Photographers John Gateley and Joseph DeRenzo of Panoramics Northwest, Inc. were commissioned to document the painting of a Boeing 777 for the City of New York as the official NYC 2000 aircraft. World renowned artist and NYC resident Peter Max designed the paint scheme, which took the paint-crew five 24-hour days to apply and added more than 900 pounds to the aircraft.

With DeRenzo on board, the inaugural flight left Boeing Field on the morning of...