I started at JHAS back in 2007 not long after it opened shop. As one of the "workers on the so called coal face" I can say first handedly that the team of guys we had working on these aircraft were some of the best engineers in the country. Spending some 5 years in the heavy maintenance division, our work output and quality was superb with our turn times bettering our direct competition. It was most enjoyable turning up every day to see what new challenges were on for the day. But no matter how hard we worked on the floor it still wasn't good enough for the management, and the contracts just kept getting tighter and tighter.
Obviously there is no place for heavy maintenance in Australia no more. But thanks to incompetent management it just amplified what was a doomed business. The potential was great.
By October 2012 when I decided to pull up stumps the writing had been on the walls for a long while. The hangar was a quiet decolat place... The spirit had left
I feel for the remaining guys left holding the bag... RIP JHAS
