World News
(2009-07-31)
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Lieutenant Commander Matt Frauenzimmer, a Navy Pilot based at Whidbey Island Naval Station, came to Renton to see the roll out of the new P-8A Poseidon.
Photo by Bellamy Pailthorp.
The company brought in a military marching band and rolled out a red carpet at its factory in Renton to welcome its partners on the P-8. Chief among them is the US Navy. Its highest ranking officer, Admiral Gary Roughead, told the crowd assembled alongside one of the test planes that the navy has been literally flying the wings off the P-3s, which were built for the Cold War. 39 of them were grounded two and a half years ago after cracks were found under the wings.
"And I, along with all the sailors in the fleet, look forward to the P-8 Poseidon joining the fleet on time, on budget soon. Thank you very much."
After the unveiling, sailors from Whidbey Island Naval station crowded around the test jet to check it out up close. Navy pilot Matt Frauenzimmer has flown the old P-3s on missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He says he'd seen artists' renditions of the P-8, but there's nothing like being able to actually touch it and look inside. He thinks the modern radar and computers will help the navy do a better job of hunting out enemy submarines.
"It's light years ahead. We go from a 1950s vintage aircraft to something that is built here in the 200-era. So it's pretty neat to see."
Aviation mechanic Wade Burns stood beneath the nose, admiring the design of the hydraulics on the landing gear. He says on the P3s, they have to crawl through a hatch in the cabin to service the brakes.
"Right now with our current aircraft, it's so old, it's falling apart and sometimes we've worked 12 hours on, 12-hours off, seven days a week for months on end, just trying to keep the aircraft up."
The new P-8s are expected to enter service for the US in 2013, with a total of 117 needed over the next decade or so. Foreign customers including India and Australia are also lining up. Boeing says the US contract for the first five test aircraft alone is worth nearly 4 billion dollars and supports about two thousand jobs inside the company.
(To hear the story as delivered on air by Bellamy Pailthorp, click "play" above.)
Boeing Promotional Video of P-8 Assembly
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