is equipped with still and video cameras, and scientists can also view the environment through three 0-centimeter (12-inch) viewports. Because there is no light in the deep, the submersible must carry quartz iodide and metal halide lights to illuminate the seafloor. Alvin has two robotic arms that can manipulate instruments, and its basket can carry up to 680 kilograms (1,500 pounds) of tools and seafloor samples.

Atlantis is in San Francisco for a few days to stock up in supplies and swap out a few laboratory modules.  She's not open for visits, but if you drop by Pier 30/32, you can see Alvin peeking out from the rear deck. (Take note of that big crane structure on the stern of Atlantis; it's used to haul Alvin in and out of the water.)

Or, you can just sit back in your easy chair take a look at a few of the photos we took earlier today.

To Alvin, the Atlantis, and her friendly crew, Telstar Logistics extends a hearty welcome to the Port of San Francisco!

LINKS:
Alvin Visits San Francisco (A Telstar Logistics photoset)

R/V Atlantis (Woods Hole data page)

Human Occupied Vehicle Alvin (Woods Hole data page)

PREVIOUSLY:
When Submarines Collide

(Photos above by Telstar Logistics)

Ahoy to the "Ship of the Day"

Like the ebb and flow of the tides, the rising of the sun in the morning, and the phases of the moon at night, the Ship of the Day blog delivers a regular dose of ocean-going awe to maritime enthusiasts the world over. Along the way, you might just learn a few intimate details about ships like the giant Berge Nord, shown above.

Ship of the Day sez:

The Berge Nord (IMO: 9127150, Port of Registry: Stavanger, Norway) is scheduled to arrive later this evening at the EECV bulk terminal in Rotterdam from Seven Islands, Canada carrying iron ore. From Rotterdam the iron ore is transported in barges to the steel mills of ThyssenKrupp and Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann in Germany.

The Berge Nord has a deadweight tonnage of 218,000, a draught of almost 19 meters and has seven holds and hatches. The ship was built in 1997 by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea and is owned by Bergesen Worldwide Shipping. This 305 meters long, 53 meters wide bulk carrier is the biggest ship to enter the Arctic sea.

There you have it:  Another new day. Another new ship.  And who knows what tomorrow might bring?

LINK:
Ship of the Day (Maritime weblog)

PREVIOUSLY:
Loose Lips Find Ships

(Tip of the dixie cup: gCaptain)

Does Life Imitate "Star Trek" in the Cabin of Boeing's New 787?

Amid much fanfare, Boeing rolled out the first production model of the company's new 787 airliner last week.  Fresh from the assembly line, the aircraft looked great from the outside. But inside, it was still a hollow shell.

That won't always be the case, of course, as Boeing has been working with a team of designers from Teague, a Seattle-based consultancy, to make the flight experience a little more pleasant for the millions of passengers who will one day ride aboard the 787.

What'll be different?  For one, the 787 will have windows that are 50 percent bigger than today's jets, to introduce more natural light. It will also have vaulted ceilings to create a more spacious feel, and LED lighting that can be adjusted to make the cabin feel like morning, midday, or dusk.

Pretty spiffy.  Yet we couldn't help but notice that the interior of the 787 bears an uncanny resemblance to the bridge of the USS Enterprise-D, the Galaxy Class starship that was once under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard.  Behold:

Not that this is a bad thing, mind you.  Quite the contrary. But we're just saying...

So what was the inspiration behind the 787s cabin design? ScribeMedia recently interviewed Teague CEO John Barratt to talk about the 787 design process -- a process which apparently did NOT involve watching lots and lots of ST:TNG reruns. Coincidence? Watch the interview and decide for yourself:

PREVIOUSLY:
The Unveiling of the First Boeing 787

Obituaries: Jack Odell, Creator of Matchbox Cars

While sipping our morning coffee last weekend, Telstar Logistics noticed an item in Saturday's Wall Street Journal marking the life and times of Jack Odell, the man who invented the classic Matchbox line of toy cars.  Mr. Odell died on July 7, at age 87. A self-taught tool and die maker, Mr. Odell was a stickler for detail -- a trait that clearly carried over to his work on Matchbox vehicles.  From the Wall Street Journal's remembrance:

Jack Odell became the founder and chief designer of Matchbox, the iconic miniature toys that have entertained car-crazy kids for half a century.

After creating a miniature steamroller for his young daughter, who wanted something that would fit into a matchbox to show her classmates, Mr. Odell -- who died last Saturday at age 87 in Herfordshire, England -- realized he had stumbled upon a product that the company he co-owned, struggling Lesney Products, could sell.

After producing such early models as a cement mixer and a dump truck, the company had its first hit with a miniature of Queen Elizabeth II's horse-drawn golden coach -- produced in the year of her coronation, 1953. More than a million of the coaches sold for the equivalent of about 40 cents in U.S. currency at the time; online today, they sell for hundreds of dollars. [...]

Mr. Odell, who left school at age 13, held odd jobs before enlisting in the Army, where he repaired fighting vehicles during World War II and had a profitable sideline of repairing Primus stoves.

Meanwhile, a pair of unrelated ex-servicemen named Smith -- Leslie and Rodney -- founded Lesney in 1947 in a bombed-out London pub called The Rifleman. The pair struggled to find die-making work for electrical sockets and other products. Soon, they brought in Mr. Odell, and Rodney Smith sold his stake and left the company.

When Lesney went public in 1960 it was producing one million cars a week. Production eventually rose to one million a day, and employed about 6,000. "We produce more Rolls-Royces in a single day than the Rolls-Royce company has made in its entire history," Mr. Odell told the New York Times in 1962.

His eye for detail and abilities as a die-cutter led to realistic dashboard dials and hoods and trunks that opened. Car companies, sensing free advertising, eagerly provided blueprints to ensure accurate reproduction. Clad in a white apron and sporting a close-trimmed mustache, Mr. Odell could be found checking on quality on the factory floor.

It's no exaggeration to say that Mr. Odell played a formative role in shaping (warping?) the world-view of Telstar Logistics during our startup years, and this blog is but a symptom of his influence. For that we remain forever grateful. So as Mr. Odell continues his metaphysical journey, we say, "Thank you and Happy Motoring!"

LINKS:
Jack Odell, Matchbox toymaker (Obiturary from independent.co.uk) 

Matchbox toys (Wikipedia page)

Frank's Matchbox Lesney Page (Extensive Matchbox photos, history, and links)

Matchbox Cars 1-37 (An excellent photo gallery of early Matchbox cars)

Bay Area Matchbox Collectors Association

Matchbox.com (Official website by Mattell, Inc.)

(Images: Top: 1960s Matchbox cars, from the Telstar Logistics Executive Collection. Middle: Original Matchbox steamroller, 1953(?), image from Mattell, Inc. Bottom: Jack Odell, circa 1968, image from Elizabeth Odell)

Kevin Spacey to Appear in "Telstar," We Had Absolutely NOTHING to Do with It

Separated at birth??

Coming just one day after we joyfully celebrated the 45th anniversary of the launch of Telstar 1, the timing of this announcement is most fortuitous. But it's official: Kevin Spacey has signed up to act in a film called "Telstar" that will chronicle the life and times of Joe Meek, the tormented British producer who created the 1962 hit song of the same name.

Variety carries the details:

Kevin Spacey will return as Lex Luthor in "Superman: Man of Steel" and appear in "Telstar," Nick Moran's film version of Moran and James Hicks' 2005 darkly comic West End play about flamboyant '60s record mogul Joe Meek. [...]

This week, Spacey joined the cast of "Telstar," which started filming Monday in London. Meek is the gay, tone deaf songwriter-producer who produced hits including "Have I the Right," "Just Like Eddie," "Johnny, Remember Me" and the instrumental "Telstar." Con O'Neill reprises his stage role as Meek; Spacey plays his financier, Major Banks.

No word on the planned release date, but rest assured that the folks in our Division of Brand Manipulation were thrilled at the news.  And our lawyers? Well, not so much.

LINK:
Joe Meek (Wikipedia entry)

Telstar - The Joe Meek Story (A 2005 review of the play by J.D. Atkinson)

PREVIOUSLY:

Joe Meek and that Telstar Sound

The Sounds of the "Telstar" Vapor Trail

Happy 45th Anniversary, Telstar 1!

July 10 is an unofficial holiday here at Telstar Logistics HQ, because this is the big anniversary of our fake-corporate namesake, the Mother of All Telstars, Telstar I, America's first active telecommunications satellite. Telstar 1 was launched by AT&T on July 10, 1962.

What was the mood like on that fateful day? Let's travel back via the YouTube Time Machine to hear what President John F. Kennedy had to say about the historic launch:

Sadly, Telstar 1 was soon lost in space -- within months the satellite had succumbed to the corrosive effects of radiation spewed into the atmoshphere by a nuclear test-blast. The Wikipedia explains:

The day before Telstar was launched, the United States tested a high-altitude nuclear device (called Starfish Prime) which super-energized the Earth's Van Allen Belt where Telstar took orbit. This vast increase in radiation, combined with further increases during subsequent high-altitude blasts, overwhelmed Telstar's fragile transistors; it went out of service in early December, but was ingeniously restarted in early January of 1963. The additional radiation associated with its return to full sunlight once again caused transistor failure, this time irreparably, and it went out of service on February 21, 1963.

Oops! Telstar 1 is still circling the Earth, although it now survives as a piece of zombie space junk. Today, however, a new generation of Telstar satellites brings the miracle of modern telecommunications to millions of (largely unappreciative) Earthlings. Telstar 18, for example, was launched in 2004, and after a bumpy start, it delivers satellite TV and Internet services to Southeast Asia.

All of us at Telstar Logistics urge you to keep the original "Tower in the Sky" in mind today as you telecommunicate, and as part of your private celebration, feel free to download and listen to "Telstar," the 1962 smash-hit that was directly inspired by the launch, produced by space-buff Joe Meek, and made famous by The Tornadoes. See you in orbit!

LINKS:
A Day in History: Telstar Brings World Closer (1962 Universal newsreel, via the Internet Archive. Excellent technical detail and explanation of how Telstar 1 worked. RECOMMENDED!)

Telstar I (Wikipedia page)

Sintetizador - Telstar (YouTube video. A cover version of Joe Meek's "Telstar" mixed with video cribbed from NASA films of the same era)

Chicchi Covers Telstar (YouTube video. A cover version of "Telstar" performed by a talented 9 year-old Japanese guitarist and friends. Fun!)

PREVIOUSLY:
A Brief History of All Telstars

Joe Meek and that Telstar Sound

The Sounds of the "Telstar" Vapor Trail
 

(Image above: First-day cover commemorating the launch of Telstar 1, postmarked July 10, 1962. From the Telstar Logistics "Telstars of the Ages" Corporate Archive.)

The Unveiling of the First Boeing 787

Well, it happened -- right on schedule.  Yesterday, Boeing unveiled the very first production model of the company's new 787 Dreamliner. Telstar Logistics couldn't be there (grrrrrrr), but Daniel Terdiman from CNET's News.com was on the scene, and he blogged this report:

If you've never partied underneath a jumbo jet, you should.

And that's what thousands of Boeing employees are doing right now, as the launch of the 787 Dreamliner concludes at the company's mammoth facility here--the world's largest building, by volume.

It's a pretty cool thing, I must say. After 45 minutes of obligatory celeb-speak -- Tom Brokaw MC'd the launch event -- the doors to the facility rolled open and there was the new plane, sparkling in the glorious sunlight.

And it took some time for the thousands of people here to make their way up the narrow aisles between all the folding chairs to the tarmac, but they did. And I did.

And next thing you know, it was a sea of people under, around and all sides of this spanking new plane, the very first of its kind.

The mood, of course, is jubilant. Many, many of these people worked on the creation of this plane, and it was easy to overhear a Boeing employee telling his or her partner, "I worked on that bit there..."

 

Just for the record... we have partied underneath a jumbo jet, and we can heartily recommend the experience.

LINKS:
787 Rollout Photos (Flickr photoset from timothylhendrix)

Boeing unveils assembled 787 Dreamliner (AP News story)

PREVIOUSLY:
Coming Events: Rolling Out the First Boeing 787

(Photos above by timothylhendrix)

Coming Events: Rolling Out the First Boeing 787

This will be an exciting weekend for aviation nerds, as Boeing plans to roll-out the first production model of its next-generation airliner, the all-new 787, at the company's Everett, Washington facility on Sunday. The 250 passenger 787 has been a colossal success for Boeing -- with more than 600 copies sold thus far, it's already the most successful new airplane launch in the history in the history of commercial aviation.

Sunday's unveiling is a big milestone, not least because Boeing staked a lot of credibility on having the jet ready for public debut on July 8, 2007, or 7.8.07.  Get it?  787!! Get it? Get it???

These are the kinds of pranks hatched in the minds of Boeing publicists.

Regardless, hitting the deadline is an impressive feat, partly because it creates a tidy contrast with the trouble-plagued Airbus A380 superjumbo, and especially because the 787 uses a new production process that involves farming out large parts of the assembly to outside contractors.  These subassemblies are shipped to Everett via a specially-modified 747 LCF, where Boeing more or less snaps them together to build a complete aircraft. The fact that this system has thus far worked more or less as planned is, as the engineers say, "nontrivial."

Telstar Logistics will bring photos and news from the event, as they become available. In the meantime, here's a video that explains how the 787 final assembly process works.  Notice that Boeing has gone from delivery of major subassemblies to roll-out in less than two months.  In time, the company hopes to be able to complete final assembly of a new 787 in just three days:

(Video courtesy of Flightblogger)

LINKS:

Newairplane.com (Boeing's official 787 website, with 787 rollout webcast)

Boeing 787 (Wikipedia)

PREVIOUSLY:
Boeing's 747 LCF: The Ugliest Airplane in the World. Maybe.

The First Boeing 747 (Definitely Not the Last)

(Photos above from Boeing Media)

Introducing Telstar Simpson

If we were a character on the Simpsons, we'd probably look something like this. 

Create your own, using the Avatar Creator on the official Simspons Movie website. Doh!