PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
Not what I was referring to.
No one going to comment about the shelter-in-place order?
- Thread starter Clem72
- Start date
Sure it wasn’t a pencil case?
glhs837
Power with Control
Seems it was legit............ same old story..........
#1 - "Hey, do we need that thing around, its been here since before I got here and I'm tired of looking at it?
# 2 - "Nope, I'll call somebody".
Somebody - "Hmmmm, not sure about that, let me call a guy"
The Guy - "HOLY MOTHER OF HELL WHY IS THAT THING HERE!!!!?????"
One time, eons ago, someone had some J model Cobra fuselages sent down so they could be used in Manned Flight Simulator. Were sent by some demil outfit in NY. My boss in the RWATS ords shop grabbed me one day and told me to get my tool box. Seems when they arrived at depot, the "experts" there safed the canopy cutter system (Basically det cord in a tube that shatters the windows so the crew can crawl out of the wreckage, activated by pull handles at each seat) by just taking dike to the cutter lines near the pull handles and unbolting the handles. So out behind MFS, me and my boss spent three hours unbolting all these lines that had been just snipped off. Cant imagine how that would go down today...
#1 - "Hey, do we need that thing around, its been here since before I got here and I'm tired of looking at it?
# 2 - "Nope, I'll call somebody".
Somebody - "Hmmmm, not sure about that, let me call a guy"
The Guy - "HOLY MOTHER OF HELL WHY IS THAT THING HERE!!!!?????"
One time, eons ago, someone had some J model Cobra fuselages sent down so they could be used in Manned Flight Simulator. Were sent by some demil outfit in NY. My boss in the RWATS ords shop grabbed me one day and told me to get my tool box. Seems when they arrived at depot, the "experts" there safed the canopy cutter system (Basically det cord in a tube that shatters the windows so the crew can crawl out of the wreckage, activated by pull handles at each seat) by just taking dike to the cutter lines near the pull handles and unbolting the handles. So out behind MFS, me and my boss spent three hours unbolting all these lines that had been just snipped off. Cant imagine how that would go down today...
I used to travel commercial airline routes with various samples of double-base propellant samples in my briefcase. My job was getting the various high-rate producers on line and in line with our development team spec formulations. From the standpoint of any modern "sniff tester", the crap I carried all over the US would have registered a major alarm...the basic formulation for the rocket and missile stuff I dealt with was little different than C4.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
You should see the looks you get traveling with mass models full of sensors, spools of wire and all sorts of expensive test equipment.
And I got busted by TSA for a pair of safety wire pliers enroute to do a maintenace test on a newly designed assembly.
glhs837
Power with Control
Did a gig last summer where I needed to build a bunch of JDAMs out at Boeing. Some of those need an steel 8lb special tool to install the nose fuse. Lack of said tool would crush the entire event, which was literally years in the planning. So I hand carried it since we had plane change connections and no way in hell was I trusting my bag to check though. Along with all my checklists. Of course I was flagged, and of course the conversation was
"What is this, Sir"
"A special tool, and please, when I tell you what its for, let me finish".
"Okay, what is is for"
"Its for building Joint Direct Attack Munitions, a special kind of bomb"
"A what, Sir"
Then it was a five minute conversation explaining what I was doing and for whom, and showing them my retired ID and CAC, and approved checklists.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
Lol hell I might know you.
LightRoasted
If I may ...
If I may ...
If the lines were cut behind the handles, then there was no problem. Inside that activation pull-handle is a blasting cap that detonates the det cord, which is only about 3mm in diameter, that encircles at the extreme outside edges, the left and right canopies.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
The way I had the cobra canopy explained to me was you dont want to set it off, but most will happen is you lose a couple fingers, an eye or hearing out of one ear, so it's not that bad.
I was there..... used the fuselages for our 2F710 AH-1W Aircraft Procedure Trainers. Glad to hear an old-timer still around. I got waxed for having to pay the EOD guys to get rid of the det cord.
Ah-1w.PDF (fas.org) search for 2F170
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glhs837
Power with Control
Well compared to getting launched into the roof of the hangar on an election seat, not bad at all..... But I like my fingers and eyes... And like @LightRoasted says, without the initiator handles, the lines are pretty safe.
glhs837
Power with Control
Most likely. I'm an oddball, always up to off the wall things like that.
When we were evaluating bids for increasing to full production of the MK66 2.75 rocket system, I carried a complete folding-fin rocket nozzle assembly in my briefcase, to show it to potential suppliers while we discussed their offers. I would not want to try and explain that piece of hardware to TSA...I miss those days.
I have a complete clock-mech standoff arming fuse assembly sitting on my "shelf of ordnance bits" in my office. I was showing it to someone one day and explaining how it was designed to work when all of a sudden it went "Wizzzzzzzz...sproing!...zap" The mechanism wound down, a small door rotated open in the end of the fuse, and small pointed projectile shot out.
Oops.
I have a complete clock-mech standoff arming fuse assembly sitting on my "shelf of ordnance bits" in my office. I was showing it to someone one day and explaining how it was designed to work when all of a sudden it went "Wizzzzzzzz...sproing!...zap" The mechanism wound down, a small door rotated open in the end of the fuse, and small pointed projectile shot out.
Oops.
glhs837
Power with Control
Always wondered what happened to those. Whats now NMC Det was still still Station Weapons back then. I had these things stowed in my RSL because Weps wouldn't accept them without the proper paperwork. Which requires part numbers. Of course, the J model manuals were long out of print, and after who know how many years baking in the sun, a lot of the labels were illegible. Took me I think three or four weeks to get Weapons to accept them that way.
Did you break glass on the emergency skivvies?
No..it wasn't a terribly dramatic event. I did feel foolish, of course.
It's been like a Rubik's cube for ordnance nerds ever since....trying to figure out how to rewind and reset the clockwork mechanism and associated moving parts. Still trying.
LightRoasted
If I may ...
If I may ...
Det cord location.
As an aside. Can anyone locate the classified A-S-H Receiver? Many times during flight it was turned on, receiving what it could. Actual use though, depended on the discretion of the pilot or gunner.
For those that are curious. The red arrow in the picture points to where the det cord is positioned. It is placed well within the side canopy, or pilot or gunner door, frames. The front canopy, and those above the pilot's and gunner's head, are not part of the canopy emergency release system. The canopy doesn't really shatter, much more so as just pop outward when activated. Also, the second picture is of the actual emergency canopy ejection actuator. In addition to the "remove before flight" pin, taken out before flight, typically, though you can't see it, there is twisted safety wire attached to the rod of the handle and secured to the body of the charger. The safety wire is there only to prevent accidental turning of the handle, and then pulling, during flight or in a combat engagement scenario. You can see how close it is to cockpit switches as well as the collective. Because of the design of the safety wire, it is weak enough, and thin enough, to be easily defeated by the pilot or gunner with a quick twist of the handle.
Det cord location.
As an aside. Can anyone locate the classified A-S-H Receiver? Many times during flight it was turned on, receiving what it could. Actual use though, depended on the discretion of the pilot or gunner.