Boeing Will Make No More

It will be the end of an era Thursday when the last 757 rolls off Boeing's final assembly line in Renton (WA). Boeing 757 number 1050 will be the last of its kind, the first company model retired since 1991.

That's when Boeing stopped making variants of its 707 -- which, over the previous 13 years, had been produced solely for the military. Such will not be the 757's legacy, though. When #1050 rolls off the line, there will be no more.

"My kids were born when I was on this program, graduated from high school on this program and graduated from college on this program," said Bill Sasek, a quality-assurance lead mechanic who worked on the first 757 and was around for the last. He was quoted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Co-worker Michael Anderson agreed. Like Sasek, he worked on the 757s from the very beginning. "We all worked together so many years as a team. "That's what we will miss," Anderson said. "It's like giving up part of your family."

The 757 has been in decline over the past several years. Orders have dropped and most workers on the line have transferred over to the company's plant in Everett (WA), where they now build 737s.

But they'll never forget their years on the line, which began in 1981. Neither will former CEO Phil Condit. He told the Seattle newspaper, "The 777 and 7E7 would not have been possible had that airplane (the 757) not been the pioneer. It did not change the shape of aviation. It did not make the world a lot different place. But it certainly changed our perspective of what you could do with an airplane."

That's about as fitting a legacy as any plane could ask for.

FMI: www.boeing.com