Materials science? A Boeing 787 Dreamliner undergoes final assembly in Everett, WA. The jet’s fuselage and wings are made entirely of composite materials, a first in commercial aviation. Credit: Ed Turner/Boeing

Nearly seven years ago, when I visited Boeing's cavernous manufacturing site in Everett, WA, the sight of machinists playing ping-pong in a vast but idle shop seemed to symbolize the stagnant state of the aviation industry. Air travel had not recovered from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. And Boeing was facing stiff competition: Airbus, its European rival, had made innovative advances in commercial jets, such as rear tail pieces made from lightweight composites. Worse, Airbus was gearing up to build the A380 superjumbo jet--a higher-­capacity, more efficient competitor to ­Boeing's iconic 747.

Boeing needed to do something bold. So it bet its business on a medium-sized advanced aircraft called the 7E7--today known as the 787 Dreamliner--that would be 20 percent more fuel-efficient than other jets of comparable size and cost less to maintain. Such a jet would make direct flights between far-flung smaller cities (say, Boston and Bangalore) cost-effective. "It's the future. It really is," Mark Jenks, a Boeing vice president who was then director of technology integration for the 7E7 program, said to me in 2003. "If we get it wrong, it's the end. And everyone here knows that."

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