The Pursuit of Excellence Book by Bruce Leonard

In 1971 Qantas Airways Limited took delivery of their first Boeing 747-200B aircraft and little did they know that this aircraft type would remain their mainstay of their international fleet for the next forty years.

This is the story of how the Qantas Engineers came to grips with the “jumbo jet” with all its complexities, as well as the other types of aircraft that would follow.

This is the era when the Qantas Jet Base at Mascot developed into an aviation engineering and maintenance facility second to none and when the merger of Qantas and Australian Airlines created one of the largest industrial capabilities in the country. It is an era when the Qantas engineers continued to pursue high standards of technical excellence in the maintenance of aircraft, engines and components. Excellence built on the standards set by those who built the reputation of Qantas engineering since 1920.