Non Union shop

[david wild]

Loadmaster

[david wild]

6 man flight crew, left right and 4 behind them and purser, now the part that will freak you out, there are 15 guys in the the back that keep that bird in the air, so this is how it works you work all day then it's gear up and some supper then you lay down in your bunk and you wake up x many hours later with a pretty good headache and that is from lack of oxygen, you see after we takeoff one guy goes on oxygen and after every one beds down they basically asphyxiate you to sleep, they cut the oxygen supply in the back cabin and you pass out then just before landing they turn the air back on and presto you wake up a little red faced and slight headache but well rested and the fella on oxygen gets to go to bed while everyone else goes to work, if you ever see pics of a Antonov back cabin interior when you reach the top of the stairs on left side there is a control panel and seat which looks out of place because what would you need it for ?? it controls cabin pressure and oxygen content and that is the dirty secret of flying cargo on a Ukrainian plane, we have a galley, head and all the comforts of home except a shower but the pilots get crew rest after every leg so we all go to a motel but need to do maintenance so that is why you sleep then work then sleep again sounds crazy but after a while you get used to it even the headache, of course if it's a short flight that does not happen but when crossing the Atlantic or some other long flight that is how it goes.

[david wild]

The guy to my right is Sergei he is now in flight operations and I do sales but we can fly any time we want, I can jump a ride to anyplace a Antonov might be going and then catch a ride back or onto someplace else, makes globe trotting easy but of course your gonna expect to work, that entire crew is qualified to repair, rebuild or do what is needed to keep that plane flying the entire belly under the cargo deck is full of spare parts, from fuel lines to instruments for the flight deck (cockpit in the old days) and anything in between. see that shiny floor it's titanium, the entire cargo deck is that way light and super strong, buckles when you walk on it but holds up half a million pounds, that's the max cargo takeoff weight 250 metric tons making a takeoff weight of over 1 million pounds, and you thought your truck could move some weight, think of getting a million pounds into the air, still impresses me. that's the best crew in the world and would do anything for any of them, when I started flying with them only a very few pilots could fly the 225, I started shortly after it was taken from Government service and began commercial service, the chief pilot was the test pilot for Antonov and his last name was Antonov so it's a pretty tight bunch, he is also the one that promoted me to a crew member and will forever be a great friend along with Sergei.

[OldRedMack]

I can't imagine the things you have seen on that plane.  Just awesome.

[harrybarbon]

David, I enjoyed walking thru the 225 Antonov some 16-18 years ago when it was at the Avalon, Victoria Australia air show, including climbing the stairs to the flight deck, it was massive, it was lowered to minimum ground clearance and the front and rear were open, there was a very long que of people to see the Antonov, we entered from the back and out the front - 1,000's attend these shows to see, walk into and thru some magnificent aircraft and watch some real flying, including 1 jet plane similar top wing design do the 360 rollover.

I have some recollection that the Antonov did a take off, went around for a low fly thru along the main Avalon runway and then went around the bay and came in for a landing.

Also many years ago, the Antonov flew into Melbourne Tullamarine airport, my mate was a refueling supervisor, he did the refueling of the Antonov. He had the joy of a guided tour of the entire Antonov by the engineer.

I have read an article and saw a youtube video of an incomplete Antonov in the hanger in Ukraine. Is this true and correct? Article noted that if the funding could be secured to complete the Antonov, then it would go ahead.    

[other dog]

On 8/16/2020 at 5:45 PM, Quickfarms said:

Union workers are the minority in the us only around 10%

Every one of the union workers I know has a bad attitude and spend most of there energy protecting there job.

Unions generally box a worker into a job description defined by a contract that was negotiated by a committee.

The problem that I have seen with this is it limits, or eliminates, the cross training with other specialities or trades.

Being non union has allowed me huge leeway to expand my interests both professionally and personally.


 

I could go on and on about my experiences with union greed and laziness, but i'm not. 

[mrsmackpaul]

On 8/21/2020 at 7:06 PM, harrybarbon said:

David, I enjoyed walking thru the 225 Antonov some 16-18 years ago when it was at the Avalon, Victoria Australia air show, including climbing the stairs to the flight deck, it was massive, it was lowered to minimum ground clearance and the front and rear were open, there was a very long que of people to see the Antonov, we entered from the back and out the front - 1,000's attend these shows to see, walk into and thru some magnificent aircraft and watch some real flying, including 1 jet plane similar top wing design do the 360 rollover.

I have some recollection that the Antonov did a take off, went around for a low fly thru along the main Avalon runway and then went around the bay and came in for a landing.

Also many years ago, the Antonov flew into Melbourne Tullamarine airport, my mate was a refueling supervisor, he did the refueling of the Antonov. He had the joy of a guided tour of the entire Antonov by the engineer.

I have read an article and saw a youtube video of an incomplete Antonov in the hanger in Ukraine. Is this true and correct? Article noted that if the funding could be secured to complete the Antonov, then it would go ahead.    

The Antonov fly escaltors into to Sydney when Melbourne was building its first Crown casino

It couldn't land in Melbourne then for some reason and the escalators were trucked to Melbourne 

The company  Kone Elevators won the contract because they were the only people that could get the escaltors in the time frame required 

Write ups in the paper and Im pretty sure even made it to the news on TV

 

Paul 

[kscarbel2]

5 minutes ago, mrsmackpaul said:

The Antonov fly escaltors into to Sydney when Melbourne was building its first Crown casino

It couldn't land in Melbourne then for some reason and the escalators were trucked to Melbourne 

The company  Kone Elevators won the contract because they were the only people that could get the escaltors in the time frame required 

Write ups in the paper and Im pretty sure even made it to the news on TV

 

Paul 

Landing in Perth......fighting a crosswind.

.

 

[harrybarbon]

Hi Paul, thanks for the comment re Crown Casino, that was around 1994/95 when I was working with a company that was the back up premix concrete supplier to the builder of Crown Casino. A friend worked for the builder doing the concrete, often 12-14 hour days, at least weekly they started a 150-200 cubic metre pour at 4 pm and they got off the finished concrete at 9 pm and then back on the job at 7 am.

So based on your recollection, the Antonov flew into Syd around 95/96, Kone would have supplied the escalators in addition to the lifts - there are many long escalators in the casino. The Antonov would have been perfect to load the escalators into the plane.

[harrybarbon]

Okay Paul and readers, I got it wrong. It was the Antonov 124 ( 4 engines ) plane that came to Australia with the Kone lifts and was at the Avalon air show. Both planes are same basic design, the 225 is approx 15 meters longer than the 124 and the 225 has twin rear tail fins, plus 6 engines. Both open front nose and back end.  And both are 175,000 kilograms/385,000 pounds empty weight. Reading the 225 info it was used to transport the Russian space shuttle same as NASA's specially built 747 to carry the US shuttle. Interesting that Russia and US had similar space shuttles. And info says that one 225 built and one not finished.

[mnslim]

After reading this thread, the  "Odds and Ends" discussion category could be deleted.

Forums like this, loose their original purpose when members are allowed to spew social, political, personal opinions and show disrespect towards other members. 

 

[tjc transport]

34 minutes ago, mnslim said:

After reading this thread, the  "Odds and Ends" discussion category could be deleted.

Forums like this, loose their original purpose when members are allowed to spew social, political, personal opinions and show disrespect towards other members. 

 

 that is Why most of those people are no longer here.

[storkmack]

5 hours ago, mnslim said:

After reading this thread, the  "Odds and Ends" discussion category could be deleted.

Forums like this, loose their original purpose when members are allowed to spew social, political, personal opinions and show disrespect towards other members. 

 

Hmmm.  Sounds like cancel culture to Me.  If I don’t like what I see in a thread, I move on.     Never would I imagine to cancel it because the views expressed did not agree with mine. 

[1958 F.W.D.]

On 8/16/2020 at 9:18 PM, david wild said:

next week we move a chamber used to train pilots for high altitude flight, that required 2 background checks due to it coming from and going to a highly restricted area, some of our best pilots and Astronauts may have trained in this very chamber, being built in 1953 it has seen many of our best pilots

David Wild, have you ever heard of the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division in Warminster Pennsylvania? In years past it started as the Brewster Aircraft Company, was later taken over by the War Department, and later the US Navy. It was also called NAS Johnsville and the Naval Air Development Center. Not to be confused with NAS Willow Grove, Pa. which is about 6 nautical miles to the southwest. NAWC Warminster was a victim of one of Reagan's BRACs and the facility began to relocate to Pax River, Md in the mid 1980's and the facility totally closed and the flag was retired in March of 1993. 

Anyway, I started my Federal Firefighter Career as a rookie firefighter at NADC which had the largest dynamic flight simulator in North America at the time it was operational. (human centrifuge.) ALL of the Astronauts spun in the 'fuge from Mercury to the Shuttle astronauts up to 1995 when use of the facility by the USN ceased and it was taken over by Penn State University. It was eventually shut down entirely as the private contractors and PSU couldn't afford the upkeep on it. When it was still running for the USN, medical personnel were required to be on site when it was running, but because the base was closing, the USN Corpsman were being relocated. It was decided that Fire Department EMT's would be present when spinning, and since I was an EMT, I was tapped with another guy to go over with the ambulance and stand by and monitor vital signs and transport to civilian hospital if necessary (the infirmary
 was closed by then.) It was considered boring duty, but I ate it up as I was an aviation and space exploration buff and loved meeting the Astronauts. They were down to earth (pardon the pun) really cool folks, especially when they learned I was crash crew qualified. 

It had to come to an end for me however, as I put in for a firefighter position at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and moved on in January of 1997. After the Shipyard I became a Firefighter at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland where I was part of the crash crew for about a year. Saw a lot of cool stuff at Phillips Army Airfield that I can't talk about. It was awesome having worked at these three facilities and I consider myself very fortunate and humbled to have worked there. 
 

[storkmack]

Thanks for sharing FWD

[1958 F.W.D.]