One evening in early winter of 1978, while I was Director of Engineering
at Sondrestrom Air Base, Greenland, I was in my room reading and
listening
to classical music when Base Commander called and asked me to go over to
the Officer's Club and talk to a NASA guy about a problem with one of
their
aircraft. They were there with a Cessna Citation and a Boeing 707 doing
high altitude atmospheric research with the National Science Foundation.
At the club, Base Commander, who knew that I had also been a B-47E
maintenance crew chief before I was commissioned and started flying
B-52's., introduced me to the NASA guy. NASA guy had just discovered a
problem with the braking (or steering - can't be sure which now, but more
likely steering) system on forward landing gear of their Cessna Citation,
a
small business-type jet aircraft. A small, U-shaped piece of stainless
steel tubing under hydraulic pressure of 3000 psi was cracked and
leaking.
They needed to fly one more mission with the Cessna to be finished for
the
season. If they couldn't find or make a replacement for the part
locally,
they were going to fly the 707 to Los Angeles and back over the next
couple
of days to get a part. After the NASA guy described the problem, I told
him that I may be able to help - I'd certainly try - I don't give up very
easily.
We jumped in my truck and went to the hanger to look at the leaking part.
It was a U-shaped piece of ¼-inch stainless steel tubing with each leg of
the U less than 2 inches long with a flare and a compression nut on each
end. I vaguely remembered that I had seen some ¼-inch stainless steel
tubing in a hanger that was used by the NY Air National Guard for their
summer C-130 operations on the Greenland ice cap. We removed the
offending
part and took it with us to the National Guard hanger. In the hanger, I
could see several six-feet-long pieces of the appropriate stainless steel
tubing several feet away on the inside of a shop secured by an
8-feet-tall
chain link fence topped by strands of barbed wire. We drug a work table
from across the hanger up to the fence; I jumped up on the table and went
over the fence onto another table inside the fence, walked across the
shop,
got a piece of the tubing and stuck it thru the fence to the NASA guy. I
quickly and easily went back up on the table inside the shop and back
over
the fence.
Still not sure we'd be able to make a proper part, I stopped by my Danish
civilian contractor chief engineer's living quarters to ask him if he may
like to help. Years before, he'd been chief engineer on Danish sea-going
merchant vessels. He was VERY enthusiastic as we rushed to our Base
Civil
Engineering ground equipment shop, hoping to find the tools to help us
make
the appropriate part. When we walked into the shop, we interrupted a
card
game of several Danish civilian contractor workmen/mechanics. When they
realized what we were doing, they were all anxious to help and rushed to
find three or four plumbing flaring tools in this shop and the plumbing
shop nearby. These tools were for copper tubing, of course, but we
forged
ahead.
Soon, there were at least half a dozen well-experienced mechanics in
friendly competition to make, bend, flare, etc., the perfect replacement
part for the Cessna. Special problems, of course, were: the 180 degree
bend in such a short piece of stainless steel tubing, short sides of the
U
leaving little room to form the flare on each end and have the
compression
nut in the right place on each side also. The replacement had to be
exactly like the original - couldn't be longer because of landing gear
retraction restrictions (space in the wheel well). After several tries,
we
had an acceptable match visually. We rushed to the aircraft and
installed
it for a PERFECT fit and no leaking. The aircraft flew its mission the
next day and flew home to Los Angeles the next, all without incident.
This is just another small part of my very enjoyable foreign relations
experience and an excellent example of Danish mechanics' innovative
spirit
and desire to excel.
Wilton
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Agne" <jonag...@gwi.net>
To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2013 6:06 PM
Subject: Re: [MBZ] Ok don
Did I hear Cessna???
On Feb 10, 2013, at 5:53 PM, Kaleb C. Striplin wrote:
Is your Cessna air worthy?
Sent from my iPhone
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