Maggie’s Motivational Pic Thread v2.0 - - New Rules - See Post #1

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Same here. Diego Garcia 2002 was last time. A hydro troop is gonna disagree about loving it though.

Fall of 03 was my trip to Diego.

And yeah, I've helped on quite a few hydro repairs and I wouldn't want that job. I think the last helper job I was involved in was a left ADG.

For some reason, we could never get anyone to help out crawling around inside of fuel tanks...😉
 
Fall of 03 was my trip to Diego.

And yeah, I've helped on quite a few hydro repairs and I wouldn't want that job. I think the last helper job I was involved in was a left ADG.

For some reason, we could never get anyone to help out crawling around inside of fuel tanks...😉
This is why I won't crawl around in a fuel tank:



I was on the -141 to the immediate port side of this when it went. The heat was enough that it blistered the skin of the plane I was on.
 
^^^^ back story to the above.:

Circuit breakers to a boost pump in main tank kept tripping. Fuel cell guys drained the tank for inspection. The fuel level exposed two bare wires that was causing the short. The fuel cell guys then proceeded to reset breakers and run pump. After a few times of repeating this, the sparking ignited the vapors and..... vooomph!!! That describes the sound I heard before bangs...

I planned a long trip to Hawaii very shortly thereafter before the investigation started.
 
This is why I won't crawl around in a fuel tank:



I was on the -141 to the immediate port side of this when it went. The heat was enough that it blistered the skin of the plane I was on.


IIRC, there was a ton of, let's call it, cause and effect going on in that "mishap."

First mistake was doing the job with other aircraft close by. No way to cordon off the area down wind.

Second, was not properly depuddling and purging the tank.

Third was using equipment that wasn't explosion proof.

It just got much, much worse from there.




I also remember a couple of guys dying on C-130s because they failed to follow the most basic safety procedures.

That shit didn't fly with me. I don't care how fast you want it fixed, we're not skipping crucial safety steps.



I never liked working in-tank maintenance when adjacent tanks had fuel in them.
Fortunately, you couldn't do that on the B-1B because of system design.
 
Fall of 03 was my trip to Diego.

And yeah, I've helped on quite a few hydro repairs and I wouldn't want that job. I think the last helper job I was involved in was a left ADG.

For some reason, we could never get anyone to help out crawling around inside of fuel tanks...😉
We called them tank tigers……
 
^^^^ back story to the above.:

Circuit breakers to a boost pump in main tank kept tripping. Fuel cell guys drained the tank for inspection. The fuel level exposed two bare wires that was causing the short. The fuel cell guys then proceeded to reset breakers and run pump. After a few times of repeating this, the sparking ignited the vapors and..... vooomph!!! That describes the sound I heard before bangs...

I planned a long trip to Hawaii very shortly thereafter before the investigation started.

It's so easy to ohm out a pump before going to all of that other work.

Now that you refreshed my memory on that one, didn't the 7-level actually hold the CB in to prevent it from tripping?




Power should have never been applied to an aircraft with an open fuel tank...
There's danger tags, disconnected batteries and even external power receptacle that would have/should have been tagged.

Big, big, big fuckup.
 
It's so easy to ohm out a pump before going to all of that other work.

Now that you refreshed my memory on that one, didn't the 7-level actually hold the CB in to prevent it from tripping?




Power should have never been applied to an aircraft with an open fuel tank...
There's danger tags, disconnected batteries and even external power receptacle that would have/should have been tagged.

Big, big, big fuckup.
Sounds like a bunch of LOTO was disconnected before they could even try that.
 
IIRC, there was a ton of, let's call it, cause and effect going on in that "mishap."

First mistake was doing the job with other aircraft close by. No way to cordon off the area down wind.

Second, was not properly depuddling and purging the tank.

Third was using equipment that wasn't explosion proof.

It just got much, much worse from there.




I also remember a couple of guys dying on C-130s because they failed to follow the most basic safety procedures.

That shit didn't fly with me. I don't care how fast you want it fixed, we're not skipping crucial safety steps.



I never liked working in-tank maintenance when adjacent tanks had fuel in them.
Fortunately, you couldn't do that on the B-1B because of system design.
My dad was the C-130 guy in the 60s through the 80s. Told me many stories about fuel cell mishaps. He was an engine and prop guy for Lockheed around the world. May have trained or worked with some of you older guys.
 
My dad was the C-130 guy in the 60s through the 80s. Told me many stories about fuel cell mishaps. He was an engine and prop guy for Lockheed around the world. May have trained or worked with some of you older guys.
Was your dad a black guy? I got my certifications of 130 props from a really smart guy (black) but I can’t remember his name….
 
It's so easy to ohm out a pump before going to all of that other work.

Now that you refreshed my memory on that one, didn't the 7-level actually hold the CB in to prevent it from tripping?




Power should have never been applied to an aircraft with an open fuel tank...
There's danger tags, disconnected batteries and even external power receptacle that would have/should have been tagged.

Big, big, big fuckup.
Yes, your memory is accurate on the troop holding the cb in.
In the end, it was the crew chief (good friend of mine) that got jacked on that deal. I'm not aware of any discipline, one way or the other, for the fuel cell troops.
 
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One of my last -141 missions was ferrying an A-10 squadron to Aviano during the Bosnia thing. We landed in Windsor Locks CT and doing the walkaround there was just a crap ton of fuel streaming down the fuselage from leading and trailing edge of wing from under the sail panels. This was an aircraft with 44k flight hours and with the wing box tcto weight limits.
Total hazmat incident...

Anyway, a Tiger team came up from McGuire and worked all night on the problem. Put back together and sign it off "no defect noted".
We flew another 50 hours of international flight without a repeat. I was never so nervous about flying in all my life. My mind always flashed back to my dad's stories (a B-24 pilot) about B-24's just blowing up on take off.
 
My dad was the C-130 guy in the 60s through the 80s. Told me many stories about fuel cell mishaps. He was an engine and prop guy for Lockheed around the world. May have trained or worked with some of you older guys.

I didn't go in until 84.
In the AF, engines and Fuel Cell were completely different careers. I think the navy combines them.

In fact, engines was also broken down into prop and turbo fan.
Different shredout.

I wouldn't have met your Dad.


The stories are the reason why we had very stringent rules for working on the fuel system and even more stringent rules for open tank maintenance.
You wouldn't believe the number of people that thought we were overly cautious.
 
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