Originally Posted by
Bucking Bar
Red Eye,
Your report is correct.
Both Seaboard and Tigers hired Professional Flight Engineers who not only worked the panel, but who kept the engines turning by whatever means necessary when they were the only airlines flying within 2,000 miles of places like Manaus, the Sub- Sahara and China just after WW2.
My father still places his feet on the floor in my Bonanza and tells me more than my 6CYL EGT/CHT/Fuel Computer can about the engine's health. Guess the skills that help you find which of 144 spark plugs is misfiring never completely go away.
Actually all the airlines hired PFEs. When the jets first came ALPA took the position that all jet aircraft should be flown by three pilots. During the early days of the B707 and DC8 the normal crew was Captain, First Officer, third pilot, and the Flight Engineer. There was a turf battle between ALPA and FEIA. The situation of the three pilots and the PFE could not last. American Airlines left ALPA over the issue. FEIA was on strike at EAL and the ALPA pilots broke the strike. The PFEs that crossed the picket line were put on the pilot seniority list. The guys that stayed on strike were spread to the winds, never to return to EAL. The lock out still existed the day they shut the doors.