I’m convinced that most of us are building for someone else. I was taught this lesson back in 1998, I listened, I understood but I didn’t really understand the significance of it. The lesson… I was working in one of my earlier roles as an apprentice aircraft engineer, the job was great, it was interesting and we had some good times.
Your opening to this post made me smile, John. For this reason. When I was still at school we had to select somewhere for work experience. One of my options was British Aerospace. Now as someone as a youngster who was fascinated by aeroplanes and navy, who would pass up the option to go work for 2 weeks on the Harrier assembly lines. No brainer.
After the first week I couldn’t believe how boring it was. So like you I was given a cut piece of titanium which needed six holes drilled in it, this was part of the flap track. I then had to take a brass eyelet, dunk it in liquid nitrogen and tap it into the hole. After the first couple of days I asked one of the guys what the next stages would entail, to which the reply was along the lines of “this is it, every day.” I couldn’t believe these lot had been doing this every day for years. And that was the end of my plane manufacturing dreams!
Your opening to this post made me smile, John. For this reason. When I was still at school we had to select somewhere for work experience. One of my options was British Aerospace. Now as someone as a youngster who was fascinated by aeroplanes and navy, who would pass up the option to go work for 2 weeks on the Harrier assembly lines. No brainer.
After the first week I couldn’t believe how boring it was. So like you I was given a cut piece of titanium which needed six holes drilled in it, this was part of the flap track. I then had to take a brass eyelet, dunk it in liquid nitrogen and tap it into the hole. After the first couple of days I asked one of the guys what the next stages would entail, to which the reply was along the lines of “this is it, every day.” I couldn’t believe these lot had been doing this every day for years. And that was the end of my plane manufacturing dreams!