The funny stuff us A&Ps find

NordicDave said:
People forget how dangerous non-direct combat service life is for many, especially in times of war or heightened tensions.
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Very few people are aware of the hazards military personnel face in everyday life. Between the end of WWII and roughly 1990, over 2,000 service members died every year from non-hostile action. This includes accidents, illnesses, and suicide. Even now, the number is still over 1,000 per year.
 
I remember as a young JAG captain working with a friend who was assigned as the legal advisor to a fatality investigation of 6 deaths of airborne paratroopers of the 82d Airborne who died on a jump in California at Ft Irwin in 1982 (Operation Gallant Eagle). I would later be a legal advisor on another investigation into an airborne fatality. Lots of things can go wrong in every day activities in military service.
 
I remember a brand new UH-1H which arrived in my Vietnam unit circa 1970, missing bolts in the transmission housing. It had come from the factory that way. Our mechanics were incredulous when they saw it and had everybody come take a look.

There were more deaths due to aviation accidents than hostile action during my year there. Mechanical failures accounted for about half. The rest were pilot error.
 
A great friend was returning Barking sands to Pt Mugu and the #3 engine fell off, taking the starboard strut with it.
the statement was "I F--ing Quit"
as it turns out we all did, the end of program and our last 3 Connies went to DM AFB.
and 3 month later I transferred to NAS Whidbey.
 
kyleb said:
What strut? Landing gear?
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The engine took out the starboard, then as the aircraft turn the others all came down.

The aircraft was chopped up and carted away. There was 1 other connie was chopped up the same way. 3 got to fly away.
 
Not an A&P. Back in 1975 when I was taking a basic auto repair class at Napa Community College I pulled the cover off the inside of the driver's door of my 1954 Buick Special. Found a pair of slip joint pliers that had been there since the car was built in 1954. Ran them trough the cleaner and a wire brush. They're still in my tool box today.
 
Flying magazine published an article about a B-757 purchased by NASA to be used as an airborne test bed. At some point a space was opened and several pounds of cocaine was found. Author claimed the street value of the was enough to pay for the airplane and most of the modifications.
 
Jumpmaster said:
Lots of things can go wrong in every day activities in military service.
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I lost two friends in combat and went to (IIRC) 19 other funerals in my career for fellow airman lost in training accidents. We've gotten a lot safer over the years for a lot of reasons but it's still a very dangerous business flying jets at low level and high speed and coming back to the boat.
 
In my spacecraft days, we found a large flashlight inside the satellite after an acoustic test(simulates the rocket). It was still on. How Quality Control didn't catch that was beyond me, that's their sole job at that point and were attached to our hips when we close up panels. Also found a bat hanging upside down on a solar array cable right before launch, in a supposed "clean room"(no such thing at the Cosmodrome). We had to get him out of there so we knocked him out with nitrogen from a purge line. As for airplanes, just random tools in my case, the others have me beat.
 
Ghery said:
Not an A&P. Back in 1975 when I was taking a basic auto repair class at Napa Community College I pulled the cover off the inside of the driver's door of my 1954 Buick Special. Found a pair of slip joint pliers that had been there since the car was built in 1954. Ran them trough the cleaner and a wire brush. They're still in my tool box today.
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Bet you wish you still had that Buick Special. Did it have the straight 8.?

Back in the late 70s I worked for a couple Ford Dealerships. It was almost normal to find tools in cars and trucks that were left there from the factory. I still have most of them.

I found an Old Timer pocket knife squeezed between the fender well and the firewall on a brand new Jeep.

I was working on a brand new not yet sold F-150 that the right rear tail light, turn signal and back up lights were not working. I finally took the tail light assembly off and found someone had stuffed in a brown paper bag, an empty sandwich bag, and empty potato chip bag and an empty can of Dr Pepper. The Dr Pepper can had cut through the wiring. Back then Ford Quality Care was just some words, not what really happened.
 
Zeldman said:
Bet you wish you still had that Buick Special. Did it have the straight 8.?
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Nope. 1954 was the first year of the V-8. My brother had a friend in college with a a 1953 Buick straight 8. 7 1/2 feet from the front of the engine to the rear of the transmission. Those old "automatics" had a heat exchanger back at the transmission. They ran coolant back to there. He replaced all the "small" hose in that car and use 32 feet of hose. My old 1954 had two heaters. One in the usual place on the firewall that you could switch between head and defrost (as is normal even today) and a second one under the front seat with vent aimed fore and aft. No more freezing the back seat passengers while you cleared the windshield, heat and defrost simultaneously. I miss that feature. Oh, and that back seat was huge. Even had a "rope" along the back of the front seats where you could hang a lap robe for the back seat passengers. Probably a hold over from the days before the heater under the front seats.

I put the """" marks around the automatics in the previous paragraph because when you put the old Dynaflow (dynaflush as we called it) in drive it never shifted. It was a pure torque converter. Locked up around 45 mph. Smoothest transmission you could imagine. Put it in Low and that's where it stayed.
 
Ghery said:
Nope. 1954 was the first year of the V-8. My brother had a friend in college with a a 1953 Buick straight 8. 7 1/2 feet from the front of the engine to the rear of the transmission. Those old "automatics" had a heat exchanger back at the transmission. They ran coolant back to there. He replaced all the "small" hose in that car and use 32 feet of hose. My old 1954 had two heaters. One in the usual place on the firewall that you could switch between head and defrost (as is normal even today) and a second one under the front seat with vent aimed fore and aft. No more freezing the back seat passengers while you cleared the windshield, heat and defrost simultaneously. I miss that feature. Oh, and that back seat was huge. Even had a "rope" along the back of the front seats where you could hang a lap robe for the back seat passengers. Probably a hold over from the days before the heater under the front seats.

I put the """" marks around the automatics in the previous paragraph because when you put the old Dynaflow (dynaflush as we called it) in drive it never shifted. It was a pure torque converter. Locked up around 45 mph. Smoothest transmission you could imagine. Put it in Low and that's where it stayed.
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A friend of mine had a '52 or '53. Man, that was one long engine...and one long car..:lol:

If I remember, to start it the key was turned on and then step on the accelerator. It had some sort of bypass so the starter would not engage when the engine was running and the driver floors the gas pedal.

It had the rope on the back of the front seat. We never did figure out what it was for. Now I know.
 
When I ran the maintenance desk at an F-18 training squadron I once had a student pilot come to me about 30 minutes after his flight was over and tell me he was missing a tube of chapstick that was in his flightsuit prior to takeoff. Of course this happened about 15 minutes before I was about to secure my maintenance crews for the weekend. I politely asked if he was sure, he said yes and that he had checked everywhere. I then informed him it would be wise to call the wife/girlfriend and inform her he would be home late that night as I called my AME's up to maint control. He was floored that I would tell him he couldn't leave for the night until it was found. Not only did he not leave, he got the honor of working with the AME's as they removed the seats so he could find his chapstick. After that very long night, every time he flew again, he would sign for the aircraft then verify all his pockets were zipped shut and when he returned he would show me they were still shut and tell me if he opened any pockets and verify that all items were accounted for. That wasn't something I required of him, he just started naturally doing it. Guess he didn't like the all night working party to get his 50 cent FOD.
 
Will Kumley said:
When I ran the maintenance desk at an F-18 training squadron I once had a student pilot come to me about 30 minutes after his flight was over and tell me he was missing a tube of chapstick that was in his flightsuit prior to takeoff. Of course this happened about 15 minutes before I was about to secure my maintenance crews for the weekend. I politely asked if he was sure, he said yes and that he had checked everywhere. I then informed him it would be wise to call the wife/girlfriend and inform her he would be home late that night as I called my AME's up to maint control. He was floored that I would tell him he couldn't leave for the night until it was found. Not only did he not leave, he got the honor of working with the AME's as they removed the seats so he could find his chapstick. After that very long night, every time he flew again, he would sign for the aircraft then verify all his pockets were zipped shut and when he returned he would show me they were still shut and tell me if he opened any pockets and verify that all items were accounted for. That wasn't something I required of him, he just started naturally doing it. Guess he didn't like the all night working party to get his 50 cent FOD.
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I went the thru the same thing over a Chief's collar device. I was securing the EA6B pilots seat when it came off. lucky it was the start of the shift.
 
Tom-D said:
I went the thru the same thing over a Chief's collar device. I was securing the EA6B pilots seat when it came off. lucky it was the start of the shift.
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Better before flight than the "Outlaw 620 Seattle Center, home base called and requests you rtb." call and the collective "Oh. crap" over the ICS. :eek:
 
Will Kumley said:
When I ran the maintenance desk at an F-18 training squadron I once had a student pilot come to me about 30 minutes after his flight was over and tell me he was missing a tube of chapstick that was in his flightsuit prior to takeoff. Of course this happened about 15 minutes before I was about to secure my maintenance crews for the weekend. I politely asked if he was sure, he said yes and that he had checked everywhere. I then informed him it would be wise to call the wife/girlfriend and inform her he would be home late that night as I called my AME's up to maint control. He was floored that I would tell him he couldn't leave for the night until it was found. Not only did he not leave, he got the honor of working with the AME's as they removed the seats so he could find his chapstick. After that very long night, every time he flew again, he would sign for the aircraft then verify all his pockets were zipped shut and when he returned he would show me they were still shut and tell me if he opened any pockets and verify that all items were accounted for. That wasn't something I required of him, he just started naturally doing it. Guess he didn't like the all night working party to get his 50 cent FOD.
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Great story. Like how you made the student pilot have skin in the game. I'm sure he learned a lot that evening.
 
Zeldman said:
A friend of mine had a '52 or '53. Man, that was one long engine...and one long car..:lol:

If I remember, to start it the key was turned on and then step on the accelerator. It had some sort of bypass so the starter would not engage when the engine was running and the driver floors the gas pedal.

It had the rope on the back of the front seat. We never did figure out what it was for. Now I know.
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My 1954 had the same starter setup. I remember pulling into the local Buick dealer when I was in college and the mechanic darned near broke the key off trying to start it. I leaned in the driver's window and suggested that he just turn the key to "on" and then step on the accelerator. The look on his face was priceless. Oh, and the lockout was based on manifold vacuum.
 
Will Kumley said:
He was floored that I would tell him he couldn't leave for the night until it was found. Not only did he not leave, he got the honor of working with the AME's as they removed the seats so he could find his chapstick. After that very long night, every time he flew again, he would sign for the aircraft then verify all his pockets were zipped shut and when he returned he would show me they were still shut and tell me if he opened any pockets and verify that all items were accounted for. That wasn't something I required of him, he just started naturally doing it. Guess he didn't like the all night working party to get his 50 cent FOD.
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Way back when I worked in a development/prototype lab, and management wasn't good at scheduling and hitting deadlines. As such, some departments always had to work Saturdays (sometimes my dept), but that ended not too long after a new Director of dev took the reigns of the facility. He declared that if any department had to work OT, their manager, and every manager above them up the chain, including himself, would have to come in and work the same OT hours. After a few Saturdays of half the management chain having to come in, management suddenly got their feces together and figured out how to effectively schedule work and eliminate OT.

That guy was tough, but we learned a lot.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Way back when I worked in a development/prototype lab, and management wasn't good at scheduling and hitting deadlines. As such, some departments always had to work Saturdays (sometimes my dept), but that ended not too long after a new Director of dev took the reigns of the facility. He declared that if any department had to work OT, their manager, and every manager above them up the chain, including himself, would have to come in and work the same OT hours. After a few Saturdays of half the management chain having to come in, management suddenly got their feces together and figured out how to effectively schedule work and eliminate OT.

That guy was tough, but we learned a lot.
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"Eat your own cooking" as my boss likes to put it. I've always (since my first job as a manager) worked overtime when my teams work overtime. Even when it was scheduled time, like when our IT department does major maintenance over night or over weekends I'd be there. I'm not much help sometimes but it's important to show support. Now days, the CIO has basically run me off from those. But I still pop in for some of it.

It does wonders for morale.
 
jsstevens said:
It does wonders for morale.
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Right up until you get a new manager who either has no life or just doesn't care, and can't understand why the people with families and lives outside of work don't really want to work 80 hour weeks.

I didn't mind working long hours for many years. Now I do, and in hindsight wish I hadn't been so devoted to my job while my kids were growing up.
 
DaleB said:
Right up until you get a new manager who either has no life or just doesn't care, and can't understand why the people with families and lives outside of work don't really want to work 80 hour weeks.

I didn't mind working long hours for many years. Now I do, and in hindsight wish I hadn't been so devoted to my job while my kids were growing up.
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I worked for one of those once. He had a saying, "Eating, sleeping, and sex are all a waste of time." He had no concept of time or days of the week. 80 hour weeks were a good start.
 
midwestpa24 said:
I worked for one of those once. He had a saying, "Eating, sleeping, and sex are all a waste of time." He had no concept of time or days of the week. 80 hour weeks were a good start.
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For me, the worst offenders were the ones who wanted us to be there for “face time” when we weren’t flying.

“OK...I’ll be here whenever you’re working if you’re here whenever I’m working. See you at 0400, tell your wife you won’t be home for 9 days.”

Ended that **** pretty quickly.
 
DaleB said:
Right up until you get a new manager who either has no life or just doesn't care, and can't understand why the people with families and lives outside of work don't really want to work 80 hour weeks.

I didn't mind working long hours for many years. Now I do, and in hindsight wish I hadn't been so devoted to my job while my kids were growing up.
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True enough but I was speaking from the manager perspective. I'm not that sort. I've worked plenty of overtime, but always with a clear goal & end in sight. And if I'm not willing to work that hard for the goal, why should anybody who works for me?
 
jsstevens said:
True enough but I was speaking from the manager perspective. I'm not that sort. I've worked plenty of overtime, but always with a clear goal & end in sight. And if I'm not willing to work that hard for the goal, why should anybody who works for me?
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I often did the same when I was an application owner at my last company, any new release or upgrade testing I was on the call with the team and pitched in where I could. First one in, last one out.
 
I had a manager who worked for me once who wanted to work 80+ hour weeks every week and tried to demand it of the people who worked for him.

One of those people was the 15 year veteran, Eric, who was still in his job because he knew what to do and liked doing it. But not 90 hours a week. As I heard the story, the manager had the leads in trying to plan the Saturday and Sunday work days and Eric suggested they drop the whole thing and just work weeks from now on. Friction ensued and Eric was fired.

The manager’s dept went to hell in less than a week because Eric was the one that knew how to hold the systems together and everyone else good had long since left. That Friday the manager was in my office explaining to me what happened. On Monday, he was cleaning out his desk as Eric came back in, with a raise and back pay. But no matter what, I couldn’t get him to take that manager role. Sometimes I think he was the smart one.
 
Zeldman said:
Bet you wish you still had that Buick Special. Did it have the straight 8.?

Back in the late 70s I worked for a couple Ford Dealerships. It was almost normal to find tools in cars and trucks that were left there from the factory. I still have most of them.

I found an Old Timer pocket knife squeezed between the fender well and the firewall on a brand new Jeep.

I was working on a brand new not yet sold F-150 that the right rear tail light, turn signal and back up lights were not working. I finally took the tail light assembly off and found someone had stuffed in a brown paper bag, an empty sandwich bag, and empty potato chip bag and an empty can of Dr Pepper. The Dr Pepper can had cut through the wiring. Back then Ford Quality Care was just some words, not what really happened.
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Brand new 1976 Ford Gran Torino station wagon. With the big wood-grain vinyl stickers on the sides and lemon yellow paint.

Stunk to high heaven whenever the A/C was turned on, and blew out grey fuzz with the blower on high.

After multiple returns to the dealer where they squirted air freshener down the fresh air intake to cure the stink for a few days, the service dept. finally pulled the dash and found two large, moldy dead fish stuffed in the duct.

Dealer said the assembly plant was having a labor dispute, and it wasn't the first sabotage of a vehicle they found recently. The other involved an open jar of some stinky liquid sewn into the driver's seat that would slosh out on bumps and corners.
 
bflynn said:
Eric came back in, with a raise and back pay. But no matter what, I couldn’t get him to take that manager role. Sometimes I think he was the smart one.
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"Sometimes"? :)
 
Dan Thomas said:
Spotted a large bolt of some sort laying on the runway when I was taking off. Radioed the tower about it, made a circuit, landed and stopped over it and waited until the maintenance guys drove out in a truck, then took off. Made it easier for them to find on an 8000 x 150' runway.
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I thought I saw a large bolt laying in the run-up area. When I walked back over later and looked it was a large goose poop.
 
Back before I retired I only worked over 40 hours a week if there was a darned good reason. My salary was based on 40 hours a week and my feeling was that if they expected continued work beyond that they didn't staff the job correctly. Now, I certainly did work more than 40 hours a week when I was traveling, that was a bit hard to avoid, but regular hours in the office? Not a chance. Managers (manglers as one person I worked with decades ago called them) need to realize that plenty of people work to live, not the other way around. Sure glad I didn't work for Intel when our kids were growing up.
 
I got poked at a few years back to return to the management side of our place. Told them a 400% pay increase and report only to the director and I would, as that would be the only way I would put up with the stupidity and bad leadership. Never been poked at about it again....
 
Ghery said:
Back before I retired I only worked over 40 hours a week if there was a darned good reason. My salary was based on 40 hours a week and my feeling was that if they expected continued work beyond that they didn't staff the job correctly. Now, I certainly did work more than 40 hours a week when I was traveling, that was a bit hard to avoid, but regular hours in the office? Not a chance.
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I'm 2 1/2 years from retirement and that describes me perfectly. Although, to my companies credit they have the same philosophy. A couple timecards that are a little over 80 and they are OK with it but if you do it more often than occasionally you will get a query about what's up and do I want to hire someone to add to my project. I don't know where they were 15 years ago when 95+ seemed the norm for me. :rolleyes:
 
jsstevens said:
"Eat your own cooking" as my boss likes to put it. ...
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I called it, "eating our own dog food," and my people came around quickly. Quality went way up.

It's the Goose/Gander thing.
Congress should learn that lesson.
 
Domenick said:
I called it, "eating our own dog food," and my people came around quickly. Quality went way up.

It's the Goose/Gander thing.
Congress should learn that lesson.
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I think anyone in a position of authority that has any integrity should've already learned that lesson.
 
mcdewey said:
I thought I saw a large bolt laying in the run-up area. When I walked back over later and looked it was a large goose poop.
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I once found a lug nut on the ramp area that came off of one of the ancient fuel trucks on the field. A good sized nut, maybe 1 1/4 socket to remove it. One of the medics asked what it was, and I said it looks like the propeller nut that holds the prop on. Their mouths dropped open and they both said ''really''?

I had to show them where it came from before they would believe it was not a prop nut....:lol:
 
NHWannabe said:
I often did the same when I was an application owner at my last company, any new release or upgrade testing I was on the call with the team and pitched in where I could. First one in, last one out.
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Same squadron as before, we were stuck at a small airfield after an airshow where one of the jets had an APU basically eat its internals and bleed oil everywhere. At airshows I only had 2-3 maintainers, myself as the safe for flight authority and a tool pouch with hand tools as we usually relied on faith that nothing would break. At least that was my bosses theory, personally I was never a fan. Thankfully this airport also had a college course for fixing aircraft and they graciously gave us hanger space and free reign of their tools. After the parts got shipped to us I’m there with my guys trying to replace a large heavy part without all of our normal things and I’m feeling like a bump on the log watching. Next best option was to ask if they were hungry, of course they were. I went and got pizzas, soda, and a case of beer. Told them the pizza and soda was for while they performed the maintenance, the beer was for the time when it was complete. I helped grab tools and other things to but for the most part I stayed out of the way as technically I wasn’t allowed to touch the jet If I was going to sign off the work.
 
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