Documentary Shadows Boeing 777

Karl Sabbagh likes big projects - airports, airliners, skyscrapers, an art museum.

“I don’t come in to a project with an ax to grind. I don’t even have an opinion about real estate developers or plane makers. I’m really interested in how people do their jobs,” Sabbagh says.

Since 1992, the independent documentary producer has visited Seattle to follow the design, construction and testing of Boeing’s new 777 airliner.

His documentary film, “First Flight,” airs Wednesday night on PBS, just two weeks after the aircraft’s inaugural trip from London to Washington, D.C.

“I got the idea for a series on Boeing from an article a friend sent me about the assembly of a 747 jumbo jet in three weeks, which I found astonishing,” Sabbagh said.

“Boeing told me they were working on a new aircraft and suggested I follow it, but they were concerned about giving away industrial secrets, and I didn’t want to do a series of corporate plugs. We ironed it out.”

“First Flight” covers the final assembly, testing and rollout of the first 777 and interviews the project’s principal executives and engineers while the project is moving to completion.

Sabbagh can devote years to a subject. One of his current projects, recording the conversion of an old London power plant into an art gallery, is expected to cover six years.

He also devoted three years to filming the construction of Worldwide Plaza, a Manhattan skyscraper at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue.