 They had such names as Fireball Air Express or Viking Air Lines, and commonly were operated by a lone individual with some money given by fellow GIs, or in rare cases a bank loan.For most the romantic venture ended in failure; many former fighter pilots found themselves unsuited to the steady cross-country cruising, the bookkeeping required to stay solvent, and the long-term maintenance.With a safety record 14-25 times worse than their scheduled counterparts, the nonscheduled companies (or 'non-skeds', as they came to be called) faced swift punishment from the CAB, which began widely shutting down operations that were found unsafe or "financially unfit".