I'd forgotten about those planes. They were very tired at the end and I don't think the crew enjoyed them.
From the coughpit perspective, they weren't too bad, but the cabin crew never liked them. They simply weren't set up for the job they were doing.
When they first arrived, the pilots were going through one of their periodic cycles of unpleasantness with management. If I recall correctly, someone thought it would be a good idea if we came in and did the required training on an unpaid basis. Something like that anyway. Needless to say, the vast majority were not particularly interested in that deal.
So, as the first in service date gets closer, the messages from on high became more strident. Eventually, it was pointed out to us that if we didn't do the training, then we couldn't fly the jets. This message was repeated, in a somewhat higher tone of voice every couple of days. The penny then dropped. If the pilots didn't do the training, the jets weren't going to fly. More strident messages. First flight is due on Monday. On Friday afternoon, somebody works out that a couple of hundred pilots aren't going to come in over the weekend. So, on Saturday and Sunday, the necessary facts had been reduced to ONE PAGE, and that sheet was couriered to everyone.
As it turned out, the engine installation was identical to the 747. The differences in the coughpit were trivial, and could be worked out just by having a look for a minute or two. The biggest difference was something that was not covered in any of the paperwork. The aircraft flew, just like the GE 300s that we'd been flying for years. But the flare...now that was different. Over the first couple of days, I expect the passengers were treated to a number of solid arrivals, as we all worked out the required method, which was the opposite of the GE 300s. In those, you could close the power levers rapidly, as soon as you started to flare. But, if you did that in the RRs, you'd arrive, no matter how nicely judged the flare was. Basically the RR's thrust would wind down appreciably more rapidly than the GE, and the GE also had more residual (idle thrust). So, the new technique was to flare, then slowly wriggle the power levers back to idle. That gave us three totally different landing techniques. One for the 200s, and then one for each of the different engines on the 300.