Milt
23rd Sep 2004, 23:58
The Case of the Bent Connecting Rod
Late in the last century Ron Green presided over the Down Under Flight Test Unit of the RAAF which had in its fleet a flock of the last five irreplaceble Gooney Birds all heading for extinction.
Ron just had to see them all in the air together for the last time and had barely enough pilots for the purpose. But launch them he did to the delight of those who had been tendering to their needs so affectionately.
The pilots did their best to take out the raggedness from their formation with gross throttle movements to which the old birds were not too accustomed. One of these wild throttle movements defeated an engine's prop governor to the extent that the poor bird sounded a groan of overspeed protest because of the pain it was feeling..
All came back to roost with one poor Gooney writhing in pain. She was carefully taken to sick bay for a diagnosis before a major operation on her innards. The surgeons poked around until they found that all was not as it should be and followed through with an organ replacement.
The removed bent engine connecting rod was fashioned into a souvenir for presentation to Ron.
Now there must be some highly skilled engineer PPRuNers around who can tell us pilots something about the aggro that can be heaped on to poor innocent connecting rods of a radial engine in conditions of some overspeed and high boost.
Late in the last century Ron Green presided over the Down Under Flight Test Unit of the RAAF which had in its fleet a flock of the last five irreplaceble Gooney Birds all heading for extinction.
Ron just had to see them all in the air together for the last time and had barely enough pilots for the purpose. But launch them he did to the delight of those who had been tendering to their needs so affectionately.
The pilots did their best to take out the raggedness from their formation with gross throttle movements to which the old birds were not too accustomed. One of these wild throttle movements defeated an engine's prop governor to the extent that the poor bird sounded a groan of overspeed protest because of the pain it was feeling..
All came back to roost with one poor Gooney writhing in pain. She was carefully taken to sick bay for a diagnosis before a major operation on her innards. The surgeons poked around until they found that all was not as it should be and followed through with an organ replacement.
The removed bent engine connecting rod was fashioned into a souvenir for presentation to Ron.
Now there must be some highly skilled engineer PPRuNers around who can tell us pilots something about the aggro that can be heaped on to poor innocent connecting rods of a radial engine in conditions of some overspeed and high boost.