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_| TCA |_ B E T W E E N Y O U R S E L V E S
_|\| AIR |/|_ N E T L E T T E R
> CANADA <
>_./|\._< for Air Canada retirees
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Your crew is: Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson
Co-pilot - Terry Baker
number 245 date Mar 8th 1998
Published since October 1995.
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. Welcome to Mark Ballard Air Canada Line Maintenance Manager for
N.E. U.S. based at Washington Dulles.
Email:
John Hayes with email:
Wendy Taylor with email:
Paolo Bacciaglia email
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. News from the Districts -
Bill Fisher, Director Vancouver Island Pionairs sends this update -
CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR VANCOUVER ISLAND PIONAIRS FOR 1998
APR 8 - Spring lunch, Princess Mary restaurant at 11:30am Price $16.00
each.
Guest speaker is Wendy Patriquin of Canadian Interline Travel
MAY 17,18,19 - Annual AGM at Toronto at the Colony Hotel
JUL 23 - Annual picnic, Mount Douglas Park, 10:00am Pay at the gate.
Aug 20 - Up Island lunch at Naniamo at the Rutherford Golf Centre at 11:30.
Price $15.00 each.
Guest speaker is Sandie Dexter, AC Corporate Relations
OCT 6 - Fall lunch at McMorrans restaurant at 11:30am Price $16.00 each
Guest speaker is Oli Moore, Pionair President
DEC 09 - Annual Christmas lunch at 11:30. Price and location not known at
this time.
Like last year there will be no guest speaker.
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. Tom Martin <
reading the stories from Bill Norberg -
Bill - enjoyed your input to the Netletter.
Always brings back some memories.
In NetLetter nr 232 you mentioned the delivery flight of the first
L1011.
Our neighbour the late Hoagy Hoglund was the captain as I recall
and I remember how thrilled he was with the "look Ma - no hands"
flight from takeoff to touchdown.
I also well remember the flap over the Bristol with Purchases & Stores
getting bombarded with Bills of Materiel for wire for you folks, and
Tammy Johnson moaning about the poor wiring.
Cheers and keep them coming. Tom (and the rest of us - eds)
And now for Tom and the rest of us, here is another sage from
Bill Norberg -
It seems I can't stop doing this once I get going.
It seems like a long time ago since we received our first
Super Constellation aircraft...it is in fact about 43 years. They
were a beautiful looking aircraft in many respects and it was
stated that 2.3 % of the total lift was achieved by the unique
shape of the fuselage. Maybe it was but it did give the aircraft a
very fascinating look.
This aircraft was powered by Wright Turbo Compound engines with
Curtiss Electric hollow steel propeller blades. The horsepower was
3350 with the 350 horses being provided by three Power recovery
turbines using the exhaust gases as their source of energy.
The aircraft was also provided with an auto feathering system as
part of the Curtiss Electric propeller control system. This system
would auto feather any one engine during the take-off phase if the
power output dropped below a pre-established level. A torque cell
in the engine measured Brake Mean Effective Pressure (BMEP). It was
a drop in this torque cell pressure that activated the system.
This feature made it possible to increase the payload by some 5000
pounds. If this system was non operational for any reason the
payload would have to be reduced by this amount of 5000 pounds.
It goes without saying that a decision to feather an engine
during take off is a serious matter and is not made without due
cause. I would go further to say that no Captain would allow such
a decision to be made without his authority. They had a concern
about the possiblitity of multi engine featherings.
As a result of this concern by Flight Operations the auto
feathering system on the first Super Constellation delivered was
given a through engineering evaluation to satisfy them that the
system was reliable and the method of its installation was safe
and could not result in a multi engine auto feathering. Every unit,
every bit of wiring routing, system design etc was examined. It
was given the green light and the aircraft went into airline
service with the system operational.
I personally never liked the system from a unit point of view.
There were features that tended to make engine overspeeds
a likelihood. When this happened the engine had to be removed for
examination to ensure no internal damage. Such overspeeds of course
could happen anywhere and 3 engine ferry flights were necessary to
get the aircraft back to YYZ or YUL where spare engines were
available. That is another story.
I was in charge of the Accessory shop at this point with
responsibility for the units forming this auto feathering system.
Walter Chopp was in charge of the Electrical Line maintenance
function. One morning after his rounds to check up on the overnight
operations he reported that a Connie had undergone a multi engine
auto feathering situation during a ground run at Dorval. I said
that was impossible to which he agreed.....but it had happened. He
said they had done a thorough check of the system and of course
found nothing wrong.
I should point out at this point that there was a relay interlock
which would immediately deactivate the other 3 engines when one
engine had been auto feathered. This made it theoretically
impossible to have a multi engine feathering situation. This of
course was the concern of Flight Operations in the first place.
The aircraft flew overseas that day and in London UK it did the
same thing on a ground run. We arranged for another complete
electrical check and again with no answer to the problem. The
system was de-activated and the aircraft flew back with a
5000 pound payload penalty.
Once it arrived at Dorval it was given yet another complete check
and again no answer as to how or why this could have happened. It
went out for a ground run and this time not 2 but 3 engines auto
feathered. We really had a problem now and the aircraft was to be
removed from service until an answer was found.
The examination went on again with no results, Poor Walter Chopp
was at his wits end. He was sitting at the flight engineers panel
trying to figure out what to do next. When he got up he bumped his
head on the overhead panel and lo and behold a multi engine
auto feathering condition was duplicated. He had the answer!
The Relay control box for this system was in that area and the
force of him hitting the panel mechanically made an electrical
contact on the interlock relay making it possible for power to
go to the engine feathering circuit.
On paper it was impossible for this to happen. The interlock
relay would cut out protecting the other engines. But the relay
contact spacing was such that and bump or resonant vibration force
could permit a contact to be made resulting in a multi engine
feathering situation. We re-designed the box with relays having
adequate spacing to prevent this from happening.
It was a perfect case of everything being perfect in theory and
on the wirng diagram. It was only when one examined the physical
application of the theory that the risk could be determined. There
could have been a multi engine feathering resulting in a serious
incident and when the relay box was examined there would have been
no evidence of the cause. We of course passed this information
along to Lockheed and other operators.
(Thanks Bill for another facinating story - those of you who are
Super Connie affectionados, don't forget when you are at the AGM in
May to check out the ex Air Canada Super Connie located directly in
front of the Regal Constellation Hotel - eds)
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. Interline stuff.
7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise from Ft Lauderdale
***************************************************
CRUISE LINE: Costa Cruises SHIP: Costa Romantica
DATES: March 22 & 29, 1998
SHIP: Costa Victoria
DATES: March 29, 1998
ITINERARY: Ft Lauderdale, San Juan, St Thomas/St John, Serena
Cay/Casa de Campo, Nassau, Ft Lauderdale
COST: Inside cabin from US$499, ppd
Oceanview cabin from US$549, ppd
MORE INFO: Port charges additional $125us pp.
Costa Cruises SHIP: Costa Victoria
DATES: March 29, 1998
Call 1-800-665-3100 for details and mention Pionairs.
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. Smilie.
Your Chief Pilot found this -
Under the subject "Should I believe that" I read in today's Star
this:
Executive Flyer, a London, England, newsletter, reports on an
unusual misunderstanding at London City Airport. Seems the captain
came on the plane's intercom and told the passengers there would be
a delay and invited anyone who wished to get off and stretch their
legs. A blind passenger said he'd wait on board but asked if someone
could walk his guide dog. The pilot agreed and it reportedly took
three hours to persuade the other passengers back on after spotting
the captain walking through the lounge with a guide dog. ---
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. That's it for this time, please we need your input, send
comments and email addresses of any others who may be
interested to Vesta with a copy to Terry.
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