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The pilots would do a Daily before the first rotation of the day. This could be done for, I think 5 days, then the aircraft would be rotated through an engineering base of a pre-planned W pattern
This is correct, however, the aircraft would be given what was termed a "Long Haul check" prior to departing an engineering base. In essence, the CSD would be topped up and any wheels / brakes that were getting a bit adjacent would be changed to ensure there would be no routine maintenance required during the planned rotations.
The " W " pattern however, also came in useful for a certain Midlands outstation who were very adept at having an aircraft changed down route and having it returned to another Station, complete with defects, which, once rectified, would mysteriously manage to return to it's original base.
LTN Ops also had a wonderful lack of geographic knowledge at times, with their requests to " just nip up to LBA / NCL as they were only up the road"...
