This is my "nugget" AE3 Jenson (that is how we refer to our unqualified engineers). She has proven to be a pretty good protege and is promising to become one of VP-1's better flight engineers. The book she is reading that looks a lot like a giant coffee table bible is our flight manual and we are required to have most of it committed to memory. My job is to make sure Ms. Jenson is very familiar with the contents of that manual. So our flights go something like this; "Hey Jenson, how many engines do we have on this plane?" "Hold on AD1, I'll look it up!". This dramatization was highly simplified to enhance your comprehension of the events that actually take place in flight!
Alright, some of you have been giving me a lot of grief because I haven't posted on my blog in a while. I won't mention any names Noel, but I am here to prove I have been busy protecting the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. For example, do you see the boat in this picture? We are flying about 200 ft above this boat. You know that the fishermen on this boat are going to have to clean out their undershorts after my GIANT plane came screaming by at 200 knots. And do you know what they saw when they looked up? "NAVY" painted right on the side of the aircraft. That fisherman will think twice before messing with us! Consider yourself protected.
I know, enough with the pictures of an engine shut down already! I just never get enough of the fact that this is a standard practice of ours.
This is from the back of the plane looking toward the flight station. I can't tell you what any of this stuff does so don't ask! Just kidding. The plastic cylinders with the brass nubs sticking out of them are sono-buoys. We shoot them out of the plane and listen for things in the water... you know, like underwater things...OK submarines!!
The best part of being a flight engineer is the rack in the foreground is the pilot's and the one in the back is mine! Works out well on those long 12 hour flights through the night. When you are responsible for safety-of-flight, you get a place to sleep!
I know what you are thinking, Stan is using his Jedi powers to levitate the aircraft so maintenance can repair the landing gear. Close! Actually the plane is on jacks; really big jacks, and this is a procedure that is required any time you change a component of the landing gear.
So this is all fine and dandy, but what actually happened to place an aircraft up on jacks, in the hanger, with its landing gear in a compromising position?
This is a landing gear door, and the rod that is broken in half is responsible for closing this particular landing gear door. The manufacture does not issue these rods in this condition; this one is broken. Guess who found it like this...yep and to think, I was getting ready to take the plane up for a test flight!
OK, I know this picture looks like I slaughtered my crew. Although the thought has crossed my mind I have decided against that course of action. This is what it looks like when you have preflighted your second plane for the night, it's close to midnight and #2 engine failed to start because it's spewing fuel all over the ground. Yes, the fluid on the deck is not blood, its fuel. So now you know why I have not had the time to update my blog. Remember; terrorist beware!!!!
...it folds up nice and neat to be tucked away when we are all done with it. Next thing you know it'll fold up into a brief case so you can carry with you on your way to work at Spacely Sprockets!
