WICHITA, KS – JANUARY 11, 2012

Spirit sheet metal assembly worker Jeremy Walker works on assembling the fuselage of a Boeing 737 in the Spirit plant Wednesday. Walker has worked for Spirit for 10 months. All the pieces of a fuselage for a Boeing 737 are brought into this space where it is assembled by workers.
The city of Wichita, KS is tied closely to the aircraft industry. Over the past century, Wichita has been the home to most of the large aviation manufacturers. Some people equate Wichita and aviation to Silicon Valley and the computer chip. However, over the past three years Wichita has seen many layoffs in the aircraft sector including the most recent news by Boeing that they will be leaving the city for good after over 8 decades of doing business in the city.