Overview

After the challenge of getting the commercial business launched and starting service in 1971 with the CF6-6 on the DC-10-10, the team of Hood and Rowe was dissolved as Ed Hood was promoted to group executive of the International Group. At the same time I was made a vice president and general manager of the commercial engine business. This was quite an honor for me and the beginning of another great adventure. The week I was made vice president was quite an exciting one. I had just flown back from Europe to take a vacation on a chartered sailboat with my wife, Jill, our daughter, Linda, and our son, David. After being on the boat a couple days, I got a message from Gerhard to call his office. (There were no cell phones in those days.) We made an emergency landing somewhere in Maine. When I connected with Gerhard, he told me that one of our engines had lost its low-pressure turbine very close to the backyard of one of our best customers. Gerhard and I had to make an emergency visit to that customer in Los Angeles to convince him that we were on top of the problem and that it would never happen again. Feeling very responsible for the incident, I started the team at Evendale on an extensive program to find the cause and fix the problem pronto which turned out to be tough to do. (We did it, though, with very little interruption in service. Our action...