AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2012 - 69

With the pink temporary registration slip in hand, our fearless crew of pilots is ready to board the new airliner. How many pilots does it take to fly a new 737? All seven on this flight were pilots, including (left to right) the author, Diane Newton, David Newton, Bert Seither, and Chris Rodriquez. Missing from the photo are AOPA Live Executive Producer Warren Morningstar, also a pilot, and AOPA photographer Chris Rose, a student pilot.

ther contrasts the 737-700, which is the first of the Next-Generation 737s, to the all-new 787 Dreamliner we had toured earlier in the day at Boeing Field and which we had seen under construction at Boeing’s factory at Paine Field the day before. The mostly composite 787 has complex aerodynamic shapes on the wings and the wing root, unusually scalloped engine nacelles to reduce noise, and relatively few fasteners. In fact, the 787 has some 1.2 million fewer fasteners than most other Boeing models. By contrast, the new mostly metal 737 seems small and, well, old in design. The wheel wells are pristine and tidy, but contain much more hardware, plumbing, and systems gear than the 787 wheel wells. With the captain satisfied that all of the pieces his employer paid for were in the right places, we take a few requisite photos and climb the airstairs. I feel a bit like we’re in a space shuttle as a Boeing employee closes the door from the outside and the airstairs are backed away. I stand in awe of a sight I’ve never seen before—a completely empty airliner cabin; 137 empty blue-and-tan seats that have filled the cabin with that new-leather smell. Usually my view at this point would be the back of some guy who is bumping down the aisle banging the knees of fellow passengers with his oversized carry-on bag. Meanwhile, other Southwest passengers already seated (having scored the coveted “A” boarding passes) are averting my eyes, hoping that I will bypass the empty seat next to them. Short of magazines in the seatback pockets, the new cabin is completely configured by Boeing to Southwest’s

standards—except for one thing, the coffee pots. Apparently Southwest has struck a better deal with a coffee pot company on its own, so those will be installed in Phoenix, our destination today and one of only two Southwest bases that accept new airplanes into the fleet. And the lavatories—let’s just say they will never look or smell this fresh again. Boeing supplies the TP and the Southwest-branded liquid soap. You get a lot for $60M. Take your seat Today, I can sit anywhere I want—absolutely anywhere. At first I try out 16B, a middle seat, just for grins. On this flight, however, the middle seat is not the most uncomfortable one in the house. So while I could lounge in the aisle or window seat of my choice, I instead opt for the least comfortable seat onboard, the folding jumpseat behind Seither and Newton. While uncomfortable, it provides the best view and, for a pilot, is the place to be—short of the left seat, of course. Tugged away from the delivery center, Seither and Newton start the big CFM 56-7B turbofans and we’re soon waddling down the taxiway. With no passengers or baggage aboard, we are well below the maximum takeoff weight of nearly 155,000 pounds. So it’s not surprising that the young airplane leaps off the runway and we rocket skyward like the space shuttle. With no schedule to keep or connections to make, we take advantage of all that free fuel and head southwest toward Reno, Nevada, where we make a few practice RNP approaches. NewAOPA PILOT • 69 • FEBRUARY 2012

AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2012

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