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Post by Radialicious on Jan 27, 2009 22:57:16 GMT 12
It used to be fun when replacing a P-3 or C-130 windscreen, to ask the new mech to race off to the flight store for a 'dash 9 glass rivet'.
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Post by tbf25o4 on Jan 28, 2009 8:29:07 GMT 12
try changing the 28 spark plugs on an avenger after it has been sitting outside for 25 years, and with no special spark plug extension spanners!!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 28, 2009 8:41:53 GMT 12
I never saw this happening myself but I recall when I was at Whenuapai hearing 40 Squadron mechs saying they had to crawl inside the Hercules wing fuel tanks wearing breathing apparatus and scrub the tanks. It was not a favoured job. At the same time there was a report in one of the safety magazines of a US Hercules that the pilot found was getting fuel starvation during the flight, with all four engines cutting out intermitently. He landed and the mechs began to investigate. It turned out the week before the same tank cleaning had taken place but the guy assigned to be the tank cleaner's safety man outside the tank had decided to go to lunch. His mate was left in the tank, no-ne realised and it was sealed up and refueled. They found his body in there, disintigrating and bits blocking the fuel lines! Awful
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Post by shorty on Jan 28, 2009 11:39:58 GMT 12
When I was at Whenuapai in 1967 as a U/T after having done my basic course at Hobbie and waiting to do a Mechs course at Woodbourne I was employed in the servicing hangar on C 130s. Being small and skinny in those days I ended up as "chief mouse" in the tank bay. Used to get stuffed in the dry bay behind the outboard engines and make my way out to the tip fuel probes. I heard the same story as Dave so either it's an urban legend or it happened a long time ago.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 28, 2009 14:29:19 GMT 12
Perhaps it is an urban legend to scare mechs into beating compacency, but it was in an official RNZAF saftey circular. Having said that I also read in one of those of the guy (supposedly USAF in this version) who put the JATO on his car and hit the cliff. Many years later Mythbusters debunked it.
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Post by phil on Jan 28, 2009 21:45:04 GMT 12
Hmmm.... we've got some jato bottles lying around at work somewhere too...
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Post by Bruce on Jan 28, 2009 22:22:42 GMT 12
Regarding the "propwash" and such that newbies get sent to fetch, when I was doing my trade training the Chief engineer never tried anything like that - at a previous company he had sent the "boy" to get some Prop wash, only to find the suppliers had started stocking this special fluid for cleaning composite propeller blades (it prevented bugs sticking etc) - the stuff was extremely expensive, and when the "boy" came back with a bottle of the it (and a packing slip showing how much it cost!) he decided not to try that trick again...
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Post by shorty on Jan 29, 2009 8:07:18 GMT 12
The storeman at Mt Cook used to break old light bulbs and get the glass stem out of the centre (have a look, they have a flattened head on them) and give them to the boy to hand to the engineer asking for a glass rivet, with the admonition to be careful when driving them as that was the last one in stock!
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Post by camtech on Feb 11, 2009 21:14:33 GMT 12
Worst one I can think of was cleaning the fuel probes inside the tanks on the C130, especially the outboard probe in each tank. Involved removing support ribs as you went in, while carrying tools, an air mask, and a bottle of ether alcohol. Then dismantling the connectors, washing them, drying them with dry nitrogen, reassembling them and crawling out. Always seemed to a job scheduled for 2300 start and finish at 0500, with a pair of punch drunk (from inhaling alcohol fumes) baggies staggering in to breakfast.
Almost as bad was anything in front of the instrument panel on the vampire single seaters - quicker to remove the whole blind flying panel!!
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Post by shorty on Feb 11, 2009 21:25:26 GMT 12
camtech, been there, done that, never want to do it again!!( see # 23) Used to get issued with extra supplies of milk to settle the stomach from all the tank fumes. The ribbed wing planks were tough on the bony bits. Seem to recall we laid on thin "matresses" made from corrugated carboard sealed in plastic.
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Post by camtech on Feb 13, 2009 14:32:58 GMT 12
Sounds right, Shorty. I recall that this was a task for about two years, until they replaced the fuel tank probe wiring and stopped using contaminated Jet A1. We had continual problems with fuel gauges running down to zero as the water in the fuel shorted out the probe connections.
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Post by camtech on Feb 13, 2009 14:41:29 GMT 12
Just thought of another SoJ: Working on an Andover tachometer problem, which was identified as a result of the poms replacing a tachometer with faulty wiring, so the solution was to swap two wires over in the aircraft wiring loom. Of course, it had to be done somewhere were the RAF SNCO wouldn't find it, so some real skinny erk did it on the front spar terminal block. When I found out what they had done (been flown down via ANZ to Wigram to fix it), then had to crawl in via the second belly hatch and rewire the terminal.
They did the same thing when a Doppler unit gave readings that were 180 degrees out in 7621. When a new unit was fitted on the delivery flight, in Calcutta, it took two days to identify the problem and fix it
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Post by snaphead on Mar 28, 2013 16:50:46 GMT 12
There are 3 sods of jobs I can relate to involvonig Canberra, Strikemaster and Vampire.
Canberra:- Removing and reinstalling all the airconditioning equipment in the wing leading edge hole. All 2ba and C spanner with no room to move tools around and EVERTHING was lock wired together. A most frustrating area to work in.
Strikemaster:- The most frustrating job was lock wiring the eye end to the hydraulic actuator. In the Strikmaster the u/c is retracted/extended by a system of chains and cable with one hydraulic actuator. ther was a tendecy for the eye end to unsrew itself soo required a specific way to be lock wired. Access was difficult, you could get your head and maybe one arm or two arms. You could spend several hours weaving the wire in the correct formation, start twisting off and "ping" the wire would break and the air would turn blue.
Vampire:- The worst job done was to replace the u/c pintle blocks (u/c pivots)No access, no light, fingers to big and ALL 6 bolts fitted with castle nuts and split pins.
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Post by beagle on Mar 28, 2013 18:33:36 GMT 12
So, what's going on here then? Can anyone tell me what that hole half way up the outside of the intake is for? Inspecting the CSD fluid level or engine compressor blades as part of a pre-flight most likely. The "hole" is the red lens for the proble light (illuminates the refuelling probe/basket when night air-to-air refuelling. The only air to air refuelling of the Skyhawks most of us saw was at airshows. How much AAR did they actually do and was there some night AAR done too. Or was that just training just in case. I think I have read that they used to send a refuelling A4 up to top up some other A4's that were to cross the ditch, is that correct. The A4's went to rarotonga once ? A bit of AAR off the top of the north Island.
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Post by beagle on Mar 28, 2013 18:43:25 GMT 12
Trying to fit the MS10 liferaft into a Lindeholme package, they never wanted to fit easily. Especially the Wet Drill ones. Once ya done a few, they are a doddle there Dave.
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Post by lesterpk on Mar 28, 2013 19:52:46 GMT 12
Air to air refuelling was fairly common at 2Sqn while I was there. Allowed the jets more strikes on the ships with having to carry less external tanks.
Biggest effort was when we sent a 4 ship to strike Aussie ships on the NZ side of mid-tasman, the knucks figured they wouldnt be expecting it from that direction. 4x A4 and 1X TA4 took off, the TA4 fully loaded with fuel, he accompanied them as far as he could and offloaded all his spare fuel to the A4's. Returned to Nowra, refuelled and waited till the appropriate time and then took off, met and refuelled the A4's coming back. IIRC correctly the total flight time for the strikers was around 4-5 hrs and if for some reason there was a problem with the tanker we were going to have to borrow a Herc to go to Tassie as that was their alternate airfield.
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Post by stukiwi on Mar 30, 2013 7:06:51 GMT 12
While working on 14 Squadron I think we sent one of the new armourers over to the base hospital for some fallopian tubes. After that he was forever known as Tubes
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Post by Deane B on Mar 30, 2013 18:24:35 GMT 12
Just about any component replacement on a Strikemaster! Because you know once you have opened the access panel the component can only be seen with a mirror or accessible at arms length.... but never both! I've also been up the tailpipe to do the turbine blade lacing wire inspection on the Viper engine.....only the once as a young fella.
The dirtiest job I've had was in Singapore on an Orion. It had an engine fire warning in flight and shutdown the engine and returned. It was caused by excess heat due to build up of a thick layer of soot inside the cowls aft of the fire wall - due to a misaligned tailpipe. Cleaning all the soot off in the open on the tarmac in Paya Lebar was hot work, not to mention two of us were black from head to toe once we had finished !
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Post by aircraftclocks on Mar 30, 2013 22:27:21 GMT 12
Replacing the thermocouple junction box in the Strikemaster. My fault for shearing off a terminal in the first place. Had to hug the tailpipe all the way down. The only problem was that the slims in the jet pipe went in one direction, you discovered that when you tried to get out. Multiple pieces of metal grabbing the overalls, it took a while to get out
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Post by jonesy on Mar 31, 2013 14:39:43 GMT 12
From memory wasnt the u/c cable tensioning on the Strikemaster a pig of a job too? Too low to sit upright, too high to lie flat on back and reach up, so on a chair with the legs cut off, sitting at a 45 degree angle. Every adjustment you made would usually mean re-tensioning on the corresponding opposite side and so on....
I'm starting to see a common denominator here in these posts - Blunty!
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