The pilots did not think that the plane, which weighed eight tons, could land on any runway back then. They also did not like the Hornet engines. This was because most pilots were used to Wasps. It was thought that they would find Hornets too powerful. Pratt &amp; Whitney's chief engineer, George Mead, knew that the pilots were wrong. P&amp;W's head, Frederick Rentschler, decided to do what the pilots wanted. This made an argument between Mead and Rentschler.