Originally Posted by
AirBear
No, reality. Old airplanes maintained by 19 yr olds. In my airline and fractional aviation career from 1989 until last year I've only had one incident where I could have declared an emergency (no flap landing).
In 2700 hours flying C-130E's from 1982-89 I had ELEVEN inflight emergencies. 8 were engine failures/shut downs, 3 were hydraulic boost pack malfunctions. Nothing like uncommanded control inputs to get your attention.
You’re not factoring in the MTBF on parts that the military is willing to accept that airlines aren’t. If a part has a MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) of 200 hours, the military might think that’s fine, but t the airlines will laugh you out of the room.
Those 19 year olds right out of MX school have oversight by 5 and 7 levels. It’s not like some kid is just Slapping things together.