To: Red Tail,
As far as engineering at Convair is concerned it went south when they designed the 880 and 990. If you want to address inaccessability, then the Convair Jets are at the very top. When flying on an 880 you might notice that the wing skin is smooth and not pocked marked with access panels. On the return flight you might notice access panels all over the place. On the 880 and I assume on the 990 the designers installed hydraulic drive and other mechanical components for the flight control and fuel systems but there were no access panels for maintenance of these units. If something failed the mechanic had to cut a hole in the wing skin either on the top or bottom and in the process, Convair had to engineer the structural fix to repair the hole that had to be made in order to gain access to the failed component.
On many occasions when they were testing the 880 they would land and when they activated the thrust reversers the engines would blow heavy black sooty smoke and it would be ingested into the two inboard engines shutting them down. These two engines provided the hydraulic power for the brakes and the brakes would not operate very well because they had limited stopping power from the accumulator. Once the aircraft stopped it was towed back to the end of the runway and they would take off again. This problem I assume was solved before the 880 went into service.
Regarding the engineering at Convair Astronautics, the builder of the Atlas, it was pretty good. The management however totally sucked. Convair had four different aircraft programs going when they got the contract to build the Atlas. Those programs were the 880 and 990 and the F102 and F106. They felt that the Atlas would be lower in producing income for the company so the aircraft division unloaded all of the dead wood in their management structure onto the Astronautics division. All four aircraft programs eventually bit the dust and the company laid off all of their management instead of placing them in the Astronautics division and getting rid of the bad managers. When the Astronautics division was founded they Gave the Presidency to a comparitive unknown in the aircraft industry. The main reason he was hired was that the company felt that he would work well with the Air Force. This mans' main qualification was that in WW2 he dropped a bomb on a Japanese Battleship killing a high ranking Admiral. As a manager, he too sucked, and as the program matured the Air Force shared these same feelings.
Although the Atlas had some teething problems it proved to be fairly reliable as Ballistic Missiles are concerned. It turned out that way not because of management but, in spite of management.
Regarding my working at Plattsburg, NY I had the chance and I turned it down for two reasons. I didn't want to work in a hole in the ground and I felt that upstate NY sucked.
Now, I live in Quebec about 80 miles as the crow flies from Plattsburg. I could kick my butt for not taking the oppotunity as the area is fantastic. However if I had done so my life would have changed and I wouldn't be where I am, married to a lovely Quebec lady.
Any more war stories.
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The Cat
[This message has been edited by Lu Zuckerman (edited 19 October 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Lu Zuckerman (edited 19 October 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Lu Zuckerman (edited 19 October 2000).]