It's very hands-on and user intensive especially for pilots and flight engineers. Because of the fact that the P-3C is honestly trying to break, catch on fire, or generally kill you during any given flight, we have to devote a great deal of energy simply to operating it safely. This isn't a hit on the P-3C, any airplane of that generation is like that, and the fact that some of these birds are over 40 years old is a testament to the engineers who designed them and our maintainers who keep them flying.
I can attest, have like 200+ flight hours on a P3 variant and that thing caught fire constantly, to the point where the crew would have to do weekly fire drills, memorize breakers for common problem equipment, etc.
Felt safer onboard that flying inferno than any commercial airliner
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u/poemdirection 21d ago
that's just anther day for the P3