Remembering that week in '08 when we had three 747s down at once

It was a Monday morning and the hangar in Anchorage looked like a graveyard for giants. We had three different 747s with major hydraulic issues, all needing the same part that was on a 4-day backorder. My crew chief, a guy named Sal, just looked at the board and said 'well, guess we're getting creative.' We ended up cannibalizing a serviceable unit from a freighter due for heavy checks to get the first passenger bird flying. The whole week was just pure, old-school problem solving with zero help from the computer. Anyone else have a story from before everything was just a parts order away?

3 comments

3 Comments

karenb9720d agoTop Commenter

My uncle worked those Alaska freight lines. He always said the old manuals were useless until you had three planes down and one part. Watching his crew rebuild a pump from scrap metal parts changed how I see problem solving now.

the_anthony20d ago

Sal's crew must have had the patience of saints. That part shortage was brutal, but @karenb97 is right about the old manuals. They were a starting point, but you never found the real fix for a grounded plane in a book. You learned it from the guy who saw the same weird failure ten years prior.

irisowens19d ago

Man, I used to think the manual was the final word on everything. Then I watched a mechanic fix a landing gear sensor by cleaning a tiny bit of road salt off a connector. The book said replace the whole unit, but he knew that sensor always acted up after winter flights. Saved a two day wait for a part. That stuff just isn't in the books.