Party under a 787 Dreamliner

EVERETT, Wash.--If you've never partied underneath a jumbo jet, you should.

And that's what thousands of Boeing employees are doing right now, as the launch of the 787 Dreamliner concludes at the company's mammoth facility here--the world's largest building, by volume.

Thousands of Boeing employees were partying undernearth and around the brand-new 787 Dreamliner, which the company unveiled in Everett, Wash., on July 8, 2007

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

It's a pretty cool thing, I must say. After 45 minutes of obligatory celeb-speak--Tom Brokaw MC'd the launch event--the doors to the facility rolled open and there was the new plane, sparkling in the glorious sunlight.

And it took some time for the thousands of people here to make their way up the narrow aisles between all the folding chairs to the tarmac, but they did. And I did.

And next thing you know, it was a sea of people under, around and all sides of this spanking new plane, the very first of its kind.

The mood, of course, is jubilant. Many, many of these people worked on the creation of this plane, and it was easy to overhear a Boeing employee telling his or her partner, "I worked on that bit there..."

It was all smiles and cameras underneath Boeing's brand-new 787 Dreamliner at the plane's launch party.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

What fun. Compared with other product launches I've been to, this one has much more of a family feel to it, and no wonder: literally thousands of people worked on this plane, and many of them are here.