Arrived at VAC for formal agreement signing. OIC Capt. Austin (OBie) O'Brien, ATC Bud White, ATN2 Terry Nies. After getting the familiarization tour of the facility and meeting with the Commander of the VAC we began working on the tail section of the A/C. Scrounged up and installed approximately 100 missing screws to secure loose panels. Began scraping and wire brushing the port elevator.
2/23/12
Continued scraping and sanding of the port elevator. Removed the "APPRENTICE TRAINING" and RTC from both sides of the tail. Next scheduled work days before the air show 2/28 and 3/1.
3/1/12
Continued to scrape and sand on the port elevator and trying to batten down loose panels. Elevator has some sort of rubberized material under the paint on the forward half of the surface making cleaning to bare metal very slow. Because of washing and moving of the planes to the flight line, this is the last day to work until after the air show this weekend. Hope to be back to work on it by Thursday 3/15/12. Stubby
3/9/12 - 3/11/12
Aircraft on display at the Valiant Air Command annual air show.
3/13/12 Day 6
Finished up the port elevator and it is ready to fill and prime. Having a heck of a time getting Dzus fasteners to secure panels. Corrosion not letting them catch. Soaked them with penetrating oils but no luck. Found Ammo cans with VA72 markings on them in the ammo compartment. Opened the canopy. Very difficult to lift but comes down slowly. Latch handle broken and needs to be replaced. Many years of ineffective seal around the canopy has left lots of yuck in the cockpit. Need some assistance in servicing the main and nose gear struts to get them at the right height and locking the tail hook in the full up position. Too many hydraulic lines have been disconnected over the years to pressurize the system. Next work day 3/15/12. Stubby
3/15/12 Day 7
Sanded on the port side of the vertical stabilizer and rudder. Found 5 different colors of paint on top of the corrosion on the rudder. Next work day 3/20/12. Will be attempting to service the main and nose gear struts. Stubby
3/20/12 Day 8
Finished sanding the port side of rudder and started on the starboard side. Used a floor jack and got the tail hook latched up into the up and locked position. Filled approximately 50 more missing screws. Cam-Lock fasteners will not go back in once opened. Too much corrosion in the latch portion.
3/22/12 Day 9
We were able to get the tail hook latched up and the release lever is now safety wired in the up position. Laid two coats of filler primer on the port elevator and sanded. Finished sanding the corrosion on the port rudder and sprayed first coat of primer. Continued working on Cam-Lock fasteners. Next work day 3/27. Stubby
3/27/12 Day 10
Finished sanding the corrosion on the starboard side of rudder. Worked on panel that was loose port side of wing root. Needs to be reinstalled with new rivets. Sanded and laid two more coats of filler primer on port elevator attempting to fill the etchings. Removed the panels covering the starboard flap actuators. ( screws stored under inboard panel) for now. Next work day 3/29/12. Stubby
3/29/12 Day 11 Reinstalled support brace with rivets and secured the loose panel with the cam -locks.
continued sanding and filling on the tail section and continued scrounging screws and replacing missing ones. No work days next week due to film crew using the hanger for the full week.
4/10/12 Day 12
The hanger got rearranged for the movie filming and it took us a bit to get reorganized. Replaced all the missing screws in the tip of the rudder and filled the holes that had screws broken off with a little bondo. Spread bondo over the large rivet seams on the port elevator. Staff tried to inflate the port main gear without success over the weekend without success. The gear needs to to be extended but the tall jacks are currently in use by the TBM team. When they have their landing gear back on we can use the jacks to raise ours up and get the three landing gears serviced correctly. We learn new tricks every day we work.
|Next work day is 1/2 day on 4/12 and full days on 4/17 and 4/19. Stubby
4/12/12 Day 13
Bud Worked on securing more of the cam-locks. Locks that can not be secured after soaking in penetrating oil and a little fine adjustment tool ( hammer) use, are removed pop rivited as needed and the holes filled with Bondo. Bondo is becoming almost as good a friend as my "Red Solo Cup". Next working days 4/17 & 4/19 Stubby
4/17/12 Day 14
Finished sanding and primer on the UHT down to the "belly pan". Need to do some cleaning of the underside due to all the leaking hydraulic fluid over the years before it can be sanded and filled as needed. Started sanding rusty screws on the topside of the starboard wing. Continued working on cam-locks on top starboard side compartments. Stubby
4/19/12 Day 15
Continued sanding on the top starboard side wing. Will be coating with OSPHO to stop the rusting. Finished securing panels on starboard top fuselage. Pop riveted a few panels down that could not get the cam-locks to secure. Opened the canopy again and tried to track down the service ports for the canopy to open correctly. Need an AME's input. Took more pictures for posting on VA12 FB site. Tried an initial cleaning of the canopy. Lots of scratches that will need to be sanded and polished out later. Canopy takes two to lift and place safety bar in place but closes slowly going down. Input / suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. Stubby mailto:stubby@va12.com
Next working days 4/24 and 4/26
.
4/24/12 Day 16
Finished sanding both wing topsides and coating rusted screws with Ospho. Worked on securing all the loose panels on the fuselage top side. Started sanding on the bottom of port aileron. VAC commander has asked that we place an emphasis on the cockpit clean up.
4/26/12 Day 17
Sprayed primer on top wings and spot sanded missed areas. Built panel to cover badly corroded area of starboard wing root. Found piece of Aluminum stock to try to fabricate a new cockpit release handle. Contact with Davis Montham AFB had negative results. They already have 3 requests for the same part they can't fill. Contacting a machine shop to have one fabricated. Opened cockpit and started cleaning. Only one gage missing but lots of knobs rotted and broken. Searched the area around the actuator for any indication of a service bottle to raise the canopy still no luck. Really need an AME with knowledge of the A model ( which appears to be much different then the E) Escape-Pac system to assist. Reprimed all new bare spots from sanding. Beer Time! Next work day 5/1/12
5/1/12 Day 18
Tried to find a working jack to use to service the main gear. Pumped a lot of hydraulic fluid but none of the jacks we found were tall enough or hold fluid. Removed panels for access to flap actuators and disconnected the lines in an attempt to raise the flaps manually. No luck. Continued with corrosion control sanding and priming the top of wings and fuselage. Hope to finish the top side Thursday and move on to the underside. Really need help with the AMH and AME areas. Also need to find maintenance manuals for the A model. Have not had any search luck so far.
Next work day 5/3/12.
5/3/12 Day 19
Started on underside of port wing. Tried to manually raise the trailing flaps by removing hydraulic lines but they would not budge.
5/8/12 Day 20
Sprayed first layer of primer on underside of port wing. Raised canopy and attempted to pressurize the actuator to get the canopy to stay up without a pole supporting it and to be able to open it with one person. No luck. Canopy is kicking our butts. Started wire brushing the corrosion in the cockpit. What a mess! Ubangi former AO Greg Merritt stopped by and was excited to see what we were doing. Wants to join the team.
Anyone know what this is down at the right of the right rudder pedal?
Next work day Thursday 5/10. Come join us!!!
5/10/12 Day 21
Sanded and sprayed another coat of primer on underside of port wing. Continued to fill areas that were corroded through and some more missing cam-loc that we were unable to reattach. Tried to use nitrogen to blow the flaps up but still no luck. Also tried to pressurize the canopy actuator but could not pass air through the fitting that we thought was the correct fitting. Found out later that the fitting was the canopy blow trigger that had been made inert. Next work day 5/15/12
5/15/12 day 22
Sanded and sprayed 2 coats of primer on paint cracks. Cracks are so deep that they need up to 5 coasts of filler primer to get level with the current paint. High humidity today kept the primer from drying as quickly as other times. Started working on the underside of the Starboard wing and fuselage. Top side, empennage, Rudder and vertical stabilizer done. One last light sanding on the port wing tip underside needed to complete that. Next work day 5/17/12