Above 1200 Sq/FT Restored 1930's Auto Shop

Thanks for the aircraft pics. If it flies, I like it.

Thomas, I'm always happy to learn new facts and information. Thanks for the comparison pics. It's very evident that they are sooo close in appearance. Dennis

BB767 said:

And speaking of flying I know we have several aviation enthusiasts that frequent this thread and I've had some inquires, so here's a peak at some of what I do for my day (night?) job when I'm not out in the shop. This will be Part I.



If you have ever noticed some doors at airport terminals that say "Authorized Personal Only" or words to that effect, here's a peak at what is behind some of them.



We have 3 such rooms at our terminal in Newark. The phones are to connect us with dispatch or flight ops.



These are flight planning rooms where we look the flight plans over, and if it's a long range international flight, pick up an appropriate plotting chart from one of these stacks which gives us worldwide coverage. You'll see more about using these plotting charts later.



At each plotting station we'll compare the flight plan with the navigational charts, plot the flight on a plotting chart, look over the weather, NOTAM's (notices to airmen) etc. We have these handy flight aids under plexi to help determine various aspects of the flight so we don't have to pull out manuals to look up some of the more commonly used information.



There are also computer monitors to view satellite weather photos, radar images and various other flight assist data. Notice all the printer paper on the shelves. For my Sao Paulo flights alone, the flight package often consists of 60 pages or more of material, and that's just for flight down. So much for the "paperless" society we were going to see in the future.



With all the paper work reviewed, we'll then go the aircraft where before each flight, the crew will all gather together and review any special aspects of the flight, what type of weather to expect enroute and on arrival, whether it will be bumpy or smooth, safety concerns etc. This briefing will usually set the "tone" for the flight and has found to be very beneficial.



These are our Business First seats which...



..can be configure to lay flat.



With a pillow and a blanket most anyone really can fall asleep on the plane.



With the crew briefing complete we step into...



... my office. Here we'll preflight the cockpit looking for an aircraft problem before we leave the gate area and also perform a visual check on the exterior of the aircraft. After that we'll set the flight deck up for the flight, enter the appropriate data in the flight computers and do our own briefing about the flight. This picture was taken using a flash, turn off the flash and...



...this is what you'll see. I did my best to keep the camera steady. It's just a little point and shoot camera and with so little light I'm afraid this is the best I could do at the time, but you get the idea. There's a lot of information on those glass panels. This is the forward panel and console...



...the overhead panel above our heads...



...and the IRO's (International Relief Officer) station.



This is a look at just a few of the wire bundles behind some of those panels. I know Rick would love to try and hunt down an intermittent short in one of those!

That concludes Part I. Next I'll take you airborne.

Thomas

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A lot of the gauges and the smaller lighted panels, annunciators I believe, and very much of the wiring in behind the units.......they were made at Honeywell, or better yet when we were Grimes.....my wife did a lot of the assembly and wiring of those, while I had to either rework or build new dies to make the parts or prototypes. When my wife wired stuff up, it was more like artwork than just a bunch of wires hooked up and running every which way. She was always called on by engineers to do their prototype designs just because of her work ethic. She was so good at doing it that it resulted in others stealing her inspection stamp to stamp their parts off, hoping that either the wife would be in trouble, or that their units would pass with my wife's stamp. There were a few times she was called in about things, but the inspectors, and even the Government inspectors always had my wife's back. She took so much pride in her work that she could easily put in 14 hour days because she was so into what she was doing.

I'll have to point these pics out to her as I know she will like them.

A wonderful young lady posted: Will Tom & Chris ever be together in some exotic locale?

My money would be on Captain Thomas coming through for said wonderful young lady. As all loyal readers of this post know: Captain Thomas knows how to follow through and deliver! Rarely, if ever, does he dissapoint. Of course, if he was too busy in the Tool Shed to notice said post, then Joe will be to blame!! j/k

It's nice to see one of our planes on here!

Sweet Old Bill said:

A wonderful young lady posted: Will Tom & Chris ever be together in some exotic locale?

My money would be on Captain Thomas coming through for said wonderful young lady. As all loyal readers of this post know: Captain Thomas knows how to follow through and deliver! Rarely, if ever, does he dissapoint. Of course, if he was too busy in the Tool Shed to notice said post, then Joe will be to blame!! j/k

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It has been so long since Thomas worked the Archeological Dig in the Tool shed there is no way a resurgence of activity in there could be blamed on me..
"If" by some strange quirk of fate I were able to visit the center of the Universe and tour the Famed Tool Shed, then yes, I would more than likely be the cause of all sorts of delays and scheduling conflicts...

Currently sitting in an Airport Terminal waiting to return home...

A neat photo of Al Jerauld was posted over on the HAMB board today:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9345483&postcount=82814

BB767 said:

.....

As for the clear tubing that was pictured, those connect to the E/E cooling monitor on the P61 panel. Heat is deadly to electronics so it's important to be able to monitor air flow (which cools the equipment) to the various racks that contain electronics. Those tubes just carry airflow to flow indicators called the E/E cooling monitor panel on the P61 panel. These hoses come from different equipment racks in the E/E compartment and are for indication purposes. They have little plastic balls that float just for a positive air flow indicator......

Thomas

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In my endeavor to be as complete as possible, here's a follow up to Vernmotor's original question about the clear plastic tubing and my answer.



This is a look at the the E/E Cooling Monitor on the P61 panel I told you about. In normal operation it looks like the above. To test the airflow to the E/E equipment racks you...



...push the little bar up as indicated and the white balls pop up into view. The airflow in those clear tubes is floating the balls. Not hugely complicated but it sure is effective. Chock that simple monitor up to Mr Boeing.

Remember...."If it isn't a Boeing, I'm not going!"

Thomas

Kevin54 said:

A lot of the gauges and the smaller lighted panels, annunciators I believe, and very much of the wiring in behind the units.......they were made at Honeywell, or better yet when we were Grimes.....my wife did a lot of the assembly and wiring of those, while I had to either rework or build new dies to make the parts or prototypes. When my wife wired stuff up, it was more like artwork than just a bunch of wires hooked up and running every which way. She was always called on by engineers to do their prototype designs just because of her work ethic. She was so good at doing it that it resulted in others stealing her inspection stamp to stamp their parts off, hoping that either the wife would be in trouble, or that their units would pass with my wife's stamp. There were a few times she was called in about things, but the inspectors, and even the Government inspectors always had my wife's back. She took so much pride in her work that she could easily put in 14 hour days because she was so into what she was doing.

I'll have to point these pics out to her as I know she will like them.

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Kevin, it sounds like you married a "keeper" just as I have. Please pass on my personal thanks to her for my 14 years, and thousands of hours on the 767 and never having had any problem what-so-ever with her equipment.- no, wait- that doesn't sound right.........the equipment she serviced........no, that's not right either! Hummmm, I'll have to get back to on that one. In any event, that equipment has been as faithful as a Golden Retriever, always at the ready! My passengers and I are indebted to her for "sweating the details". It mattered.

Grateful admirer Thomas

Stuart in MN said:

A neat photo of Al Jerauld was posted over on the HAMB board today:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9345483&postcount=82814

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Thanks Stuart for the reminder. Randy sent me some material he found about Al Jerauld which I posted here on page 98, post #1955.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51567&page=98

Among that material was that very same photograph which as you mentioned, is very cool indeed. No doubt Jacob treasures it. It was a fascinating era and I'm able to access much of what it was like through good friend, Lou Bingham. He was in the thick of it which you'll see when I'm finally able to do a detailed post about him. And the really amazing thing is it all ties in multiple, wondrous ways to the Restored 1930's Auto Shop, aka: Johnson's Welding and Repair.

Thomas

PureSilver said:

I was wondering when we were going to see some more aircraft in the thread - and also why you don't keep an ultralight or similar aircraft knocking around in the Auto Shop! This Alaskan bush plane crossed my screen a few days ago, and it's a real hotrod - twin Rotrax 914 turbos (push and pull) with a combined 260hp for redundancy, huge flaps for STOL performance (stall speed of 26mph), bubble cockpit for visibility on rough landings, spaceframe construction and big tyres for ruggedness, and the general dimensions and parts compatibility of a SuperCub. Forgive me for derailing the thread, but I figured if you were going to have something a little agricultural tucked away...



Of course, it's all worth it for the ability to do this, and I'd advise watching this too. A kit-built plane would be a good project for the shop, you know you want to...

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PureSilver you get to talk Miss Chris into that one. Good luck on that I might add!

Thomas

Hope everyone is OK at the Center of the Universe !!! Heard about weather up that way......
Jim in St Augustine, FL

Thomas, Chris. Talk to us! Hoping all is well. Dennis

Sorry for the delay. All is well in the Center of the Universe due to the "weather dome" protecting us. We're busy collecting generators and necessities for our car club friends and others in Gifford, IL, in northern Champaign. County who were hit badly by the storms. We lucked out in Philo.
Thanks to everyone for the concern and sorry we didn't post in sooner.

Chris

Glad to hear that you are safe, and props for helping out others!

Very happy to hear you and Thomas are OK.

Glad to see you in print knowing all is well, but feel bad for all those affected. Dennis

Great photos! Amazing work

I would like to congratulate Tom on his retirement, he is a great neighbor and friend. Wishing you all the best in the years to come.

nitro crew chief said:

I would like to congratulate Tom on his retirement, he is a great neighbor and friend. Wishing you all the best in the years to come.

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Thomas retired? Did I miss something?

nitro crew chief said:

I would like to congratulate Tom on his retirement, he is a great neighbor and friend. Wishing you all the best in the years to come.

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Ditto the above - now we can expect LOTS more powder coating and more project completions! Congrats Tom!
Fred

I am glad to hear You all are ok

I hope I didn't let the cat out of the bag.

Retired ? Sounds interesting.

nitro crew chief said:

I hope I didn't let the cat out of the bag.

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Well I guess we will soon find out.

Not to worry, nitro crew chief! Now that we're home, it's okay. We just didn't want it to be known we'd be gone. We'll update everyone soon on the hoped for tropical vacation and retirement extravaganza. Great weather, good views from atop Diamond Head, dinners and lunches with longtime friends and Lots of fun had by one and all! And the drive home from Newark was good, too.

Chris

nitro crew chief said:

I would like to congratulate Tom on his retirement, he is a great neighbor and friend. Wishing you all the best in the years to come.

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Wo Ho!!! Finally!!

No more complaints about working hard having to travel the world, visiting exotic locations...
Nope, lots of time to spend on the Tool Shed Archeological Dig!! Yep, pop a good sized space heater in there to bring the winter work temps above freezing and some good area lighting and he wont know if it is day or night.. Just need a couple of warm meals and some sodas from the shop soda machine in the garage and Tom will be good to go...

Looking forward to lots of new and interesting finds from the Tool Shed Archeological Dig!!

It's beautiful. It's art.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Love all the new enrollees! Welcome.

Chris

Congrats on life after work Tom.

I retired with 31 years from Cummins in 2004.

It opens up endless time to do many projects that had gotten put on the back burner.

Retired? Good God, how will we ever keep up with all the new pics forthcoming?!

Congrats though. Can my son have the empty right seat?

Congrats on your retirement. So does that mean we'll soon see Thomas wearing a powder coated gold watch, errr ... maybe more appropriately powder coated gold wings? Is there a standard pilot retirement gift?

I second the previous comment on anticipating more posts by Thomas - dang, now I'll need to carve out more time each day to read about his additional adventures.

R1chy

WOW, thanks everyone for the good wishes. Yes it's true that after 27 years with Continental/United I have indeed retired. I'll follow up with more on that shortly but as promised I have an unfinished post(s) to complete about flying that heavy metal.



All of our 767-400's are ETOPS equipped. That stands for Extended range Twin Operations. In simple terms that allows twin engined aircraft to operate over long distances without a suitable landing airport nearby; think flying over the ocean for example. To qualify to do this the aircraft has to have a certain level of performance when operating on a single engine and there must be some equipment redundancies such as multiple air or electrical sources. ETOPS operations are now very routine with the vast improvement in equipment reliability.



When on the ground the aircraft gets it's electrical power from the jetway. Because of the heavy electrical demand the 767 needs two power sources in normal operation but can function with just one in a pinch.



To heat or cool the aircraft on the ground a conditioned air hose is connected to the air ducts. Two hoses are normally used if available.



We only have two of these but they do a great job. Made by General Electric, 94" (238.7 cm) in diameter, they're rated at a maximum of 63,500 lbs of thrust. Difficult to equate that into anything meaningful but try this. The 767 has a max take off weight of 450,000 lbs (204,116 kg) or as I tell young kids when they come into the cockpit we're going to go real high and real fast.



This is how we dissipate static electricity which is why you don't get small electrical shocks sliding into or out of your seats. These are made from carbon and are found on the each wing tip (seen here) and on top of the rudder.



The main gear...



They use nitrogen to inflate them, 165 psi (1,137 kPa) on the nose and 200 psi (1,379 kPa) on the mains.



One thing we note on the preflight inspection is the brake pad wear. The yellow circled pins indicate how much brake pad remains. In this case, these indicate negligible brake wear. Normally the aircraft is towed from the nose gear but note the tow ring in the center, circled red. That's an optional place from which to tow the aircraft.



Here you can see the pressurization outflow valve circled yellow. That's what regulates the pressure inside the aircraft. Above it, circled red, are dark, faint index marks for the stabilizer. During preflight we check to make sure the stabilizer is within those marks with the middle index as seen being its normal position on the ground.



To protect the tail of an aircraft if it's ever over-rotated (bringing the nose up too high) during takeoff or landing, those aircraft with a long fuselage use a tail skid seen here circled. Its job is to absorb the strike without transmitting damaging force to the rear pressure bulkhead. Tail strikes are very rare but they have been known to occur. The tail skid retracts into the fuselage after take off when the landing gear is retracted to provide less drag and better aerodynamics.



What happens to the water in the bathroom sinks in flight when you push the drain valve? It's drained overboard and evaporates into the atmosphere. To keep an ice ball from forming at the end of the drain mast, heat is applied, note the placard HOT. After all, at our normal cruising altitude it's pretty darn cold, in the range of -22 F (-30 C). Now don't confuse this with flushing the toilets!! The toilets are drained into an onboard tank and that material is stored on board until the aircraft lands at which time a lav service truck empties those storage tanks and disposes of the material properly, never fear!



Here we see the aircraft being fueled with two hoses.



The fuel truck just meters and filters fuel from storage tanks that is piped to the airport ramp. Max fuel load is approximately 170,000 lbs (77,272 kg) or 25,411 gal (96,191 liter) giving the 767-400 terrific range. The longest scheduled flight I've flown was 11 hr 23 min. Not as far as a 777 or a 787 but long enough for me.

I told last time I'd take you airborne but that will have to wait until the next post. Thanks everyone for being patient. We'll get back to shop projects (and the tool shed Joe!) soon enough.

Decompressing Thomas

GT-TX said:

Beltsville Shell is on its way to McKinney, Texas!
Thanks.

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Fred, can you post and tell us who is the next GJ reader is?

What a fun read isn't it and it really captures the essence of that time. We still have some time to get it to others before I'll need it back. I'll keep everyone posted but right now it looks like I'll need it around mid- January.

Thanks everyone for keeping this going and signing in on it. At some point it's going to be a pretty cool item that'll be waiting in the shop when you come to visit.

Happily retired Thomas

hobbitss said:

Wo Ho!!! Finally!!

No more complaints about working hard having to travel the world, visiting exotic locations...
Nope, lots of time to spend on the Tool Shed Archeological Dig!! Yep, pop a good sized space heater in there to bring the winter work temps above freezing and some good area lighting and he wont know if it is day or night.. Just need a couple of warm meals and some sodas from the shop soda machine in the garage and Tom will be good to go...

Looking forward to lots of new and interesting finds from the Tool Shed Archeological Dig!!

Click to expand...

Joe, I never complained, just explained why there were gaps in the posts. I just knew you of all people would see the bright side to this!
Thanks again for your continued interest and patience. Like you I'm also intrigued by what's laying in wait out there. It's not going anywhere and neither am I........for the time being.

Still happily retired Thomas

They always told me that ETOPS stood for Engines Turn or Passengers Swim

BB767 said:

WOW, thanks everyone for the good wishes. Yes it's true that after 27 years with Continental/United I have indeed retired. I'll follow up with more on that shortly but as promised I have an unfinished post(s) to complete about flying that heavy metal.



I told last time I'd take you airborne but that will have to wait until the next post. Thanks everyone for being patient. We'll get back to shop projects (and the tool shed Joe!) soon enough.

Decompressing Thomas

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Hopefully you aren't totally retired!!
I was wondering what happened to the carry-on bag they made me check at the aircraft door..
Don't know how it got there, but... Do you think you might be able to retrieve the bag sitting on the forward landing gear??

Congratulations on your retirement!

BTW, I showed this thread to my wife and she scrutinized all the pictures, called BS, and asserts the original garage was completely torn down and a brand new one put up in its place. It certainly is an amazing transformation! Well done and thanks for amusing my wife!

Congrats. on your retirement Thomas.
Do you think you will be able to keep yourself occupied and out of trouble with all that FREE time on your hands?