Remember fuel spills ? Got a story ? (Read 3,352 times)

Saw an A-7D come back from a training mission in Tucson. As the crew chief was refueling we could see fuel pumping out of the wing as fast as they were pumping it in. Found out that it had a 13 inch crack in the wing spar. Not long after that the A-7 fleet was mothballed.

Hmmm--Two stories, actually, with two different jets.

I was an Instrument Weenie at Minot in the summer of 1972, and we had a bad fuel probe on a Six. Couldn't find a crew chief (imagine that!) so after the jet was defueled and depuddled, we had to remove the panel from the BOTTOM of the wing. Of course, "depuddling" does not get the tank dry, as any fuel weenie will tell you, and this was no exception. As I was removing screws and taking a bath in JP-4, a Convair tech rep happened to wander by and I just let him have it about the $hitty design of this jet with the panels on the bottom of the wing and, oh by the way, why in the hell are there fifteen different sizes of screws in the panel, all with the same head size??? There I was, soaking wet in fuel, getting a lecture on how the panels were chemically milled to save weight and those screws were NECESSARY so the jet could catch the Russian Bear. I laugh about it now, but it definitely was NOT funny then.

On a funnier note, at the Va ANG, I watched two crew chiefs lower an F-105 bomb bay tank they thought was empty...but it wasn't. The D-gear dropped to the limit of its travel (that's the mechanism originally designed to spit out the nuclear bomb in an autoss maneuver), stopped with a jerk, the tank split open, and 370 gallons of JP-4 gushed out of the tank in about two seconds. That was funny--and nobody got in much trouble! They probably would have had his first-born son if they'd done that these days.

1966 - Dyess AFB, Tx - 516th FMSq - Propulsion Branch - Engine Phase Section

Being part of the troop build up for the SE Asian war we had about 30 new guys in 3 to 5 level up-grade training. That was on top of a bunch of Recip Engine Mechanics that were retrained into Jet engines. They had to do the 3-5-7 training to get to their grade / skill level ratings for promotions.

These guys were the original "OLD" troops. Some were air force but alot were previous ARMY, airborne, rangers and MARINES. Our Branch Chief was a retred from Airborne and one of the first Chief Master Sergeants after the top 2 grades were developed.

My first trainer was one of these guys. I had to lead him through my 623 Training Record to sign me off as I completed tasks. He couldn't read, and would become very withdrawn when I would look him up to do his duty for me.

I worked Phased Inspections, Hanger 5020 as I remember. We would do a stand-up roll-call with the Chief and then be released to get our tool boxes and be driven over to the hanger.

This was the daily routine 5 days aweek. The 4 Ssgt's, 2 TSgt, and MSgt would do all the prep for us to start pulling filters out of the fuel and oil systems.

As we progressed thru the training we would be shown the order of pulling fuses, circuit breakers T-handles, and the Battery switch. We all got the training and were qualified. We were allowed to function freely as the 623 was signed off.

One afternoon we got a bird early from the Flying Squadron. We could get a jump on the work and maybe get Friday afternoon off. We did the intake and exhaust inspections for damage. One of the guys on number 4 was headed to the flight deck to pull the breakers on the fuel and oil systems so we could get on the messy part of phase work, pulling the filters.

I asked Pete if he was going up to pull the breakers. he said yes. I asked him to do number 3 for me. As he rounded the nose of the plane I heard him be asked by the number 1 and 2 guys to pull their breakers too. He said OK!

We all worked about the same speed, did the same filters at about the same time. The oil first so if we found any big chunks of metal we would do the engine change and not expend time and effort on a bad engine.

Came time to do the large low pressure fuel strainer on the right side of the T-56. The strainer body is big, about 6" across. It has a double O-ring seal set-up. I drained the housing with the fuel pitcock and when it just dribbled It was the sign it was empty. I had filled just about a whole bucket with fuel which was a little odd as the strainer doesn't hold that much. So, the number 4 engine was the big phase of the 4 engines this time. They had most of the buckets. I yelled over to ask if I use one of theirs. I went and got one and returned. I "pop" the strainer cap and pull back exposing the first seal. A little fuel dribbles out. I pull the second seal clear of the housing and a gusher of fuel flows freely out of the housing in seconds my bucket is filled and flooding the dock. The number 4 guys yell for me to return their bucket as they have what I have a class A fuel spill in mid happening.

I jab the cap back into the housing, blocking the opening. But the seals have hit air and swollen too large to go back in the housing. The seals look like a big black doily, hanging out of the strainer with a small dribble of fuel. I get the clamp back on the cap and cinch it down.

What happened to me happened on the other 3 engines. Between the four engines we had drained the aircraft of fuel. 5020 was flooded. All the power was cut and the fire trucks were called. The fuel was washed into the floor drains and the APG guys squicheed the rest into the drains. Then the hanger was emptied of aircraft to let the place air out and dry.

We went back to the engine shop in shame. The in-shop guys had already heard and were lined up laughing at us all. The Supervisors were taken to the break room to tell the tale of how this incident happened. The Chief mandated that only a 7-level would enter the flight deck to pull breakers.

We reported back to the Phase Hanger to finish the phase and some "smart-a-- had put a sign on the crew entry door that read, "Dry Clean ONLY!"

The next week the Branch Chief started working on a training plan for the whole Branch.

oohh- touchy aren't we??? I can remember changing the horsecock connection on the F-100 after it had been defueled and the line was full of fuel-about 5 gals worth, changing leading edge cells on T-33s, liquidometers on F-86s before there was such a thing as a fuel system repair guy.... The first guys to get your AFSC were force cross trained tirekickers- without benefit of a "tech school" because they already had the experience..... The Old Sarge

Welcome onto our flight line and into our hangar..... Glad to see you go back and read some of the old stuff........

All of the F-106 folks here and not one single story of getting sprayed with JP-4 from both wing bottoms as engine shut down. Thay was the first thing I learned was not to walk under wings during shutdown. Some pressure relief valve or some such thing. Being MA-1 I never learned much about fuel systems.

A lot of fuel was dumped into the grated trench that ran the length of the flight line at Tyndall. Made a spectacular show when ignited by (I heard) a tossed cigarette at the end of a smoke break. Can't remember the year.

Somehow I overlooked this thread. Here's one for all the wpns guys.

I had recently PCS'd to Hamilton's 84FIS. I was a SSgt with a new load crew (1 & 2 stripers) . Having recently certified on 6's, I asked the shop chief who was the best load crew in the shop. He said John McFarland had pretty much the best crew they had. I asked the chief what were we averaging for quickturn times. IIRC, he said about 18mins (and that was with running cursory, installing SEMs on the rails). Hmm, I remember in the 5th we did much better than that!

Days later, we were advised that we were going to have quickturn practices. Well, before we went out to set up the spots, I challenged John to a mini comp. I bet a case of beer (winner's choosing of course) that I could beat him despite being almost 10 years older and running a green crew. Friendly handshakes and off to the races!

The birds rolled into chocks (I still remember the excitement!) and the race started. Somewhere about mid-load something went haywire and the left wing started dumping fuel like crazy. The spot director had to stop the load on my bird and John's crew sailed on to victory!

I paid my due and shook hands with John & his crew and of course gave kudos to my "kids" for a valiant effort.

The shop chief and I chatted later and he mentioned that I had lost and it might have been a hollow boast on my part. I commented that, WE collectively had won, because John's crew clocked somewhere just past 15mins. I had goaded the crews into realizing that they all could be much better than they were.

Da*n fuel spill, I still think we could have beat him! arrgh...

Being a 106 fuel repair guy at Tyndall from 1/79-5/81 I remember fuel leaks everytime I had to remove a wing panel to try to fix a part that you couldn't get any more so you had to repair it yourserlf, like using paper clips to repair float valves. It didn't help that Reagan put the clamps on spare parts. After TAC took over and the F-15's were about to come in I was glad to catch the next flight to the Philippines for the next four years.

I was an instrument repair guy at McGuire in the 539th from 64/67. I cant remember how many times I pulled my own fuel panels to check fuel probes that were giving false readings upstairs. Including the time I refused to pop the commander's bird due to an electrical storm in the area. I can remember the total number of fuel guys who were there, ZERO. There were two people there in the fuel pits in the middle of the night; me and another guy from my shop.

Dont know what cross you're carrying, but there was plenty of misery for everybody if you let it bother you. So, please, dont piss in my beer, or anybody elses on this forum.