Matt Lauer visits Boeing (777 airplane & simulator

[Midnight Mike]

Pretty Cool video, a tour through the 777 plant, takes a flight in a 777 simulator, and demostrates the strength of composites....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18386476/

[AirtrafficController]

where in the world is Matt Lauer? in a 777 simulator, looks like he wont be invited to Airbus

[nwafan20]

When was he ever in a sim? I didn't see that in the video.

[Winglets747]

I taped the show and finished watching all of the segments. It was very well done and far exceeded my expectations. There was probably 30 mins+ devoted to Boeing in only a 2 hour news program.

They showed a lot of an AC 77W, as well as the interior of a 77W ANA (I think) C cabin (where he and another journalist had to wear slippers over their shoes to protect the new carpet), the 787 center where airlines can sample hundreds of seats and virtually layout their cabins, one of the big operating cranes, and a lot more.

The 787 was mentioned a lot, and they showed the cabin mock up as well a lav mock up, which I haven't seen before. The lav looked very spacious, had dark blue tiles on the floor, and had an entirely new door design. Well done.

The one strange thing was a proposed ticket kiosk where passengers would check-in, select their meal, and then a filled bottle of water would be dispensed with part of the label displaying health information and the other part serving as a boarding pass. Apparently this is an idea to help passengers stay hydrated throughout the flight, but currently that water bottle wouldn't make it through security. (And the kiosk would either have to be enormous or refilled every hour.)

Overall, thought, it was well worth the time and will probably be a long time before any news program delivers such a high-quality aviation story. If you haven't seen it already, I would definitely watch it.