When truth is stranger than fiction. United Airlines is hiring NASCAR Pit Crews to train it’s ramp crews on how to improve the turn times between flights. The airline is trying to get the maximum flight time out of it’s aircraft.

The hiring of NASCAR pit crews has got to be one of the crazier ideas I have heard though. NASCAR pit crews can fuel the race car, change the  tires, clean the windows, and make minor adjustments in about 15 seconds during a race. My question is how will this help United Airlines? Do they really think that an airline ramp will have the same dynamics as a NASCAR race?

Chief Operating Officer Peter McDonald said in a speech Tuesday evening at Northwestern University that the company has hired NASCAR pit crews to train ramp workers in order to reduce turnaround time at airports.

McDonald said improving aircraft turns, refueling, cleaning and loading and unloading planes on layover will add 125 flights to United’s schedule without putting more planes in the air.

Increasing efficiency is part of the company’s plan to return to profitability after being forced into bankruptcy by a surge of low-cost carriers, high labor costs, and ever-rising fuel prices. The key to its strategy, McDonald said, is United’s “most important asset”–its people.via cbs2chicago.com