I'm not a huge plane fanatic, but I can appreciate them. I was more into cars when I was a kid. However, I did have some cool experiences as a military contractor. Years ago, went to Long Beach, CA to do some work at the McDonnell Douglas facility where they were building the B17's (or whatever the newer ones are called, told you I wasn't a plane buff...) We got to walk around the manufacturing floor, in and around the aircraft and on the wings. VERY cool. The new aircraft (back then) were quite modular and you could turn it into a cargo plane, medical plane, etc very quickly. The entire inside was set up w/ rails and everything slid in and out. The entire craft could be piloted by 2 people. I was impressed.
Another interesting side note. Before my trip, I had coincidentally just read Michael Crichton's Airframe book. I can verify that much of what he wrote was pretty close to what happens on the manufacturing floor. My company was tasked to help track equipment and repair schedules on the floor. This was seen by the workers as intrusive, since many of them counted on overtime and perhaps some did not work as efficiently as they should have just so they could get more $$$. During my stay there, some of my equipment was taken, moved, hid because our work was a threat to their workstyle. Kinda sad.
