End Of The Line

It was a bittersweet mixture of "job well-done" and "goodbye, old friend." Workers at Boeing's 757 assembly line in Wichita (KS) gathered Monday to mark the end of an era. They rolled the last 757 fuselage off the line.

"We know there's something new that will replace it eventually," Boeing sheet metal mechanic Todd Shoemaker said on a break from installing floorboards in the fuselage last week. Still, "it's sad to see it go," he told the Wichita Eagle.

Later this month, the completed fuselage for an aircraft destined to fly in China will be shipped to Boeing's final assembly plant in Renton (WA).

The 757 program, started in the mid 1970s, has among its customers 55 different airlines which have used the aircraft to fly 1.3 billion passengers. It's one of only five Boeing types to exceed 1,000 aircraft sold.

Many of the people who wrapped up construction of the 757 line will move on to other aircraft -- most notably, the 7E7.

But Stuart Miles, a sheet metal mechanic, says it'll be hard to let the 757 go. After all, he told the Eagle, it's supported him and his family for 18 years. "I've done nothing else," Miles said. "I hate to see it leave.... It's been a good job. "

FMI: www.boeing.com