It would be uncomfortable to cheerlead for, and defend such deplorable maintenance practices, knowing that they're true.
Aircraft are mechanical: they break. They get fixed. Pilots write up, the company fixes, the airplane returns to service. Nothing new under the sun. Except when an operator elects to use the MEL as a toolbox, instead of a bandaid to move the airplane. When an operator fails to fix things for years; when an operator has a sea of MEL stickers, when an operator can have a three engine airplane close to flaming out over the pacific with three check airmen struggling to figure out why pumps and systems aren't functioning or responding, with outboard tanks unable to accept fuel, pumps failing on the only engine that requires pumps, and too much time remaining to hawaii, on a checkride; when pilot after pilot can report high engine vibration until the indicator magically goes to 0.0...and then the engine fails on a subsequent flight...the tip of the iceberg is seen. When it becomes a familiar sight, when pilots refer to it as "the Western Global Way," it's not a rare occurrence. I t's company culture. Then it doesn't matter who one is; it's unacceptable. Perhaps it drives away so many that captains flying with captains becomes the norm, because too few are left and retention is too difficult, especially in the face of moving goalposts, empty promises, and the constant threat to one's career and certificate, and perhaps one's life due to the shoddy maintenance. That's not normal. That's not part of what one should expect, certainly not one should be forced to accept.
Were those things brought to light, along with many, many others, and were the operator to ignore them and continue business as normal, one might expect what one sees; continued frequent rolling delays due to maintenance, far more MEL deferrals and carry-overs than one ought to see, continued air turnbacks and diversions, and aircraft that limp home to the sham of a "repair station" that Shreveport continues to pretend to be, where they languish, are robbed of parts and emerge with more faults than they entered. One might expect to continue to see aircraft released at Shreveport with two flight plans; one back to base, and one to destination, with crews expected to pick up the clearance for a return, then change it to destination if the airplane actually works.
It's not acceptable for a mechanic, not recognizing an electrical connector, to simply cut it out with dikes and replace it with a butt splice. It's not okay to run an airplane back and forth to Hawaii with a broken brake line support bracket, rubbing on the wheel, with no writeup or maintenance beyond wrapping the line with tape, until it finally blows in hawaii, or to have an airplane show up for a military trip with what the onboard mechanic refers to as a "loose" leading edge device...because the turnbuckle wasn't safetied and has backed off...straight out of Shreveport.
Who am I? Among other things, a mechanic with a low tolerance for bad maintenance. Also a pilot with a low tolerance for bull****. It's one thing to remain silent and not own up to the warts. It's another things to suggest that these things don't exist. Blind enthusiasm vs. bald-faced lies.
WGA liked to brag that they owned all the Lufthansa airplanes, and all of Lufthansa's engines, leasing them back to Lufthansa. Lies. They bragged about their repair station (it's not), about their engine shop, yet perpetually put unairworthy equipment back on the line. How does one boroscope an engine that's been shut down in flight due to a severe compressor stall, and find bent blades, missing pieces, long cracks, manage to put that airplane back in service with an. FCU change, following a singular engine run, and pronounce it clean and good to go? Or airplanes experiencing consistent overtemps on takeoff, are simply moved from operations in Colombia to operations stateside, because even though there's no margin left in that engine, it's blessed and okay thanks to operation at a lower pressure altitude for takeoff? Lots of worms in the cans. Rah, rah, rah. Cheerlead away, Deny if you will...but such denial is a lie, and many there are who know it.
Some of them collect documentation.