I used to work in the aircraft industry: from college with an Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics degree (a typical Aerospace Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology … which is now the College of Science and Engineering) to work 7 years or so for Boeing. It was an absolutely wonderful time of life for me. I like hard science, I like airplanes very much, and working for a company with many wonderful creations was immensely satisfying.
However, times have changed. While at Boeing, I collected aircraft information memorabilia in the form of little booklets. They detail facts and data about the airplanes I’d worked on and are now a bit dog-eared, maybe fading just a touch, and definitely can’t hold a candle to this website: NewAirplane.com.
The Flash front end to the web site will thwart some devices but if you can see it, be ready for wow. Lots of pictures and information on the many Boeing jet liners are at your disposal, but the 737 has my attention in this post.
By holding your cursor over the 737 label on the top left of the screen, you get a drop down that includes 737 Explained; make that your target. Clicking on it loads the site and you are left with a close up of the airplane and two options: Explore the 737 or Airline Benefits; choose Explore the 737. At that point the image zooms out so you can see the 737 in profile with a series of thumbnail detail images running across the bottom.
If you don’t have a mouse with a scroll wheel, this may not be as impressive but, if you do, you can start from a full view of the airplane and scroll/zoom in to see amazing up-close detail! Here’s an example:
You can start by looking at the overall 737 but then zoom into the lettering on the door!
The image to the right is smaller in this post than on the web site but you can easily the placard warning and instructions.
It’s really quite amazing. I’m not sure what technology this is but the viewer uses Silverlight (a Microsoft product) so it’s likely HD View, a little something from Microsoft Research.
But, it’s the pairing of the viewing technology along with applying it to an aircraft that has me all excited. The NewAirplane.com site is just wonderful and especially the 737 “zoom viewer”. Take a little time to wander through all the airplane information and pictures.
Kudos and nice work, Boeing!
