Boeing starts 787 engines; Herald photog arrested

Published 4:26 pm Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Boeing Co. fired up the engines on its 787 Dreamliner this morning.

Herald photographer Michael O’Leary didn’t get the shot.

It’s one of those nightmares scenarios for journalists: O’Leary got there early, staked out the scene. He had a prime spot to catch the first start of the 787’s Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.

At around 9:30 a.m. PST, the Dreamliner’s engines quietly started, churning out white smoke across Everett’s Paine Field.

O’Leary sat handcuffed in the back of the county sheriff’s Explorer, unable to capture the moment.

O’Leary, who was on airport property when arrested, was accused of criminal trespassing in the second degree. He’s happy to have avoided jail, upset to have missed the engine start.

Of course, a warning, rather than an arrest, was an option for the sheriff.

I got there right as the engine run began but didn’t have a camera with a long lens. I grabbed about 10 seconds of herky-jerky video (over-caffeinated from that 5 a.m. Boeing investors’ conference Web cast).

We cared. We were there. We came up empty-handed. You know what they say about the best-laid plans …