Boeing eng
Nicely put. I tried a post but deleted it as it just wasn't good enough.
Your comment on engineers being seen as a necessary evil strikes a chord.
Management seem unable to grasp the fact that a good committed engineering department actually saves them money.
I offer the following as an example. 737-700 nosewheel steering lockout handle sticks in the aircraft towing position.
Usual answer was to replace the steering metering unit. This was often after a serious delay involving getting an engineer on site. On one occasion there were 3 occurences on three different aircraft in one day.
Two engineers on the night shift work out a fix that takes 30 minutes and can be accomplished on the line with the only spare required being a split pin!!!!!
Cost saving to the airline millions, reward to engineers involved not even a thanks.
Another example being a senior manager who told the engineering staff that his statistics said that the aircraft availability they were achieving was impossible!!!!!!!
A committed experienced workforce pays for itself and reduces airline cost and therefore increaces profits. You have to ask why the engineering departments in many organisations are treated so badly when they are so important to commercial success.
Could be that the bean counters know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.