A Mundelein High School graduate is helping Boeing to realize its dream for a new super-efficient passenger jet. Kevin Anderson, a 1982 graduate who also worked as a photographer for a former News-Sun weekly in Libertyville in the late 1970s, is a lead engineer for the performance of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, which the company said will use 20 percent less fuel than any other airplane of its size. Click to enlarge image A Boeing 787 sits on the assembly line, Saturday, July 7, 2007, at Boeing's assembly plant in Everett, Wash.

, a day before the official roll-out ceremony for the first Boeing 787 airplane. 787 by the numbers The 787 comes in three models. The 186-foot-long 787-8, which stands 56 feet tall, can carry 210-250 passengers on routes of 7,650-8,200 nautical miles -- non-stop, for instance, from Chicago to Shanghai.

The 787-9 is bigger and can carry 250-290 passengers on routes of 8,000-8,500 miles. The 787-3 can accommodate 290-330 passengers on routes of 2,500-3,050 miles. The 787 obtains high fuel efficiency from extensive use of carbon fiber composites.

Fifty percent of the aircraft by weight is made from composites instead of aluminum, Anderson said. With a maximum weight of 484,000 pounds, it can cruise at 85 percent of the speed of sound, which is 488 nautical miles or 561 statute miles per hour at 39,000 feet. "It's great to be part of the 787 team.

Everyone is very dedicated and willing to give the extra effort to ensure that 787 is a success," said Anderson, a graduate of the University of Illinois in Champaign with a bachelor's degree in aeronautics/air space engineering. Not only he is proud of the role he is playing, so is his father, Robert D. Anderson, a longtime Mundelein resident, who taught him to fly and inspired him to study aeronautics.

"I taught him to fly from Campbell Airport in Grayslake in a Cessna I owned. He soloed when he was 16," said the father, a retired commercial and corporate pilot. The senior Anderson, who served in the U.

S. Air Force, was a pilot for TWA, North American Aviation, Esmark and Swift. Kevin, who was hired by Boeing right after he graduated from college, also has an airline transport license.

He also worked briefly as a corporate pilot. Anderson met his wife, Jill, when they were neighbors in Mundelein. She also went to Mundelein High School and University of Illinois.

They have three daughters, ranging in age from 4 to 11. The senior Anderson and his wife, Patricia Ann, have two other children, Judith Ann Sherman, a physician; and Linda Brown, a software engineer. Sherman's son, Benjamin, is a first lieutenant in the Air Force.

As the lead engineer for the Dreamliner, Anderson said his job "involves performance analysis, including gathering airline requirements and working with airlines to explain what the 787 can do for each airline." "As an example, I tell airlines how much payload the 787 can carry and how much fuel the airplane will burn on a given route," he said. So far, Boeing has received 677 firm orders for the Dreamliner from 47 airlines around the world.

The first 787s will be delivered in May, Anderson said. Boeing rolled out its first Dreamliner at its plant in Everett July 8. Jill accompanied her husband for that event.

"It was beautiful, very streamlined with a rounded body," she said. "I can't wait to see first flight and eventually take an airline trip on the 787," Anderson said. A Mundelein High School graduate is helping Boeing to realize its dream for a new super-efficient passenger jet.