Oh, come now...it surely wasn't
that bad.
Well for some, it surely was.
For others, who were sent to the head shed (Lockheed, Palmdale) and had the factory course, it 'appeared' to be a breeze.
I remember one guy in DHA many years ago. A full-blooded Cherokee Indian he was, who absolutely would go ape-s..t if the FIRM code wasn't used (and so he should have, IMO) but nevertheless had his 'little black book' (notes from that previously mentioned factory course...not girlie phone numbers
) wherein when you arrived on stand with a defect, would promptly consult said black book, and pronounce a fix...that would always work, every darn time.
Quick turns were his speciality.
An absolute jewel of an engineering guy, and worth every $ he was paid...and it was plenty in the 'old' days.
Oh yes, forgot to mention.
In JED this same airline had a Thai national, named Noi (small, in Thai I believe) whose speciality was changing out ACM components...small guys with very long arms apparently needed) and was paid accordingly...always smiling at his bank book.
These were brand new aeroplanes then, and the dispatch reliability was 98%....minimum.
Goes to show, if you have enough dough....anything can work.
From a pilots' perspective....nothing finer, period.
Lockheed done it right!
