SEATTLE — Ever go nose-to-nose with an albatross?
Had the blades of a jet engine flash in front of your face?
Seen the view from pilot seat of a Boeing 787?
A new IMAX film, “Legends of Flight,” provides an close look at the wonders of flight in both its natural and man-made forms. And the 45-minute feature is making a star out of Everett resident Mike Carriker, who leads viewers through the development and first flight of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Carriker, the chief test pilot of Boeing’s 787, was on hand Friday for an advance showing of “Legends of Flight” for elementary students and media members at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center. The film opens for a limited run to the public on Friday.
“I never thought I’d be in a movie,” Carriker told students. “I thought I’d just fly planes.”
But the buzz in the industry about Boeing’s mostly carbon fiber composite 787 has thrust Carriker into the limelight and made him a natural focal point for “Legends of Flight.”
The filming of “Legends of Flight” took more than five years. Its release was pushed back as the film’s main subject, Boeing’s 787 jet, suffered more than two years of delays.
Airbus’ A380 super jumbo jet also gets some attention in the film as do the Stearman wooden biplane, the Constellation aircraft, and the Harrier military jet as Carriker gives the audience a slice of aviation history. Filmmaker Stephen Low illustrates the aerodynamic contours and lines that airplanes such as the 787 try to replicate from nature through 3-D buzzing bees, honking Canadian geese, and a giant albatross.
Low has shot 3-D films of race cars, beavers and oceanic volcanoes. His next film takes a look at the art of rescuing people.
IMAX 3-D films like “Legends of Flight” are costly to make. A single IMAX camera costs $2 million to $3 million. Three-minutes of film can set a production team back as much as $10,000, even though only a few seconds of those three minutes will be used, Low said.
It’s no surprise then, that the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum served as major partner in the making of “Legends of Flight.” The film will be a feature at the museum for the next 10 to 15 years, said Bob Kresser, executive producer of “Legends of Flight.”
For viewers familiar with the 787, the film glosses over some of the difficulties Boeing incurred while bringing the 787 to its first flight. However, it offers an opportunity to see the 787, as well as the Boeing Co.’s Everett factory, in a way you’ve never experienced. “Legends of Flight” allows the audience to relive, or see for the first time, major milestones in the 787’s history — rollout and first flight.
Ultimately, though, the film is not aimed at 787 watchers or aviation buffs. Its purpose, Carriker said, is to motivate the next generation of pilots and scientists, mathematicians and engineers.
“Legends of Flight”
The movie on the making of the 787 will will have showings at 10:30 a.m, daily, beginning Friday through July 15, at the Pacific Science Center’s Boeing IMAX theater.
All the June 19 showings have been purchased by the Boeing Co. for employees.
More information is available at www.pacsci.org.
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