For future reference in what I babble about from work, I'll explain it here.

The plane is often divided up into FWD, MID and AFT. And of course, Left Side (LH), Middle (CTR) and Right Hand (RH).

Now, you all know I'm Seat Crew. 

If I'm correct, the order of our events kinda goes like this (I don't have a lil seat card w/ SOIs on it)

-Unload seats from cargo containers

-Install 'Life Vests' (can't believe they call it that, not PFDs)

-Load seats onto plane

-Install seats onto plane

Uh, I think there are like, 2 more steps. Each of those steps above have MULTIPLE steps to them. 

Now, this might seem odd, but the SOIs are further broken down. So there's LH AFT and LH FWD. Which usually means, 5-6 seats in AFT and then 5-6 FWD on left. For those who can spot it, I already said AFT and FWD refer to sections of the plane. 

Well try this. We do a lot of installs based on the doors or stations. Doors are easier to recognize. So we'll do DR 3-4 LH FWD then DR 3-4 LH AFT. We know this as Left side of plane, in the aft section of the plane and well, that area is divided into 2. 

Therefore, last Wed, when looking up SOIs to see how they were doing, I was looking up DR 3-4 LH FWD, LH AFT, CTR AFT, CTR FWD, RH FWD, RH AFT... And keep in mind, RH AFT has 4 steps to it (see above). We'll be getting laptops at some point so we won't have to run up and down as much.

Lastly, I believe it was on Wednesday, I had a chance to speak to a couple of the big wigs when I was finishing all those steps. I can't go into the conversation but hey, at least I wasn't standing around doing nothing. ;)

Isn't it funny how 4 weeks doesn't necessarily mean 1 month? For example, I started in the factory on the 1st or 2nd of this month. I just finished out my 4th week but there's still practically 1 week to go before the month is over, right?

It's had its ups and downs. I'm quite happy that, well, I've been designated as SEAT CREW. Not just Interiors, but seat installation specifically.

This last week has been nutty. We started installed seats in the AFT, MID and FWD. Recap...

Wednesday. The big bosses (ie; the 2nd & 3rd mgrs) wanted the Business Class seats in as well as the rest of the Economy seats in the FWD section. But usually, we have to make sure that everything in AFT (or the other area of the plane we had worked in) was fully finished. So that day, I was up and down stairs getting all the SOIs (work instructions) in order to see what steps we missed or weren't finished. So I went thru each SOI (technically, this is the lead's job, ahem) and kept on finding random places that we hadn't bought off. It was only a few lil things but with a crew of approx. 15, communication gets lost.

In this case, we couldn't find the seat track covers (these lil things that cover the installation bolts). 1st shift had finished doing a bunch of stuff but hid the covers. The original people who were looking for 'em didn't find 'em. Then I looked (after doing some other stuff) and didn't see them. Matt finally found a bunch of 'em. Being new, I didn't actually know where to look (I'm used to economy seats where you put them on the outer installation bolts, not the centers). Once found, I put 'em on, waited for QT to pass it, etc.

So we installed a couple of seats with the help of a couple of terrific guys from the EMC. The business class seats weigh in around 500 lbs. That's significantly heavier than the 2-seat economies that I can actually lift. (economy 4-seat for mid aisle I ran away from) I spent a lot of time on the computer and chilling with QT. At least I'm getting to know them...

Thursday was more of the same. Cuz we were homeless for a time (no work for us, we go help other crews), I learned how to install Sidewalls. Then later that day, we put in the FWD seats. (I'm going off memory from a busy week...). I think on Wed, they were starting to install FWD seats...  I just know by Thursday nite, I stayed till 1.30am to get all those seats in with Sean and Josh. (A few others stayed but left a bit earlier thinking everything was done) Our manager promised us a bbq if we got them all done.

Friday was a slower day. Seats were in so some of us worked on #67. In the end, I stayed busy helping teach a couple guys how to put EDWs (windows) in. So I stayed busy those last 4 hrs. The 1st 4 were hell in that I was tired and my legs weren't happy with going up and down stairs...

I learned a bit more about installation. We took care of a lot of jobs this week. I know I txt'd fuller stories to a friend that went into more detail.

So it's Saturday now. Lost in Space was just on and now it's old skool Star Trek. :D

Kind of a nutty week.

Finally reported to the factory after 10 weeks of training.

I think, to a certain degree, I'm getting the hang of at least 2 things that us interior crew types do. I'm also the first of the group that came in Friday/Monday/Tuesday to have been victim of hazing. I won't go into details here.

Come monday, we'll see if I get in trouble or not. Hopefully not. (I accidentally took a tool bag key home, returned it early saturday morning) The lead/managers on 1st shift seemed to think it was no big deal. But as noob, I don't know what the protocol for such things is. Gee whiz, I had things to babble about, but I'm not remembering much.

I'll find out if the concept of 'atta-boys' are really destroyed by a single 'oops'.

It's finally over.

Training. Boeing Training. 10 weeks.

Let me back up here to clarify a tiny bit. After I graduated from Bellingham Technical College (BTC) with an AS in Civil Engineering, things didn't pan out. I moved back with my parents and picked up two part times jobs with a 3rd doing yardwork. I dinked around on AdSet at Kohls (working truck and in the end, other random places) and was an on-call janitor for the Riverview School District.


Late in 2010, we heard that Boeing was on a hiring spree. Sure, I had tried to get on but didn't know what sort of job I was looking for. They didn't have a 'civil engineering' position. I had no clue where to start and their job site is hell to navigate in the first place. Sometime in Winter, the Seattle Times ran a couple of articles about Governor Gregoire spending millions to get this Washington Aerospace Training & Research Center going. It was to be an aerospace training facility/program to help get people the novice/beginner skills that would help them get a job at Boeing (who was hiring cuz they need bodies for the 787 plane). We got more information about this program and by late July, I started the online portion of the Assembly Mechanic certification program. The AM program lasted till 10.21.11.


Fast forward a bit. I officially started at Boeing 2.17.12. That's after a month or so of getting all the paperwork in order. Now, one doesn't just start at Boeing. There's a training period. For some, it's a 10-week standard program. For other's they get a week or 3-weeks. (I won't get into the WHYS of that).

The 10 weeks of paid training was a mix of computer-based classes, instructor led classes and hands-on work. The last 2 weeks (w/ the exception of 2 days) was in the High Bay (aka Lab). Last Thursday, I had finished up my projects and took the written exam (04.26.12) which was a bit harder than expected. (Mind you, none of us really knew what was on the exam and it's not like we could study for it.)

Last Friday (04.27.12), we started the hands-on final project. It was to be a 10-hr project but I doubt we were really given that proper amount of time. That Friday, things went to hell. I oversized holes. I countersunk holes in the wrong place. I couldn't focus, couldn't move my butt out of 1st gear, etc. The whole weekend, I had it over my head (now, others still had to retake the written so they had 2 things over their head...). I kept making plans in my head of what to do. How much time to allow for each step. Literally, I was thinking, "ok 5 mins to get the holes by the Winslow passed off, IF they are passed off...  Then 5 mins to install the nutplates w/ the cherry puller. Get that signed off. Install fasteners, 15 mins most..." Supposed to have h ad 2.7 hrs to complete. I finished with 20 minutes to spare.

Now, this project allowed one to only get docked 12 points before it was a fail. 90% + was passing. Seeing how my friday was wasted on drilling holes and REWORKING holes, I wasn't feeling at all confident I could pass and/or finish. (hence me trying to assign time limits on each step) In the end, I moved with a purpose and zipped around the high bay to get stuff and take care of business!

In the end, I passed. 95%.

Tomorrow (errrrrrr, later today), I head to the factory to see where on the 787 line I will be assigned!

Thanks to Andrea, Shannon and Jessica for giving me support. As well as several others in class who knew I could get it done and pass. :D