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wandering mind attacks again.........


gizzard
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Don't ask me where these came form, but they just popped into my head today.

#1. anybody remember hearin' of a Herk, I think maybe a "B", but ain't certain, somewhere in SEA, Philippines perhaps, that had a fuel tank explosion caused, later investigation stated, by some bacteria or whatever gettin' I the tank?

#2. I recall hearing about a piece of skin, possibly off a wing, that someone drew a circle in lead pencil on and corrosion caused it to disintegrate and fall out.

Now I know I was juiced up yesterday with Fenegrin for an EGD, but I surely didn't dream this did I"

load clear ( I think)

Giz

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I know they've had problems with bacteria in tanks causing contamination, but never heard of it causing an explosion. I could see it happening though, alot of hay-bales go up every year because of heat off bacteria growing in it.

As for #2, not sure about skin, but you can do that to a tailpipe. I saw one when I first came in where someone wrote the engine number on one with a pencil and the heat cut right through.

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I worked for a maintance facility a long time ago. When they told me about this, I thought they were sending me on a wild goose chase, like ordering a gallon of prop wash. Come to find out, bacteria really does live in fuel. There is a product called Biobore or something like that which is supposed to kill off that bacteria. So, that part is true. I'd tend to believe a Herk would be brought down by lightning long before bacteria would get it.

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Not that this has anything to do with a Herk blowing up, but some years back when I was a "big rigger", all the drivers in the company were required to carry along several extra fuel filters 'cause a bacteria was in the fuel tank at the terminal and the bacteria plugged the fuel filters. Company ended up replacing the storage tank. Don't think

anything exploded. But it is interesting that something can grow in a petroluem product. Chris

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Hey Giz, yes we did have bacteria in the fuel tanks in the P.I. at Clark sometime during 69-70. The fix was to fuel up the affected tank or tanks with 115-145 avgas. We let it stay in the tanks x number of days or hours...I ferget... and then we defueled that tank and refueled with JP-4. After a few weeks they stopped making us defuel the avgas before flight and we just flew and burned it out. Funny thing was the inside of the tailpipe was white as cotton after flight. We never popped any tanks from it though. They did that when they left the vent lines plugged after tank maint. and refueled the bird, usually at depot PDM (aka IRAN). The pencil thing is a no no on the hot section of a turbine engine. Bill

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Giz,

On an Island far far away, I was assigned to a thing that that was called a MASS (Militart Airlift Support Squadron). Our job was to take care of the Big MAC aircraft on their way to the war and back. Any way you know enlisted men they have long memories when it come to flight crews messing with them. So this was back when MAC was still flying C-124's (One million rivets in close formation.) any way when it happened that one of the afore mentioned enlisted men got mad at a C-124 crew often a black lead pencil was used to get back at the air crew. What they would do is take said pencil and make a heavy circle on one of the exhaust stacks on a engine or 2. After a while in flight the part of the exhaust stack in side of the circle would fall out, when this happened it changed the sound of the engines an drive the crew nuts for the rest of the flight. This was always done on a stack that would exhaust away from the necelle but towards the acraft.

Edited by Dutch
Screwed up
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it's totally incredible that a common pencil could do such damage. Was it a #2????LOL!!!!!!!!!! Why did the bad guys shoot guns and rockets when a couple dozen Ticondorogas would do the trick??? Any guesss as to why the exhaust pipes where so susceptible???

Giz

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