"Hey, What's This Knob Do?"

[Dave Piehler]

I'd just shut down at my destination today when they were towing a nice, shiny Conquest out of the hangar.  Two fellows in white shirts with shoulder stripes and black trousers boarded it.  A few moments later I heard the unmistakable sound of a high pressure gas venting from its tank.  Seems someone on board pulled the fire extinguisher bottle for one of the engines.  Oops.

I went about my business, and as I was returning to the airport about an hour later the Conquest was just taxiing out, no doubt having had the extinguisher recharged.  Wish I could have heard the flight deck CRM discussion about that episode.

Dave Piehler

[BDPetersen]

Or the phone call to the chief pilot . . .

Purdue DC-3's were equipped with JATO mounted under the belly. The purpose was to be used in the event of an engine failure in the first stage climb giving enough time to get the gear up and prop feathered (so there could be a next stage climb). The switches to fire the JATO were on the pedestal behind the throttles and had red guards over them. The procedure was to raise the guards when cleared for takeoff. One day the tower cancelled the takeoff clearance after the guards were raised. When re-cleared for takeoff, the captain naturally slid his hands to raise the guards. Oops. The -3 sat on the runway belching fire from its belly for the advertised 15-20 seconds, burning the fabric off the elevators. When the tower inquired if they were having a problem, the Capt replied "Not as big as the one when I get on the phone."

[47U]

Had a knucklehead crew chief fire off a starter cartridge while trying to motor an engine.  We were sitting tanker alert so there was no covering up the cloud of black/grey smoke billowing from underneath the engine.  Idiot.  He couldn't get hydro pressure to build up which sometimes happened when the KC-135 sat for too long between horns.  I told him to remove it, plus tech data clearly states to remove the starter cartidge if you're going to motor the engine.  We fired him off the pad and had a replacement sent up.  You got zero mistakes on the SAC alert pad. 

[Jim Peace]

12 hours ago, Dave Piehler said:

about an hour later the Conquest was just taxiing out, no doubt having had the extinguisher recharged.  

What makes you think they recharged it? 

[Dave Piehler]

Had they not they'd have left much sooner.  :-)

[Bob - S50]

I can top that!

We were at Toronto sitting in our DC9 getting ready to head to DTW.  We started our pushback and got a tailcone unsecure warning light.  We got permission to pull back into the gate to have it checked.  I pulled out the MEL book and saw that we could fly like that if we had it inspected to ensure it was secure.  We didn't have company maintenance at Toronto so I called mother back in Minneapolis, told them what we had, and they called out contract maintenance.  The contract guy showed up and I handed him the MEL book and the logbook.  He went into the office to call Minneapolis.  15 minutes later he comes out to the plane and heads to the back (outside).  I suspect he wanted to drop the stairs to go inspect but instead he pulled the tailcone jettison handle.  Flight cancelled.  I think he crapped his pants.

Bob

[kris_adams]

I bet he did.  wow.

[takair]

5 hours ago, Bob - S50 said:

I can top that!

We were at Toronto sitting in our DC9 getting ready to head to DTW.  We started our pushback and got a tailcone unsecure warning light.  We got permission to pull back into the gate to have it checked.  I pulled out the MEL book and saw that we could fly like that if we had it inspected to ensure it was secure.  We didn't have company maintenance at Toronto so I called mother back in Minneapolis, told them what we had, and they called out contract maintenance.  The contract guy showed up and I handed him the MEL book and the logbook.  He went into the office to call Minneapolis.  15 minutes later he comes out to the plane and heads to the back (outside).  I suspect he wanted to drop the stairs to go inspect but instead he pulled the tailcone jettison handle.  Flight cancelled.  I think he crapped his pants.

Bob

Under what normal abnormal condition would you jettison a tail cone and why?  Not familiar with the DC9.

[sleepingsquirrel]

18 minutes ago, takair said:

Under what normal abnormal condition would you jettison a tail one and why?  Not familiar with the DC9.

In prep for the ballistic chute deployment

.http://cirrusaircraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/CAPS_Guide.pdf

 

[Bob - S50]

9 hours ago, takair said:

Under what normal abnormal condition would you jettison a tail cone and why?  Not familiar with the DC9.

In the event of a ground evacuation, the job of the first officer was to exit the plane first and head for the tailcone.  When the flight attendants pull their handle, the cone is supposed to fall off and roll out of the way, then the chute is supposed to deploy so people can evacuate out the back of the plane.  Just in case the FA handle doesn't work right, if the FO gets to the back of the plane and the tailcone is still on, they are supposed to pull the handle and jettison the cone.