F-106 Pet Peeves (Read 5,273 times)

;D
The tail hook. GRRRRR!

:god_bless_usa

The "B" model canopy actuator, it went thru the floor broads between the seats, had to have just about everything removed in the aft cockpit and then some one (me) crawl up inside the avionics bay under the aft seat to remove the screws to the plate for cockpit pressurization, they were 1/4 screws and nuts which went thru the floor boards one of us up and one down to remove the screws. and you better get them tight when you installed the new actuator because you had to do a cockpit pressure test. yep fun times............Not ;D ;D ;D

The original ground power cable connector pins with the teflon tips that kepy breaking off in the aircraft receptacle. The tips had to be drilled out of the aircraft pin hole. Not so bad but, discovery of the broken off tip didn't occur until another power unit was connected and the broken tip caused the next pin to bend usually breaking the mount plate in the cable head... hell of a job to replace. Though not as tough as replacing the aircraft receptacle which amounted to about as much hoohah as the B model canopy actuator. Maybe a "spark chaser" could enlighten us on the recepticle replacement. Jim

ELEVON ACTUATOR/ELEVON ATTATACH BOLTS ;D ;D ;D We were doing every other a/c at it s 100hr PE to stagger the 300hr requirements of flight control surfaces, landg gear removal, and one other major inspection so that we wouldn' have a bird in the hangar with all 3 major items going on at the same time..............These bolts were so over torqued by Convair that we had to use a 12' bar with 3-4 guys hanging on itto break it loose.......We would split the 1 3/4" socket, break the 3/4 drive breaker bar............I even used a torch on the bolt head and nut and sometimes, even then we would end up cutting the nut off......... When we finally got the bolt out, the split bushings were wedged so tight in the boss on the a/c or the elevon that we had to use a rivet gun to hammer them out........Replaced a few of the bosses because we broke them...... These were on new a/c with only 100 hrs...............The Old Sarge

HA HA Try remoning the refer compt and heat exchanger on the HOG B model : :razz

;D ;D

If I may, I would like to change my Six pet peeve. I put the tail hook because of the problems it was on the Phase dock. It was a problem, but I got to thinking that there was one that irked me even more. Internal inspection of the wing fuel cells. You took the screws out and had to make sure you knew the size that came out of each hole and keep them straight. Masking tape and a magic marker worked quite well. Then as you started taking the screws out the fuel would run down your arms, even though you had defueled. Defueling left an appreciable amount of fuel in the tanks. Drip pans only caught what dripped off your elbows and tools Then you had to stick your head up in the wing to see if you could find any corrosion. Could only use a flashlight as a drop light was considered too dangerous. When the inspection was done and QC was satisfied, after their look to make sure you didn't miss anything, then the panels went back on. Before the panels went on you also had to inspect the seals to make sure they were good. You were not allowed to use an air gun to put the screws back in the panels. Too easy to rip out the nut housing. Doing that was a whole nuther problem. So, you gathered the screws, looked at the masking tape and put each screw in by hand and then tightened them with a speed wrench. Then a final check with a screw driver to make sure they were in tight enough, but not too tight. Next step was to slowly refuel to make sure all the seals were holding and no fuel seeping. When you were done, it was back in the hanger for an overnight rest to make sure no seepage.
It was a dreadful job and one not looked forward to. Same thing had to be done if there was anything needing done in the tanks. Wet wings are a wonderful thing, until you have to get in to them for inspections or maintenance.
:god_bless_usa

The solution to the screws in the right place was to use sheet metal panels the same shape as the access panels drilled to hold the screws as you took them out..........................If you ever pulled the leading edge cell
or the fuselage cell on a T bird, you appreciated wet wings .... My F-106-6 (refreshed by the Irishman from Texas) says that the other 300 hour Periodic inspection requirement was fuel cell inspection....So you can see why we wanted those 3 major items spread out over the 1st 3 PE. This was in the days before airline type phase inspections.... BTW I proved to ADC that the Pe Flow chart worked- as long as we got specialist support from the clowns in maint control (back B4 it was an AFSC, the misfits were generally sent there - BIG MISTAKE)... Never saw the supposed advantage of the phase insp- even though I and 4 others developed the RF-101 phase inspection system for PACAF in '65.........TDY from Nam to 5th AF headquarters in Japan for 10 days...........The Old Sarge

Lower and raise the 430 pound Constant Speed Drive (CSD). Anything from a sheared Stub shaft out to a starter change, to bad Gen / Alt problems. Other shops needing the CSD dropped to access their items.

There was a special winch to raise and lower the unit, but most folks just took the extension drive shaft out and unhooked all the oil lines and took the 2 mount bolts out and left them in the door, shouldered the unit on the inboard side and tripped the safety catch and sliding your feet outward letting the 430 lbs swing down. We would pre-safety the connections for the next guy who had to put it up.

To put it up was all technique. The small guys would get it swinging on the hinge and then "slam" it up into the safety catch. I saw Jim Shulkin do this one time and I thought he knocked the plane off the nose jack. The bigger guys could walk it in and leg drive the CSD into the safety catch. You could tell some of the engine guys by the left shoulder wear on their fatique shirts.

One day MSgt Green came out to check over the CSD installation, he then stayed there to help leak check it on start up. The extension shaft covers were off and he was dabbing at a drip with a rag when it got snagged on the shaft and the rag was shredded and wrapped around the rotating shaft. After we got it shut down, all he said was, guess I got too close, and laughed as he cut the rag off the shaft with his pocket knife.

AB fuel control r/r's..... In the 1 1/2 years on the six I remember 3 - 4 being changed. The main fuel line took a very large amount of torque and rolling the engine half way out was the preferred method. However some guys would try to r/r the ABFC with the engine in place. The only kicker came from getting purchase on the main fuel line connection nut to properly torque it. If it came to being "iffy", the engine had to be rolled back anyway.

There is one picture in the archives that shows all the ear marks of a ABFC change in progress at Castle. All the people standing under the plane and the big orange trash cans placed under the engine area.

The reason some engine guys don't remember doing as much on the ABFC's was that the "Northern" tier pilots would fly the plane all the way to Hamilton on the week ends and break there. We did a couple of ABFC changes for them on the week ends. One week end I counted 23 sister ADC "sixes" parked on our transit ramp.

The "six" had plenty of tight spaces that we tried to work in to avoid rolling the engine back. The right hand compressor bleed valve hardy ever failed but sometimes one would stick either open / closed causing problems with smooth air flow thru the power ranges.

We found that a tall, "skinny" guy could wedge his self up into this "hellish" hole and do the removal and replacement . The only way to safety wire it was a single strand, round robin safety. SSgt Bob Schiffer was our R/H Bleed Valve specialist.

Bob was able to do this job in about 3 hours.