time,” he said. “They know it like the back of their hand. They’re smart. They care.” As the 767 production line ramps up again, mechanics and engineers are building the freighter in a streamlined, creative manner. They work on the front fuselage section and flight deck in a sunken third-floor workstation. They fabricate the wings behind a bank of nearby offices. All of the pieces are brought together by crane onto the main floor and lowered to an assembly line. The entire line is shared with the 767-2C, a new commercial freighter that is the platform for the U.S. Air Force KC-46A tanker. Actually, employees say, they could assemble the 767 just about anywhere. They’re pleased it is seeing a production resurgence. As Dennis Howell, a 767 mechanic put it: “With the tanker, I figured the 767 had eight years of work left. With the increased freighter order, it looks like we’ll build this plane as fast as we can build it for a long time.” • DANIEL.W.RALEY@BOEING.COM 34 | BOEING FRONTIERS Photo: Shedrick Reed, a 767 structural mechanic, attaches a bracket to a sidewall liner on the main cargo deck of a freighter. BOB FERGUSON | BOEING
Frontiers March 2016 Issue
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