I have been involved in many lighting strike inspections and repairs over my years in aircraft maintenance. Lightning strikes can be difficult to see sometimes, especially at night. Usually, it is small burn or charring marks around the fasteners of the fuselage and they can be widely spaced along t...
Jump to postIn response to 889091, There was drain plugs in the area of the air stairs on the B727's that I worked on at Eastern Airlines. It is kind of difficult to explain without actually seeing how this was set up, but the B727's had drain plugs in the nose landing gear area of all the B727's. They allowed ...
Jump to postWe see lightening strikes here at our structures shop. They are probably one of the most dreaded jobs to see. The strikes can be over a big section of the aircraft meaning that we have to open up many areas of the aircraft interior to access the damage areas for fastener replacement or doing a repai...
Jump to postI recall a MD10 that came into our hangar at IND for structures work because the bogie didn't center, or didn't center soon enough, when the main gear retracted. The main gear actuators apparently have the muscle to stow the gear even if it isn't centered for the wheel well. Spent about two days of ...
Jump to postOn the topic of 767 construction, our new 767-300F's are experiencing a lot of cracked parts on the wing fixed leading edge and trailing edges. This is on planes with very low flight hours. On the fixed leading edge which is a composite construction, the nose former angles are breaking. They are loc...
Jump to postGreetings to the forum, I'm not sure that this forum is the correct one for this topic, but, here I go. I was recently browsing around on Google Maps, and happened to look at the former Chanute AFB at Rantoul, Illinois. In the image you can see a collection of vintage aircraft that seem to be in the...
Jump to postTo Eskimotail, Thank you for the post. The last sentence of it rings most true. We have technicians assigned to work this on a twelve on, twelve off shift cycle to try for continuity on the job. You must have experienced techs to work this kind of repair. But, in a small shop such as ours, the techs...
Jump to postWe had to go with the repair kit due to the area that was damaged. It is the belly skin that runs from the circumferential that is just aft of the bulk cargo doorway to the the aft pressure bulkhead. This is a compound curved skin that we could not fabricate at our hangar and is approximately ten to...
Jump to postTo ReverseFlow, Thanks for your post. I had not come across this in my search. So, they do have on site repair teams. The reason I was wanting to know this is that we recently had a A300-600F do a tail strike and it was sent to us at IND. The damage was extensive. Airbus was contacted and said that ...
Jump to postHello everyone, I was wondering if Airbus has a recovery and modifications services, RAMS, like Boeing does. This is teams that go out and do in the field repairs and recovery of downed aircraft. I know that McDonnell Douglas also at one time had such services. I've briefly looked on-line, but have ...
Jump to postI can remember the # 2 engine "patio deck" on the MD10's we used to do maintenance on. They were located just beneath the #2 engine and served as a work platform. The floor panels of this deck were a honeycomb core with bonded surface sheets, some times metal faced or fiberglass and usuall...
Jump to postWhere I work (FX in Indianapolis), we all have our own tools. The company does provide tooling and has a staffed tool room. From what I have seen, some airlines in other parts of the world provide their mechanics with a stocked tool box appropriate to their job rating. For instance, if you work avio...
Jump to postHorstroad, I have to admit that I'm not sure of the specifics of how the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) allow this. I do know that there are FBO operations that have unlicensed maintenance personnel. It may be that they are under a more stringent inspection requirement on the work performed. In ...
Jump to postAs stated in the above posts, you can work on aircraft without an A & P certificate, but I strongly advise having it. I work at FedEx, and if you work out on the aircraft, you must have your tickets. I would assume most of the majors are this way. Otherwise, you can work at a fixed base operator...
Jump to postWow! This seems to be an interesting subject. I thank each and every one of you for responding, As a non-pilot member of the forum, it is still somewhat confusing to me, but I have learned a lot from this post. Another question. If headings and navigation are centered along magnetic lines, and if th...
Jump to postThanks for the answers. I assume that when you say you would turn the short direction, it means you, the pilot turn the yoke. If you are on autopilot, flying due north and are told to turn to 270, you dial this in, does the flight computers also turn the short direction? Can you direct it to do othe...
Jump to postSo, if you were flying a due north and were instructed to turn to 270 degrees, would you go right three quarters of the way around the circle , or turn left 90 degrees? As you can tell, I'm not a pilot, but it seems to me that in situations where the flight is told to make numerous course changes, i...
Jump to postI'm working my way through a textbook on trigonometry, a subject I've never studied, but find fascinating due to all of it's applications. In the text it shows two ways of expressing bearings. One method is when a single angle is given, it is understood that bearing is measured in a clockwise direct...
Jump to postIt most definitely depends on where the decal is. The registration numbers and flag can go for several years. I suspect that the main reason they let go is that the edge sealer becomes aged and brittle, then the slipstream will peel them up or a de-icing sprayer hits them. The decals on the front of...
Jump to postI have no question to present, instead it's a look into what goes on in the maintenance side of things. Recently, I was tasked with removing a deteriorated American flag on one of our B767-300F's. The flag is located just aft of the registration numbers on the aft fuselage. I found out that there ar...
Jump to postI strongly urge her to get the A & P licenses, both of them. I was also in the Navy as a air-frame maintenance mechanic. I was signed off by the FAA to take the general and air-frame test for the A license. Instead, I went ahead with a A & P school program ( G.I.bill funded) and obtained bot...
Jump to postWhy does the system work better with incandescent lighting than LED? I assume that this refers to the approach/runway lights. We install the system on our B767-300F planes here in IND and I have heard one of our avionics technicians mention this.
Gregory
I see this quite often on our aircraft, including the B757 and MD11's. The 767's are holding up fairly well so far. As for flying with paint missing on a composite surface, the SRM allows a time limit that is more than you would think. If I recall correctly, the 757 and 767 can go for one thousand h...
Jump to postRead the insert by DLMech on the code of federal regulations, most interesting. Goes to show that you can always learn something new about aviation even if you have been in the industry for many years. Especially like the part about manned free balloons requiring a data plate, had never considered t...
Jump to post, Interesting information on the fuselage mounted data plate. I have never heard of this. But why would a commercial airliner have a plate stipulated by an E.A.A. regulation? I have seen what the other post is calling a "trust plate", just not on the airframe itself but on the engines. You...
Jump to postSomething of interest along the lines of this topic. When we (FX) began to receive our 757 conversion aircraft, I recall seeing a small data plate on the right side of the fuselage just aft of the pressure bulkhead. This was years ago and it was on maybe two aircraft and I've never seen them since. ...
Jump to postI often get general visual inspection (GVI) cards that instruct me to inspect the upper fuselage lobe and it will specifically state that it is to be accomplished from ground level. There is rarely any damage to the crown skin area. If one is available, I will take a man-lift and go up to the upper ...
Jump to postI can't give guidance for you on Bombardier. But, if you are a A&P license holder with no experience, you might want to look into the FedEx maintenance training program (MTP). They take candidates who have obtained their A&P license and send them through a training program where they are rot...
Jump to postIn the story that I read, I can't remember if the door failed in testing or not. It seems that it could be very well possible as the builder of the door would most likely do tests to certify it. And, as stated in the book, the builder sent letters to Douglas that they had serious concerns with the d...
Jump to postI read a book about the DC 10 crashes that were brought about by the cargo door failure. It has been a few years back, but I think it was titled " The Flight 981 Disaster". If I remember correctly, the design was by Douglas and built by a subcontractor. In the story, the subcontractor noti...
Jump to postWe changed out yet another MD11 outboard elevator last week for severely deteriorated paint. In this case, it seems the aluminum flame-spray under the paint was either burnt or melted, maybe from a heavy lightening strike. Anyway, the amount of surface that would require rework would have meant that...
Jump to postI agree with fr8mech, you should send a response to the publication. Your argument is well presented in your post. It is well written, concise, and provides examples and you seem to know something about aircraft and aviation history. They may decide you are a better contributor for them on aviation ...
Jump to postHello everyone, As some of you may have read, Qatar Airlines and Airbus are in a disagreement over the peeling paint on Qatar's new A350's. If you have seen photographs of the paint, it looks like the paint has bubbled or blistered up, cracked and left voids that exposed the underlying anti-static m...
Jump to postWe frequently have to replace the pads on our B767s when they come in for B-checks (actually its called an L-check now). The pads are mounted on two spring arms and are of some type of abrasive composite material. The attaching bolts are counter-bored down into the material but as the wheels abrade ...
Jump to postDoes the APU have to be able to start and run during flight have anything to do with being category 3 flight able?
Jump to postThese strips are not repairable locally if they are damaged, such as segments missing or de-bonded, which does happen. They are sent back to the manufacturer or a certified repair station. On our MD's, if the strips are damaged in some way, the radome is sent to Nordam in Tulsa, OK.
Gregory
Thanks for the replies. I'm somewhat familiar with the warranty conditions mentioned in 747classic's informative post. Our B767-300Fs are all Boeing factory built, but the B757-200s were converted at Mobile, AL by ST. When any issue arrives with any of the parts installed by them in the conversion p...
Jump to postDoes anyone know the differences between the Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF) and the BDSF designations? Not sure if the BDSF is a Boeing Designed Special Freighter or if it was a Bedek conversion. I have always assumed that the BCFs were ships that were converted at a Boeing licensed facility but n...
Jump to postStarlionblue mentions that you must sometimes thread your way through thunderstorm cells. The question I have is maybe slightly off topic, but I've always wondered how you can deviate from a set course, thread your way through thunderstorms, and then return to your original course of travel. Is it l...
Jump to postI think the reference is to the circular repair doubler used for small punctures or dents that are beyond limits. You can find them in some of the SRMs under the typical repair schemes. You are limited in where these repairs can be used, especially on pressurized structure. They are some times calle...
Jump to postHonestly, I can't answer your query. I'm not familiar with this aircraft or what its intended mission was. At the time it was built, it was common to see non-flush fasteners on aircraft. For example, you see a lot of protruding head rivets on DC-3s and B-17s and many other ships of this era. My best...
Jump to postI can only answer this from what I have seen on the aircraft we work on (B757-200, B767-300F, MD10-30, MD11, A300, and B777-200F). In terms of the cure temperature of a composite layup, the higher your cure temp. the more durable your layup will be. A three fifty degree cured layup will be superior ...
Jump to postThe amount of rise above the surrounding surface for a correctly installed briles rivet is only in the area of maybe two to four thousandths of an inch. The crown of the rivet is a smooth domed shaped that is probably negligible in drag. Also, if you ever look closely at a MD10 or MD11, the producti...
Jump to postIn the SRM, they are denoted as CFRP and GFRP. As stated in the above posts, they are carbon fiber (CFRP) and fiberglass (GFRP). What can confuse some is the GFRP reference. I've heard it called graphite fiber reinforced plastic which is not correct. One interesting thing about the fiberglass is tha...
Jump to postYou don't shave the briles type rivets after installation. If done correctly, they have a domed appearance that is slightly higher than the surrounding surface. This is normal for these rivets. Another type of rivet not normally shaved is the NAS1097 type. It is a countersunk style rivet that is usu...
Jump to postAs I mentioned in my above post, I've worked the structural side of maintenance my entire career. The B727 had a good SRM and was, from a structures point of view, a good plane to work on. However, it could make you so exasperated that you wanted to hand in your company badge and quit. One of these ...
Jump to postMaybe I can provide some answers. Composites on aircraft, especially on the exterior of the plane, are virtually always painted surfaces. This is because ultraviolet light, such as sunlight, will degrade the composite resins. Most of the resins used in fiberglass, carbon fiber, and hybrid lay-ups, s...
Jump to postIn my career in aircraft maintenance, I've always worked structures and composites. For me, the Lockheed L1011 had one of the best structural repair manuals. It was simple, straight-forward, and gave you clear and concise graphics and information. The aircraft itself was easy to work on as it was a ...
Jump to postAn update to this topic. I was recently called over to our flight line in IND to do a visual evaluation of a lightning strike on a MD10-30. When we arrived we were shown a deep dent on the forward right side of the nose of the ship. At first, I thought that this couldn't be lightning strike damage, ...
Jump to postFor us at FedEx, apparently there is a profitable case. All of our ships have HUD's. Although I'm not totally sure about our Airbus A300's. Our MD10's, MD11's, B757's, and B767's all have HUD's installed. What may be different with our system is that it is coupled with a Forward Looking Infrared opt...
Jump to post