Inaccuracies at the Museum of Flight

• The "original" Boeing factory building I was apparently standing in was 2 miles away from the original factory.
• Yuri Gagarin was the first man in the space, regardless of how many "misdemeanours" the Soviets had.
• Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, not the first "man made object" on the moon.
• The Blue Angels are not "quite simply the greatest aerobatic display team in the world"
• The 707 was not the first jet powered airliner; it was actually the third.
• The 707 is not provide the first transatlantic jet service.
• Air Force One is not "the most important aircraft in the world".
• Concorde was not only supersonic passenger airliner, nor was it the first. Though the latter is debatable depending whether you use first flight or first revenue service as the success measure.
• Concorde's first revenue service went no where near American; if I remember correctly it was banned from America due to noise regulations.
• Whilst the AV-8A was developed partly by McDonnell Douglas, it does not make the Harrier American.
• The second world war did not begin when America joined it; the Battle of Britain was summarised in 1 bullet as "Britian's Brief Resistance"
• The pacific theatre was not the most important in the war (The entire WW2 exhibit was dedicated to it)

They were also very good and putting US aircraft next to their Soviet adversaries and pointing out how much better then the American design was. What they failed to point out was how that the Soviets had already launched their next aircraft.

The one thing that I was impressed by was that the WW1 exhibit highlighted the fact that the Americans didn't have air power in the war but other countries did.

Sunday Week 5

Today was meant to be another wet day, so I decided to go to the Museum of Flight near the office. Actually, its going to start raining tonight; it was a really nice day in the end.

It reminded me a lot about my experiences at the Smithsonian, where facts are slightly stretched or ignored to make way for American Grandeur. I don't wish to have a rant about the inaccuracies now, so I'll put that in another post. Though I did find it amusing that on the flagpoles outside the museum they had a Scottish Flag, and a Union Flag that was upside down.

Driving back to the apartment I realised the true scale of Halloween in America. What seemed like every child in the Pacific Northwest filled the streets, in costume, going from shop to shop collecting "candy". It was very similar to how I picture VE Day. Though I still struggle to see what a fairy has to do with Halloween. I can see how it could be scary if a hairy, obese American dressed as one, but not a 6 year old girl. This got me quite concerned about the number of kids that might be banging on my door, so when I got home I grabbed a book (BGA Instructors Manual) and sat in Starbucks until it shut. Ironically the girls working there had chosen to do the shift for exactly the same reasons. They were saying that Seattle is "tame" compared to San Francisco or Texas. I dread to think what that's like.

Note to the general population of America: You take Halloween FAR to seriously.

Though I've had a sudden realisation, what am I going to do on Friday?

[New Pics Up]

Saturday Week 4

Another wet Saturday. It only ever seems to rain at the weekend!
Went "downtown" to pick up a few things, which was an experience in itself. First, I walked past 3 political rallies; I can't wait until the elections are over. The most annoying thing is when approached, the line "I'm not American, I can't vote" doesn't work.

My next stop was my first visit to a drugstore. They sell everything from shampoo to beer, electricals to cereal. If Boots followed the American model, they could quite easily take out all the Tesco Metros and Sainsburys Locals that plague our highstreets. I must have spent an hour in there absorbing all the strange and surreal brands.

To fuel my competitive side, I've entered the Seattle Half-Marathon at the end of November; mainly to see if I can beat my boss. Training has been going well, and I did my first run over the 13.1 mile distance today in 1:39. This was a bit of a surprise since I said on the application form I' be aiming for 1:40.

I then went into town to experience the American Halloween parties. Lets just say its infinity bigger than in the UK .

Friday Week 4

Lots to do tonight as there were quite a few jobs we wanted to get signed off by the weekend.

So I spent the evening running around getting paperwork signed and approved, writing parts requests and reports. It was a long night.

Time for a quiet weekend I think!

Thursday Week 4

Same again today, but borescoping the other engine.

Was interesting, and a admin nightmare.

We have to get permission from Boeing to prepare the engine and remove the plugs, then get Boeing to approve our work. Boeing then do the borescope, but we have to approve their process and findings. We then get permission from Boeing to close up, getting Boeing to sign off that everything is back the way it was. You can wait 30mins for the right buy to complete one step of the process.

Wednesday Week 4

Bit more to do tonight.

The ferry flight to Yuma still hasn't happened; they're now hoping it'll be tomorrow. I spent the evening supervising a borescope of the low pressure turbine stages on one of the engines. Though I did fulfil a life long ambition of lying in a fan case and acting like a tool tonight!

Tuesday Week 4

Not a lot to say.

I'm not going to Arizona now, apparently there's going to be more work to do in Seattle. My boss says he expects he'll spend most of his time in the pool.

Though a bit odd cause there wasn't much work to do in Seattle this evening. All the aircraft are in lay-up at the moment doing a horizontal tailplane mod since the Italian company which made them didn't put enough stiffeners in.

I spent most of the evening applying for jobs after the grad scheme.

US Game Shows

I'm getting the impression that there is a line in the constitution that anyone who appears on an American game show can't go away empty handed.

Every show I've watched follows the same format:

1. Person walks on.

2. Audience realise person is an idiot.

3. Person answers 1-3 questions correctly

4. Questions get harder, person gets one wrong

5. Person gets annoyed, but continues with the game show anyway

I swear that I person won $10,000 without getting a single question right.

It's very disturbing, but not as disturbing as the people they find to be on the shows.

Monday Week 4

Long day in the office. Big to do list of things needing to be done on the aircraft. Luckily they're all in the hanger for routine maintenance so we didn't have to stand out in the "storm". Though I'm starting to feel the American definition of a storm is somewhat over exaggerated; it's raining, but the wind isn't that strong.

I was also fascinated to discover that no that I'm in the US, my recommended daily sugar allowance is 3x higher, and my recommended daily salt allowance is 4x higher.

Sunday Week 4

Slow day today. Didn't really want to leave the house cause Seattle's in the middle of a massive storm; got absolutely soaked last night! So did the food shopping; it's not getting any cheaper. Then I did the weekly chores.

I'm on second shift again tomorrow, so might have 1 late shift then an early morning flight to Yuma!

Saturday Week 3

Lazy Saturday. I started the day with a breakfast consisting of a great Americans delicacy; the Twinkie. Never again!

I went "downtown" for a bit of shopping, where I got to sample 2 amazing sites; Nike City and the American food court.

Nike City is like Hamleys for athletes. You aren't allowed to buy any item without being fully satisfied with your purchase. Therefore they lay on all manor to shorting "arenas" for you to try out their products in; which is weird, since 99% of what the sell is clothing and footwear. Despite with, you could spend hours in there, even though a lot of it is geared towards American sports.

I went into one of the shopping malls to get some food when I discovered a calendar and boardgame shop, which sold no fewer than 40 different variations of monopoly, including 10 featuring individual breeds of dog. There was also a calendar entitled "England", even though 3 of the months featured locations north of the border.

The food court was epic. There were over 20 different food stalls, all of which had a different type of food. Weirdly, none of them were healthy, even though Seattle is renowned for being heath conscious.

I went home and went for a run. I'm off out to a colleagues leaving do tonight; the team is gradually downsizing as the flight testing draws to an end. Most are moving on to be RR reps with the airlines that are to receive 787's next year.

Friday Week 3

2 in 1 deal this morning; got to borescope the joint in the oil pipe that I spent 3 months re-designing earlier in the year.

We had an office sweepstake as one of the aircraft went on a 11 hour fuel gauge test, which basically consisted of a flying a lap of the US. We had the flight tracker up on the big screen to see whether it would have to make any flight plan changes. Transpires the dogleg they put in to avoid a storm flew them straight through it by the time they got there; someone obviously forgot that the weather is dynamic.

On second shift again next week, though my boss suggested it might be worth me joining him on a 5 day trip to Yuma on Tuesday. So I might have to go to Arizona with 12 hours notice

Thursday Week 3

Well, the presence of Air Force One meant that the airfield was shut down all day, so it was a slow day. Apparently Washington is a key marginal in the US Senate elections; despite what is said on TV, Patty Murray has a 8 point lead. Obama spent the day at the 3 universities trying to rustle up the students; apparently is the youth turn out is high then the Democrats are safe. Interestingly both candidates are emphasising how they are pro-Boeing jobs and will "give Airbus hell".

Wednesday Week 3

Typical day at the office, but got to do the grease monkey bit by repairing an immersion heater. Also continued my role as office FedEx courier; this involves printing off shipping labels, attaching them to envelopes, then driving down the road to the drop box.

Good news of today was I got my visa documents back, which means I'm allowed back in the country if I leave.

Also exciting times as Air Force One is due to be landing at Boeing Field in 30 mins and departing at lunchtime tomorrow. I might get to see the president!

Tuesday Week 3

Not a lot I can say about work today, though there were some interesting revelations.

The senate elections are killing TV; Americans clearly can't form their own opinion about anything, instead requiring "hard hitting" adverts slandering the opposition. Which would be effective were it not for the fact that the oppositions "hard hitting" advert then immediately follows it.

Monday Week 3

Normal day at work, back on the day shift. But was a bit odd when 15 A-10's landed at 1000.

Was slightly disturbed when I went food shopping this evening to discover that there was no fresh meat of sale. Also, all the cooked meat was completely processed. Which was bizarre, because the food and veg looks like it was pulled that morning, with no packaging or aesthetic "EU" touches.

Sunday Week 3

Early start this morning and drove down to Mt Rainier National Park. Weather started like a typical winter's high pressure situation; fog and low lying cloud. In true optimistic fashion, I set off hoping that it would burn off, and low and behold it turned into a glorious, if slightly chilly, day.

Mt. Rainier, 90km south of Seattle, stands at over 13000ft, so can be seen from anywhere in Washington, assuming the weather is nice. The "Paradise Lodge" visitors centre at the heart of the park is at 5000ft, and despite being only 20 miles into the park it takes an hour to get to. The roads there can only be compared to those in the Alps, though with the addition of rubbernecking American drivers.

After lunch and a wander I set off to Mt. St. Helen's, which is about another 50km south. Its actually the 30th anniversary of the eruption, and there are numerous visitors' centres surrounding the volcano. A 52 mile track leads up to the viewpoint and main visitors' centre, which is on the peak directly opposite the volcano. The interesting thing is the visitors' centre is in the area which was destroyed by the eruption. I wonder if they have volcano insurance?

Returned back down the valley and started the 3 hour drive back to Seattle. American Interstates are odd!

New pics up . . .

Saturday Week 2

Or is it Saturday week 3?

Anyway had a lie in to make up for the lost sleep during the week then got the bus over to the University district and had a wander. Really nice old campus, but with a real American College feel like you see in teen films. Was also really odd to see all the streets in the real draped in purple "University of Washington" banners, with pictures of the captains of the sport teams. Seattle doesn't have any good sport teams, apart from Woman's Basketball, so everyone follows the college sports instead; their actually televised nationally as well. Its quite surreal.

I then took the bus through Capital Hill to the International District, which wasn't really what I expected; its not as prominant as in other major cities, so I wandered back past the market to Olympic Sculpture Park. Seeing as it was actually sunny today, it maid me realise there are actually mountains on the other side of the sound, and Mt. Rainer could actually be seen from the city. I then walked back along Lake Union and watched the float planes taking off; strange concept, but probably much cheaper to keep a float plane than a normal plane at a nearby airfield.

Went for a run earlier then about to shower and go see "Legend of Guardians" in IMAX 3D before hitting the town.

Plan for tomorrow is to get up early and head down to Mt. Rainer National Park, and potentially Mt. St. Helens; seeing as I studied it for GCSE Geography I really ought to pay homage at least.

Friday Week 2

. . . and order is restored.

Everything is back under control and all sorted, pending some glue setting.

So it was actually quite a slow day at work, got to finish off some paperwork for yesterday's activities and do some FedEx-ing.

Thursday Week 2

Hmm, long day. Evidently yesterday was just the calm before the storm.

Today, this sh*t hit the fan (quite literally) and we were frantically running around trying to organise and authorise repairs and overhaul of 2 engines so that we could get the aircraft flying asap.

Ended up leaving work at 0200 after having handed over to Derby. The paperwork sequence is a nightmare.

The night was made longer by a routine inspection going wrong and having to steal parts from the spare engine. Again, the paperwork was what slowed us down

I did, however, learn that Boeing operate slightly differently to us. We have a team that covers all 4 engines. They have 4 teams, 1 for each aircraft. When the aircraft goes off sight, they all go with it. There are some interesting "team photos" pasted on the walls of the cabin.

I sat in on a couple of post flight de-briefs. The scariest thing about them was that the 2 people in the room that were the pilots were not the people I thought should be the pilots; they looked like typical American Tourists.

Equally, the 737 paint shop hanger has had to be expanded to fit the 737's with winglets. There's a slot running half way up the walls that the winglets run down.

Right, time for work!

Wednesday Week 2

No News

Tuesday Week 2

Slow day at work. Didn't have a lot to do since the 2 aircraft based at Boeing Field at the moment were both airbourne until late this evening. Got a couple of reports out the way though.

I also discovered the wonders of "Simple English Wikipedia"; sorry if I'm slow on the uptake for this, but it can provide hours of fun. For those who didn't know, its Wikipedia written in easy to understand English, designed for children and those learning English. I learnt many things:

"A tanker aircraft carries lots of fuel so it can give some to other planes"

"War can hurt people"

"Sometimes, people are scared to fly. They think that the plane could crash"

Well you know what they say, simple wiki for simple minds.

My boss it trying to persuade me to do the Seattle Half-Marathon at the end of November. I said I'd get back to him.

Monday Week 2

Just back from work, quick update before going to bed.

Woke up and had a lazy morning (apart from the 5 mile run) then had lunch. Then went to work. That felt really odd. Though as I discovered throughout the day, working a later day in Seattle works quite nicely cause I can catch up with people in the UK the head to work as they're heading to bed.

The role of the second shift is to do all the tasks that the 1st shift couldn't be bothered to do and that need to be done before the next day's flying. Plus, of course, reacting to what is going wrong. My evening was spent removing counterbalances from 2 engines after an unbalanced rotor vibration test and taking measurements of seals inside a thrust reverser. Was quite a slow evening as 2 aircraft are off site and 1 didn't fly today so we didn't need to do any post flight inspections. Means more to do tomorrow.

Right, bed time!

Another Wet Weekend Day

Well, as per the forecast it rained again today.

I sat in the cafe in the hope it would stop, but gave up waiting and wandered over to Freemont, which is just the otherside of the canal. I went to their Sunday Market, which seemed to be stall after stall of random trash people had found in their houses - even down to random hairclips. However, the foodstands were quite interesting, all giving out free samples.

I then wandered round the area taking in the local architecture, including the troll under the bridge, the Freemont Rocket and the statue of Lenin.

I got back to the apartment and had a late lunch, then the heavens opened again. So I caught up on domestic chores and watched "all new episodes" of Mythbusters, Deadliest Catch, Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad (need I continue?).

As requested by the sister, I've uploaded a photo of "my ride". Though I lied in my previous post, its actually a 3.7lt engine!

Wet Touristy Day

Today it rained. But apparently that's not unusual. Seattle has on average 296 overcast days a year!

Took the bus into town and had a wander around downtown Seattle, where I found the "Cheesecake Factory". That's definitely worth a visit at a later date. I then went down to the waterfront and got a 1 hour ferry tour of the bay. Got really nice views of the city and dockyards (and the rain stopped). Tour guide was really got and had interesting facts about Seattle including the hotel you can fish from your bedroom window from. Got talking to a friendly woman from Nebraska, who used my favourite American line, "Yeah, my family's from Scotland". By which she meant you can trace her family tree back to Scotland. The conversation consisted of numerous American stereotypes of the UK, but funny none the less.

I then went to the Seattle Aquarium. I'll say that this point that I bought a multi-centre tourist ticket last weekend which you must use in 9 days, hence doing the cruise in bad weather. The aquarium was nothing special, but the sea/river otters were good fun.

Next to the aquarium is the Pike Place Market, which is a must see in Seattle. It still acts as the biggest fish market in the area, but it also has all manner of other shops and stalls, including the original Starbucks. I found a Russian cafe which served really nice Borsch, though not quite as meaty as they have in Moscow. Probably cause it didn't use a Veal stock. But definately worth another visit, particularly once it gets cold. Today it was still around 16-17 degrees, but 90% humidity as well.

Patty Murray out of Washington

I'm guessing there's a Senate vote soon. Every ad break on TV is filled with propaganda messages against Patty Murray. It's getting slightly irritating. But not quite as irritating as the shear number of ad breaks there are for every TV show.

Also, the BBC website outside of the UK has adverts all over it. Its disgusting!

Long Couple of Days

Its the weekend!
Had a lot going on in the office. 2 of the aircraft should now be off on remote sorties, but a lot needed doing before they could go. I got called out onto the apron by my boss at 0730 as we were short staffed today and ended up being out for 5 hours; most of which was spent arguing about the bureaucracy of paperwork. Its quite comical walking into each aircraft's maintenance hut and hearing "Rolls-Royce are in the building", promptly followed by frantic minimising of computer screen. Stupid export law.

Sat in the cockpit for an engine run today in the cabin mock-up aircraft, which is used for noise and vibration tests. Today's run was with off balance fan, running up to 70% thrust. It reminded me of this incident:

http://airlineworld.wordpress.com/2007/11/16/etihad-airbus-slams-into-wall-while-engine-testing/

I was assured that the aircraft was properly choked, but it didn't half rattle.

There's still much talk about who gets to spend Christmas in Ecuador supporting the hot and high flight tests. Apparently the US a having major visa issues; European's don't need one. Boeing are also very worried about security, so the air force are supporting the tests. The weird thing is any time anyone mentions the country in question, I get this stuck in my head:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P86fPsC_cCQ
I had to get a report out by the end of the day so that the UK would see it on Monday morning. This was particularly urgent as I've been asked to work on the second shift next week, so will be working 1400-2200 PST (2200-0600 GMT) thus having no interaction with the UK. At least on first shift there's a 1-2 hour window where you can talk to them.

My amazing discovery of the day was finally managing to translate what the Boeing mechanics were saying. In short, they pronounce "Turbine" as "Turban". This caused much confusion, but did paint interesting pictures in my head; mainly of gas turbans.

Daily Update

Interesting day at work today. Did some fire-fighting (not literally) in the morning then got to sit in the cockpit whilst we did a post engine change test run in the afternoon.

One of the up coming test flights is the 15knt tailwind tak-off test. In order to do this, Boeing are on "wind watch" and will fly anywhere in a 100mile radius that can provide the right meteorological conditions.

Been in 3 of the RR powered fleet now. You can tell they're on a tight schedule; the trim on the interior is appalling and all of them desperately need a wash.

Driving in America is an experience; everyone drives around with their lights on and no one uses their indicators. I also had several experiences on the way to work today that led me to believe that the "mirror, signal, manoeuvre" technique only consists of the latter part over here. On the plus side, the 3.5ltr Jeep I've got is awesome (note the yankie lingo), if a little bit of a gas guzzler.

Nothing much to say today, normal office sort of day. One of the 787's is off to Edwards Airforce Base tomorrow to do Take-off performance testing, so 4 of the team are off to support that. Then in the afternoon I got asked to go to Everett on Friday to borescope a Trent 1000 that's currently sat on the production line. Everett is the Boeing final assembly line, and the biggest building in the world (by floor area). So while I'm there my boss told me I had to get a full factory tour.

Also, didn't realise quite how big Halloween is over here - some TV channels are doing a 13 day special!

Observations

Went into the Seattle Centre again this evening to do the Space needle at night; they were doing a buy one get one free on visits. Today the lift operator told me the Space needle was the 6th tallest building in Seattle. Its getting overtaken by the day!
I did, however, discover that unlike in the UK, Starbucks' don't seem to shut. Though I was slightly disappointed to see that Boeing have a contract with Tully's, not Starbucks.

Also, ever TV programme in the US has to be sponsored by a least 2 companies. Family Guy is sponsored by the US Air Force and Taco Bell!

Both yesterday and today when I bought lunch I got strange looks for buying a salad. I couldn't finish them, but apparently my meal was only a side dish.

Finally, I knew about it before, but American TV shows have an Ad break every 5 mins. I keep changing the channel thinking the show has finished.

The cost of eating

The supermarket today was an experience in itself. Americans like very different food. And, as is typical with Seattle, there's a Starbucks in the middle of the store.

My weeks shopping ended up costing $112. Scary!

But, I found these:

Anyone else remember then? Ah to be 8 again!

1st Day at Work

Not a lot to say, spent the day helping to analyse the data from last week's flight tests. There was a debate in the office as one of the 787's is off to Ecuador for a week in December for hot and high testing and they need RR people to support the tests. Though the best bit was hearing that Boeing were budgeting how much oxygen they would need to take for the staff for a week, since at 13000' "its impossible to breath".

The canteen is a building the middle of the apron, so you have to walk past everything to get lunch. You can then have lunch whilst watching the movements. There was put speculation when the GE powered 787 came back from a 3 hour test flight after 1 hour. This was make worse when a RR powered 787 came back from a 6 hour test flight after 2 hours. Interesting . . .

Touristy Day

Decided to do the shamelessly touristy stuff today. Got the bus "downtown" and wandered over to the Space Needle. The Space Needle is a bit odd, particularly as its only the 4th tallest building in Seattle now. Good views of the city though, but unfortunately was too cloudy to see Mt. Rainer. The ticket I've got gives me another trip up at night tomorrow though.

I then took the Monorail down to Pike Street and had a wander round one of the main shopping streets. Found a coffee shop which specialises in Mocha's. They do a "Viennese" mocha which tastes like a hot chocolate, but still has a double shot of espresso in it.

Then took the monorail back to the Space centre; worth pointing out the monorail ride is only a mile at most. I then went to the EMP - Experience Music Project. On the ground floor its a museum about the history of the Seattle music scene, with halls dedicated to local musicians; some guy called Jimi Hendrix and a band called Nirvana(?). On the top floor is "the studio", which can only be described as Guitar Hero but on the actual instruments, with LEDs indicating where your fingers should be, or which drum on the kit to hit. Even more impressive is that you can plug your mp3 player in and play along to any of your songs.

From there I went to the Pacific Science Museum which, along with most of the Space centre was build for the world fair in 1962. Put it this way, you can tell its quite old. There were some interesting bits, worryingly in the "test your body" area my hand grip strength was off the chart. At the IMAX cinema I saw a film about the 787 and how its evolved as the "ultimate" aircraft. There were some appalling inaccuracies; my favourite was the scene where we were led to believe they were announcing the launch of the 787 programme, even though there was a poster hanging underneath the CEO celebrating the Trent 1000's certification, and a picture of the 787.

Then had a wander back through Queen Anne to the apartment. Learning point of the day: Seattle is not flat!

PS First Photos are up, link on the left

First Night Out in Seattle

Went out for a team dinner last night as 2 of the team are flying home this week.

Had a really nice meal in a restaurant where they cover the table in paper and give you crayons so you can doodle whilst you wait, novel.

Really good meal, but eating out it expensive, $60 a head in the end.

Then went for a few beers at what I'm told is a popular bar with the locals. Reminded me a bit of the bar out of Coyote Ugly, but without the woman. Local brew is interesting, but they have proper European in abundance as well.

First Day in the "Office"

Unexpectedly, when I got to Boeing Field my boss asked if I was up for helping out for a bit. So he took me out onto the apron and I sat under a 787 for an hour whilst they inspected it. I also got to have a look around inside and in the cockpit; there are some novel features in the cabin, but you have to be sat by the window to use them.

I then got shown where the office was, "the trailor" as its affectionately called, and my company jeep. Never have a been so thankful that the towcars at AD are American, their cars are just wrong!

Made my way to the apartment and had a quick shower before exporing the local area. Took me 15 mins to find the nearest Starbucks. I think I'm going to like it here.

Right, enough for now, off for a meal and drinks with the team

Flight Out Part 2

Got into Amsterdam 30mins late so had a quick connection, was only in the terminal for 30mins before boarding the Seattle flight. At the "additional" security check I caused a bit of panic when asked "Are all the electrical items in your hand luggage yours?". "No, I have a company laptop with me". I'm amazed they haven't heard this before, but took a lot of thought before they allowed me through.
Flight was pleasant enough, though slept for most of it. Food portions were HUGE, not sure if I'll cope in the states based on that.

Coming in over the Rockies and Cascades was stunning. Would be interesting gliding, but there's no landing areas. Interestingly as we passed over the Cascades into the Seattle bowl it went completely overcast. Apparently Seattle has its own micro-climate

Landed in Seattle on time, got to immigration to find that I hadn't been given a form I needed on the flight, so that took 10 mins to do. Collected my bags to discover 1 was missing; apparently it missed the flight so they sent it to Detroit. I'll be with me tomorrow I'm assured.

Phoned my boss to find that he couldn't pick me up cause he was having to supervise a boroscopic inspection of an engine.

So I got a taxi to the "office" . . .

Flight Out Part 1

Sat in the lounge at Edinburgh about to fly to Amsterdam. Its 0500 here, so its 2100 in Seattle. Almost time for bed . . .

As a side note, I do like how everyone's been telling me how nice Seattle is, but how unlucky I am to be going over the winter as its very wet. Now, since when is it dry in Britain . . .