Gentlemen, as a GE I only dreamed of such exotic places as Fiji, Christmas Island etc. it seems my generation were destined for more sandy climes. That's why screeching in at Trapper Johns, and a night stop at the Bermudiana Hotel were so special. Of course, times changed, and continue to do so. I wonder what today's crews are experiencing, apart from the loss of the K.
Now, a GEs tale for a Saturday night, pull up a sandbag, and pour yourselves a nice single malt. I'm not religious or superstitious, but I have sometimes come close to converting to the "Déjà vous" way of thinking. A Belize schedule back in the day, and off we set, me with a brand new Flying Officer Engineering Officer as SVC (Even these guys need a break from bossing line shifts). Night stop Gander then flag Dulles for Belize. Standard route, for a change the crew are the Staneval mob, and what could possibly go wrong. Night stop Gander was great fun, and my SVC was full of enjoyment as we carried him back to his room at the "Albertross". He made wheels the following morning, and off we set. Of course, he decided that rather than help with the Before Flight, he would accompany the "front end" to Flight Planning. I only just managed without him
On landing at Dulles, I followed the Loadie down the crew steps, nose wheel chocks in hand, positioned them, and watched 3 and 4 wind down. Now there's different, a wisp of blue smoke coming from No 3s jet pipe as it comes to a stop. But what made me look ? Who or what knows, I decided that it needed a bit of a look after the fuel went in. Well, I got the ladder out, looked all around the engine and no sign of trouble, by now I know there's a problem, because something is telling me to go a bit further. So, with the Loadie on the long lead, me in the skippers seat and Engineer playing his role, we fire up number three, and see what we shall see. Start up and all normal at "low speed bone idle" so we decide to upshift and see. On pulling the button, the Loadie starts saying lots of things that you won't hear in church, we shut down. I didn't need the ladder to diagnose the Labyrinth seal failure, the oil was running freely from the tailpipe. But what made me think there was anything wrong, apart from a transient wisp of blue smoke. Our aircraft was heavily loaded and the loss of the donk on take off might have made it quite interesting.
My SVC did not enjoy assisting me to prep for the engine change the next day, he suffered a few minor cuts from removing wire locking etc. I would never expect a recovery team to arrive and find I had not done everything I could to ease their task. His eight hours of toil was rewarded with a full 24 hours off, and a tour of the great city. To this day I wonder what made me look at No3 winding down, it certainly wasn't my normal routine. I doubt it saved any lives, but it certainly prevented risk to a few. It's unfortunate that like all mechanical beasties, Albert was well capable of throwing a wobbly now and again. In many cases, the wobbly could be nursed home, this wasn't one of them. We took the rescue aircraft on to Belize, and home, our broken frame was still at Dulles as we flagged northbound a couple of days later. I'm sure others have had that "feeling" that made us have a good look that day..
Smudge
