BO RADER / AP
WICHITA, KAN. -- Spirit AeroSystems rolled out the distinctive front section of the first 787 Dreamliner before a crowd of more than 1,000 workers Monday. Not quite finished but ready for display, the nose-and-cockpit section debuted in a swirl of loud music, dry-ice smoke and pulsing lights.
In a speech at the rollout ceremony, Kurt Kraft, head of Boeing's fuselage team from Everett, lauded the look of the massive piece — 40 feet long and 20 feet in diameter, a single piece of advanced composite plastic.
"Perhaps no other piece of the 787 bears so clear a signature," Kraft told the assembled Spirit employees. "Your section gives the 787 its unique profile and its distinctive look."
Boeing executive Bob Noble said the nose-and-cockpit section will travel to Everett on the Dreamlifter superfreighter by the end of the month for assembly of the first airplane, which is due for rollout July 8.
— Dominic Gates, Seattle Times aerospace reporter