ON TOUR: Seattle
Seattle, bordering Canada, is as far north west as you can go
within mainland United States. It is a gateway airport from the UK and
for some reason only flown from London by British Airways. Nothing
wrong with that and BA offer an excellent service and very busy twice
daily operation but with United pulling out you would have thought that
one of the more aggressive American airlines might have got into the
act.
For those unfamiliar with the north west USA Seattle is 800 miles due
north of San Francisco, joined by Turnpike 5. Seattle-Tacoma
International Airport (SEA-TAC) lies 15 miles to the south of the city
and the journey into the city passes near to Renton, the home of the
737, and right by King County International Airport, the official name
for Boeing Field home of the Museum of Flight. Everett, and the 747
assembly plant is 25 miles to the north of the city. The population
is half million, about the same as Edinburgh.
The journey in from SEA-TAC can be very slow and will not be alleviated
until 2009 when a new light railway is expected to be completed. Work
is under way and it will form part of an alternative route to
Vancouver, just 140 scenic miles away across the Canadian border, and
just in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics. A bus service takes you
direct to your hotel and of course there are taxis, and not that much
more expensive.
Seattle, sitting on the coast, and with Mount Rainer in the background,
has a reputation of being the Manchester of the US weather-wise, but
perhaps like the British city the status is unmerited. Certainly all
three times your correspondent has visited the one time timber industry
town the skies have been for the most part blue and the water that
surrounds the city glistening. To the west lies saltwater Puget Sound;
to the east, freshwater Lake Washington; in the middle, Lake Union.
Everywhere, the focus is water.
Seattle is the home of Microsoft and Starbucks Coffee. And Boeing as
mentioned. If you are into aviation Boeing is a must, but if you are
not (and maybe the family can split for the day) the city itself, and
indeed the whole of the State of Washington, has an enormous amount to
offer typified by the Space Needle, a lasting memorial to the World
Fair of 1962. When it was built it was said to be the tallest building
west of the Mississippi. The observation platform 500 ft up in the sky
is a good place to start your Seattle tour and get a fine perspective.
The Space Needle (seen her with Mount Rainer in the distance) is
linked to the downtown area by monorail and is also part of the bus
tour, always the best way to learn about any new city. The Space
Needle is now part of Seattle Center, a 74-acre urban park and home to
the Pacific Science Center, Experience Music Project, Science Fiction
Museum and Hall of Fame, Seattle Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet,
Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Children”s Theatre,
Seattle Children”s Museum and many other attractions.
The Pike Place Market , located on the waterside in the heart of
downtown Seattle, is perhaps the most popular attraction for Seattle
visitors. Said to be the oldest continually operating farmers market
in the country (celebrating its centenary in 2007), it certainly has a
lively atmosphere and is a true gathering of the country community,
where craftspeople and artists display their goods. Fish, and salmon
in particular, dominate both in terms of shops and eating place. There
is free music and free tours. Just a few steps away is the
commercial heart of Seattle, a lively downtown district of department
stores, specialty shops, renovated historic theatres, hotels of every
size, multiplex cinemas, espresso stands, restaurant and shopping
experiences such as Westlake Center, City Centre and Pacific Place.
Also within walking distance is the Pioneer Square historic district
offering a wealth of art galleries, bookstores, antique shops, cool
restaurants, and buzzing nightclubs (left with a streetcar). Pioneer
Square is Seattle's oldest neighbourhood, adjacent to the new, massive
sports stadiums for the Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks. The
classic red brick buildings give a warmth to the area not found in
most sprawling US suburbia. The term "skid row" originated in Pioneer
Square -- when timber would be slid down to a steam powered mill on
the Seattle waterfront.
A little further from the waterfront area is Seattle”s International
Chinatown, the name exactly describing the district. It is a cultural
hub for Asian Americans including large numbers of Japanese and
Filipino immigrants starting as long ago as the 1880s. Today it is a
vibrant district full of the noise and bustle of the Far East. There
are shops and stalls aplenty and the historic Northern Pacific Hotel,
the NP, plus the Wing Luke Asian Museum. The area is easy to get to
with public transport free in the central area of Seattle during the
daytime hours.
Boat tours and ferries across Elliot Bay and into Pugent Sound offer
an opportunity to view the city from another angle and to explore the
historic Blake Island and west Seattle. .
Seattle of course is one of the great centres of aviation and to the
credit of Boeing who helped sponsor both the Museum of Flight and the
Future Flight exhibition at Everett.
The Museum of Flight is the west coast home for Concorde, a British
Airways example on display. But distinguished as it is it is only one
of more than 150 aircraft dating from the beginning of aviation which
the collection owns. There is a replica of the Leonardo da Vinci
Ornithopter plus the real and original Eisenhower Air Force One 707
and the prototypes of the 737 and 747. An Apollo Command Module, a
Lunar Roving Vehicle mock-up, an original Soviet Sputnik and other
space artifacts are part of the astro exhibition. You can sit in the
cockpit of a Mach 3 Blackbird spy plane and a F/A-18 Hornet fighter.
The Museum has a special interactive youth area in which visitors can
learn basic concepts of aerodynamics, flight instrumentation,
propulsion and aircraft construction through hands-on activities, as
well as sit in actual aircraft and experiment with hang glider and
hot-air balloon simulators, among other activities. New is the actual
Red Barn, the workshop where Bill Boeing built his first aircraft in
1909 part of a presentation of the first two decades of the Boeing
company.
At Paine Field, Everett (also called Snohomish County Airfield to
confuse even more) not far from the Future Flight exhibition, is the
Museum of Flight restoration facility with more than three dozen
aircraft being painstakingly returned to their original state. This
is also open to the public. Amongst the aircraft being readied for
display is this Comet 4C (above).
The Future of Flight centre itself opened at the end of 2005 and is an
amazing tribute to man”s aviation progress. At the end of your day
you can sit in the roof top cafeteria and watch aircraft that will be
used all over the world often making their maiden flight. It is now
part of a package with the Boeing factory tour (which ABTN has covered
previously). The factory itself, the world”s largest industrial
building, is being re-modelled for the 787 and continues as the home
of the 747, 767 and 777. Tours continue even as the 787 comes
together. The new building is seen here in the right foreground with
the massive Boeing wide body seen in the distance across the Paine
Field runway. There is a Hilton Garden Inn next door to the Future of
Flight building .
Whilst the Future of Aviation Centre is primarily designed for
children and young people, adults will find it just as interesting.
There is an aircraft design zone where you can plan your own commercial
jet. The XJ5 flight simulator, a multi-passenger machine flying with
the world”s best pilots at supersonic speeds. You can learn about the
on board unseen systems that make aircraft work including flight
controls, avionics, navigations and hydraulics. Perhaps one of the
most interesting of all is a 3D experience which shows how a future
aircraft will be manufactured.
Whilst you can look into what is to come with a video of the 787 and a
cabin mock up, the all glass splendidly laid out hall includes
descriptions of some great aircraft of the past including the Comet
and Vickers Viscount. Presently CFN have an engine and Rolls-Royce
have been quick to promise their own cutaway. Airbus too in the
future will be represented. You can sit in the Boeing Connexion
Theater and see how far commercial jet transport has come in the last
50 years.
http://www.futureofflight.org
http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/tours
http://www.museumofflight.org
http://www.seeseattle.org