Sunday, September 08, 2013

Behind the C-17: Building the plane has been the work of families, friends

Posted: 09/07/13, 4:39 PM PDT 

 By Karen Robes Meeks, Long Beach Press Telegram

For those who don’t know Steve and Scott Hackman, it’s hard to tell who’s who unless you know who does what.

The longtime employees and identical twins work in the wing department, where Steve Hackman, a mechanic, drills thousands of rivets and fasteners into the plane and younger brother Scott Hackman — younger by five minutes — inspects that work.

“Everything has to be just right,” said Scott Hackman, lining up a small measuring tool against some of the 44,000 bolts, rivets and other parts on the plane.

“I don’t cut him any slack, and anything I find, he fixes, just like anybody else would,” the younger brother said. “He’s a really good mechanic. He’s one of my favorites. Not because he’s my identical twin brother, but I have a nice work ethic and so does he. It’s a genetic thing, you know.”

The Hackmans came to work for Boeing because their father worked here, as did their mother, aunt and uncle.

“Our dad gave us the applications, we both filled them out, we both handed them in, we both got called into the employment office together, we took the test and got hired on the same day,” Scott Hackman said. “My badge number was one different than his.”

Like the Hackmans, many graduates from Millikan High School came to work at the Long Beach plant.

“I think the reason why it’s close-knit is because every single day I come in — I’ve been here 33 years — and I see the same people every day,” Steve Hackman said. “The same guys go to the gym. I mean, you see them at the lunch truck, go in and out, it’s a family. You spend more time here than you do at home. ... When you work together like that you basically become like family.”

The twins are pretty inseparable. They are on the phone with each other on their way to work. (Before cellphones, they talked on two-way radios with linear amplifiers on their commute.) They walk in together, go to the gym at lunchtime together and chat during breaks.

“We’re best friends,” Scott Hackman said.

All in the family


Garrett Eddington, who works in fire services for Boeing, remembers being a 6-year-old sitting on the hood of a red 1965 Ford pickup at the end of the runway near his Long Beach home, watching the first C-17 Globemaster III fly out of the plant nearly 22 years ago.

“It’s something I’d never seen before,” said Eddington, 28, a third-generation Boeing employee. “It’s a C-17. It’s what my dad built.”

The three generations of Eddingtons tied to Long Beach and this company started with his grandfather, Robert Eddington, a machinist who worked on commercial planes for 39 years. His father, Gary Eddington, is a supervisor on the C-17 who started at the company on the commercial side in 1979.

“I’ve got friends here that I went to high school with,” said Gary Eddington, 55. “Some of us grew up on the same block, went to the same high school and we’re all still working here.”

He remembers when there was more than 40,000 people working there.

“When I was first hired here, we used to take trams … that pulled us all the way into the buildings because you couldn’t find a parking spot.”

He said working on the C-17 has been a blessing.

“It’s been fun. It’s been great for me, great for my family,” said Gary Eddington, adding that his job has afforded him the ability to put his three children through college. “They’ve all got college degrees and have full-time jobs. ...

“I’ll be here until they close the doors myself. I’m not quite old enough to retire yet.”

Star power


Over the years, customer relations manager Lynne Jungers has seen many high-ranking officials, presidents and dignitaries come to the Long Beach plant to see the military jet.

But perhaps the most celebrated visit was that of the late Bob Hope, who came to Long Beach in 1997 for the naming of C-17 Globemaster III No. 31, “The Spirit of Bob Hope.”

She remembered the legendary comedian sitting in a Jeep, wearing a C-17 jacket and hat.

“He was very frail until you put the microphone in his hand,” she said. “If you didn’t look at him to realize how elderly he was, you’d have thought this was Bob Hope in Vietnam talking to the troops. I mean, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness!’”

Jungers said it reminded her of being at a ballgame watching a player retire his number.

“It chokes you up,” she said. “He got a bigger reaction than any general. He got a bigger reception than President Clinton by far. This is a great American. I will always remember this day.”

Flying high


For seven of the 28 years he has worked at Boeing, aircraft mechanic Willie White commuted from Perris in Riverside County to Long Beach by plane.

He and eight others took two private airplanes they chartered themselves to and from Riverside and Long Beach, flying up and over the grueling rush hour traffic.

“That’s been the highlight, to be able to fly in an airplane into your work on an airplane and fly back home,” said White, who now lives in Anaheim and drives to Boeing in Long Beach. “We’d clock out of here at 2:30, get in the plane and fly 70 miles and get in our home by 3:25 on a Friday.”

He racked up more than 1,000 hours of flying during his seven-year commute to and from Long Beach.

“That’s love,” he said.

A life’s work


When Nancy Wrobleski was recruited out of college by McDonnell Douglas in 1985, she thought she’d spend a couple of years in Long Beach before moving back to her native Wisconsin.

That was 28 years ago.

“I’ve been on the C-17 program my whole career, and I absolutely love it,” she said.

She and her team provide field support for the C-17, ensuring that the more than 1,000 engines in the fleet are in good health.

The propulsion engineering manager spoke about the passion of longtime workers who mentored her.

“Everyone is so proud of this plane,” she said. “Every time it takes off, people get chills. After that many years, you still really feel this way.”

Original Article and Photo Gallery:  http://www.presstelegram.com