The Mad Dog “Growl” –April / May 2006 Page 1 - Delta Virtual Airlines

Only 180 more C-17 planes remain on order in
California. The planes cost about $154 million each.
Ron Marcotte, Boeing vice president of global
mobility systems, said it could take billions of dollars
and several years to restart the program if it shuts
down.
“It’s the suppliers and the learning of this work force
which would go away overnight,” he said.
With weather that accommodated year-round flying,
the region drew companies that produced bombers
and fighter planes during World War II. Later came
jetliners such as the DC-8, DC-9, DC-10, MD-80,
MD-90, MD-11 and L-1011 TriStar, and space
vehicles that included the Apollo capsule and space
shuttle. Boeing Co. acquired the Long Beach plant in
August 1997 when it bought McDonnell-Douglas
Corp.
As the nation’s defense priorities shifted, Northrop
Grumman Corp. went from building B-2 stealth
bombers and other planes in the region to providing
electronic warfare systems, including the Global
Hawk unmanned surveillance plane, built in San
Diego.
Boeing builds satellites in El Segundo. And at a
research facility in Palmdale, Lockheed Martin Corp.
is developing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the next
generation warplane.
California’s congressional delegation believes the
high-wing, four-engine C-17 still has a place in that
arsenal.
“We live in a time of uncertainty. No one knows how
many C-17s we will need,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., said during a recent tour of the factory in
Long Beach that employs 6,000 people.
No effort is in the works to save the Boeing 717, a
mid-size, twin-jet passenger plane that struggled to
find its market.
Boeing has sold 155 of the planes since the first
delivery in 1999. Many of the unionized workers on
the assembly line have transferred to the C-17
program or been placed in jobs at other aerospace
companies.
The last Boeing 717 is now parked on the airport
ramp, awaiting the start of flight testing. The names
of the 800 workers who built it have been scrawled
on the inside skin of its fuselage and covered by
metal paneling.
Many have worked on airplanes for a quartercentury
or more.
The cargo plane has been used since 1991 to airlift
heavy equipment and transport troops. Supporters
say its ability to land on short dirt runways has
helped take the load off supply trucks that come
under heavy fire in Iraq and Afghanistan.
To replace the C-17, the Defense Department will
consider acquiring a proposed new tanker aircraft
and modernizing another transport plane, the larger
C-5.
The Mad Dog “Growl” –April / May 2006 Page 5