56 Souls on Board
Old Ironsides 1st Ad 
By Militarybrat (bare with me...restoring some old posts)
Another typical day if there is such a thing in the land of the humble herks. This morning one of our planes came back broke with an engine write up for fuel flow flux. Nothing out of the ordinary. We had to get it ready to go out again by lunch. We had to "quick turn" ....which basically means.. inspect it, gas it, and fix everything we find and have it ready to go out again in a few hours....it's a race against the clock to get our soldier boys a lift.
I did a short engine run (maintenance operational check), for troubleshooting and found the fuel flow transmitter to be bad......changed it and did another m.o.c. engine run....and it checked out good......but i found my # 1 engine oil Qty guage just stopped reading anything ......so i swapped gauges during the engine run with another of the planes & found that the transmitter was bad ....then we changed the transmitter....did another m.o.c., and #1 engine had a hung start......that's sorta like starting an engine ....but it stops half way thru ...."hangng up" at 60% power output and thats not good here. Because like all things mechanical that rely on air for performance.... when it gets this hot the air molecules become more sparse and performance decreases to begin with. Not a good deal.... When we are operating heavy heavy to begin with. So i went for another start.....played with bleed air and talked nice to her (the airplane....) and she lost her attitude and finally started behaving like good airplane. One of those mornings where before you fix one thing....something else breaks.
It's HOT out here, 130+ degrees.....it is bearable for me..... but the planes really get moody in this sorta heat.We are seeing the planes do all kinds of crazy stuff.
Flights with no write ups are a thing of the past. Goofy stuff like hung starts and compressor stalls are a common occurance as the sand gradually erodes the compressors , and therefore alot of the ability to develop power....
no big deal, we'll just swap an engine......but then we delete all our spare engines........ and we end up playing musical parts to try to keep all but the "cann bird" flying. ( the cann bird.....is the one waiting on parts that go back ordered......so if another plane breaks....and has back ordered parts......then we steal from the other parts to try to keep all planes but one flyable. It works but when you get into Cannabilizing engines that is alot of extra work just cuz we dont have parts.....(about 4 people 16 hrs work)
But we do what we have to......to provide a safe ride.
When i was at lunch i heard a call for fire dept emergency response teams over the loud speaker "request assisstance, inbound C-130 with an in flight emergency, landing gear failure .....56 souls on board...command post out".....and the the fire dept guys scramble like mice out of the building into their vehicals/fire trucks....and down the hill towards the flight line.
They got the gear down by an alternate method, we have emergency extension proceedures, for a safety backup.....and made an uneventful landing. As a mechanic i knew that they would. I have seen it a bunch of times. But this time i was actually a little concerned. When they said 56 souls on board i knew they were our army guys going for R&R. And I was here for the Chinook crash....for the 3rd acr guys going home on R&R a while back. And that just sux in a bad way. In fact my Lt freind from third ACR, his driver was on that crash, and he turned out to be okay....but ended up going for something relatively minor months later....and my lt freind found the irony sorta funny.
So after the in flight emergency, followed by a safe landing...the plane taxied in..... the soldiers on board deplaned and looked at the firetrucks as they walked past, completely unaware of the aircrews "pucker factor", or that anything was wrong at all, and/or that those fire trucks were all for them......
They were smiling and happy stepping off the plane, and taking pictures with their freinds in front of the plane....as they waited for the bus to come and pick them up.
Misc.......
"Area 51"-----a place the troops gather waiting for a bus ride out to the plane........it's sorta in the middle of know where....this mysterious place where busses of army and marine troops appear and disappear to/from. They even have a sign painted in red "Area 51". Our wing commander also calls it that......am i the only one that finds it sorta funny?!?!?!?!
Yesterday i saw an army guy waiting for others to board first at the back of the plane (which was headed to places more hostile) ....BECAUSE HE WAS ON CRUTCHES!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!.........hello!!!! ....WoW!.....
By Militarybrat (bare with me...restoring some old posts)
Another typical day if there is such a thing in the land of the humble herks. This morning one of our planes came back broke with an engine write up for fuel flow flux. Nothing out of the ordinary. We had to get it ready to go out again by lunch. We had to "quick turn" ....which basically means.. inspect it, gas it, and fix everything we find and have it ready to go out again in a few hours....it's a race against the clock to get our soldier boys a lift.
I did a short engine run (maintenance operational check), for troubleshooting and found the fuel flow transmitter to be bad......changed it and did another m.o.c. engine run....and it checked out good......but i found my # 1 engine oil Qty guage just stopped reading anything ......so i swapped gauges during the engine run with another of the planes & found that the transmitter was bad ....then we changed the transmitter....did another m.o.c., and #1 engine had a hung start......that's sorta like starting an engine ....but it stops half way thru ...."hangng up" at 60% power output and thats not good here. Because like all things mechanical that rely on air for performance.... when it gets this hot the air molecules become more sparse and performance decreases to begin with. Not a good deal.... When we are operating heavy heavy to begin with. So i went for another start.....played with bleed air and talked nice to her (the airplane....) and she lost her attitude and finally started behaving like good airplane. One of those mornings where before you fix one thing....something else breaks.
It's HOT out here, 130+ degrees.....it is bearable for me..... but the planes really get moody in this sorta heat.We are seeing the planes do all kinds of crazy stuff.
Flights with no write ups are a thing of the past. Goofy stuff like hung starts and compressor stalls are a common occurance as the sand gradually erodes the compressors , and therefore alot of the ability to develop power....
no big deal, we'll just swap an engine......but then we delete all our spare engines........ and we end up playing musical parts to try to keep all but the "cann bird" flying. ( the cann bird.....is the one waiting on parts that go back ordered......so if another plane breaks....and has back ordered parts......then we steal from the other parts to try to keep all planes but one flyable. It works but when you get into Cannabilizing engines that is alot of extra work just cuz we dont have parts.....(about 4 people 16 hrs work)
But we do what we have to......to provide a safe ride.
When i was at lunch i heard a call for fire dept emergency response teams over the loud speaker "request assisstance, inbound C-130 with an in flight emergency, landing gear failure .....56 souls on board...command post out".....and the the fire dept guys scramble like mice out of the building into their vehicals/fire trucks....and down the hill towards the flight line.
They got the gear down by an alternate method, we have emergency extension proceedures, for a safety backup.....and made an uneventful landing. As a mechanic i knew that they would. I have seen it a bunch of times. But this time i was actually a little concerned. When they said 56 souls on board i knew they were our army guys going for R&R. And I was here for the Chinook crash....for the 3rd acr guys going home on R&R a while back. And that just sux in a bad way. In fact my Lt freind from third ACR, his driver was on that crash, and he turned out to be okay....but ended up going for something relatively minor months later....and my lt freind found the irony sorta funny.
So after the in flight emergency, followed by a safe landing...the plane taxied in..... the soldiers on board deplaned and looked at the firetrucks as they walked past, completely unaware of the aircrews "pucker factor", or that anything was wrong at all, and/or that those fire trucks were all for them......
They were smiling and happy stepping off the plane, and taking pictures with their freinds in front of the plane....as they waited for the bus to come and pick them up.
Misc.......
"Area 51"-----a place the troops gather waiting for a bus ride out to the plane........it's sorta in the middle of know where....this mysterious place where busses of army and marine troops appear and disappear to/from. They even have a sign painted in red "Area 51". Our wing commander also calls it that......am i the only one that finds it sorta funny?!?!?!?!
Yesterday i saw an army guy waiting for others to board first at the back of the plane (which was headed to places more hostile) ....BECAUSE HE WAS ON CRUTCHES!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!.........hello!!!! ....WoW!.....
posted by militarybrat at 8:39 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home