P-8A Familiy Day at Boeing

We had the opportunity to see where Tony works at Boeing for the first time.  There's so much security that we have never been able to stop by and see him in action.  However, Boeing had a family day and we got to go.  No photography was allowed, so we don't have any pictures, just memories.  Everyone was excited to see the P8A, a military airplane.  We got to have Tony point out the modifications that he and his crew work on during the first stage of the modification process.  We got to see 3 P8s all together and even go aboard one.  There were parts of the plane covered up (secret stuff).  We also got to see the "targets" that Tony makes and puts on the airplane with a separate crew he works with to measure the different parts of the airplane with lasers.  We saw the sonobuoy launchers which launch sonobuoys to find submarines.  We saw the communication hub where they track the sonobuoys and submarines on the screen.  It was really cool.  We got to see Tony's workstation from across the way since we weren't able to go into all parts of the hanger. 

Outside the hanger, we got to have snacks and see a K-9 unit demonstration.  They have security who use dogs to search for explosives in planes and delivery trucks at Boeing.  There were 30 bags laid out and they asked for volunteers. Max was one of the volunteers.  the police man gave the volunteers 30 seconds to go through the bags to see if they found anything unusual.  Nothing was found.  Then the police officer had his dog search the same bags.  When he got to the 7th bag (in no time flat), he sniffed, sniffed harder and then sat down to indicate he had found something.  It was cool.

A really fun part was the dunk tank.  My boys hadn't seen one yet.  Max was the only one who wanted to throw softballs at the target so he did.  He laughed so hard when he saw the man get dunked.  His laugh was contagious to everyone around.  The man being dunked was the head of the P8 program, Tony's boss of all bosses.  He had a squirt gun that he squirted at people trying to dunk him.  Max wanted to go again so he waited and dunked him again. 

When we were driving home, I asked everyone what their favorite parts of the P8 were.  Max and Ryan said the cockpit.  Their favorite part of the day was seeing the P8.  Ryan's favorite thing to do outside was getting popcorn.  Max's favorite thing outside was the dunk tank.  Grandma's favorite thing was seeing where Tony worked (mine too).  Tony's favorite thing was to get to show the family around. 

It was such a fun day and it was great to meet more people that Tony works with and to hear them compliment him.  :)