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Crew Doors


Hercvisc
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I\'m pretty sure that I saw this first on RAF Hercs, and then much later in life, on some L100s.

Its written on the steps of the crew door, readable from the outside when they\'re down, and it says \"For Ground and Air Use Only\"

I\'m aware that most Hercs don\'t have it and I\'ve always wondered why some procedure put it there. What does it mean?

My first and only thought is \"Don\'t open that door if you\'ve ditched in water\", but when the door\'s closed, the warning is upside down. Who is going to take the time to try to read that sh** when ......Glug Glug??

Just a long lived thought.

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In my opinion, the point of this decal/instruction is---never open the crew entrance door in water, assuming you have ditched. Opening the crew entrance door or paratroop doors when the airplane is in water (hopefully floating)will cause it to sink like a rock. Only the overhead escape hatches should be used for egress when in water.

Sorry, not an official answer, just an opinion.

Donwon: Two reasons to always let the crew open the crew entrance door from inside after landing:

1. The airplane may still be partially pressurized

2. There may be a static electrical charge on the airplane

John

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Didn\'t the Colombians prove that what the -1 said about ditching a Herk was true? It sunk to the tops of the wings and floated. I heard they had to send a CG cutter out to \"shoot it down.\" It was a hazard to nautical navigation. From the story, it was a hazard to aeronautical navigation before it ditched.

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One of the two know successful ditching of the herks.

From what I have heard for many decades is this (never seen any official traffic on the incident).

Only two people died, one was the navigator and they say that was from lead poisoning (the official answer is the bunk broke loose and broke his neck) and the other was a reporter or media clown or something civilian and froze up and would not leave the plane and in the end snuffed his own monkey by drowning.

Also the word I got was they tried to tow the plane in but as soon as they pulled 245 forward came off and the rest sunk.

Dan

columbianherk.jpg

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1. The airplane may still be partially pressurized

2. There may be a static electrical charge on the airplane

John That is the reasons we were given.

When I was working on them and on the loadmaster headset,

When we went outside and had the cord on the ground we

would pick up AM radio stations.

Did they ever get that problem solved.

I remember it happening in Tenn., but not so much in SEA.

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Don,

They used to have some powerful AM radio stations in Tenn, in and around Nashville, anyway. Maybe if (back then) you coiled the interphone cord just the right number of turns, you might have been able to change the station....

I haven\'t heard anything recently about radio reception. Maybe it was eventually fixed; I dunno....

John

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When I worked for Southern Air/Lynden Air Cargo part time at Yokota the MLG door were stenciled with No Step...when I asked the mechanics told me that it was the perfect platform for changing an ATM when you prop the door up with a ladder...duh! Never thought of that. Also, the TD amps say the same thing...ever notice that? Prop blades...lots of items!

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  • 2 weeks later...

We heard that 1 of the people killed in that ditching by those folks was some jerk was standing up in the back and not strapped in and when they hit he went foward and was killed by impact.

They made a bifg thing of it , and preached some of the techniques they used to us for ditching.

and as far as the crew door, ecver see a fool open it from the outside after landing and there was pressure still on the plane, knocks the fool for a loop and they learn never to do it again, and become a part of the dash - 1 as a warning.

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We always let the crew open the door first... and usually the pilot would open his swing window before the crew door opened.

I learned that for engine/aircraft pressurization runs, the person sitting left seat would open the swing window, letting you know the airplane was depressurized so you could open the crew door.

Another thing I remember is that the static grounding wires had to be installed prior to opening the door... but that could be the grey matter in this old noggin going...

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It is a requirement in both the flight manual and mx manuals that when a crew is on board the door will only be opened from the inside. The pilot opening his window is only a technique, albeit a good one, to ensure the aircraft is depressurized prior to calling \"exits clear, insert chocks\" There is no requirement to having ground wires installed prior to opening the door, now before applying power maybe...

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lownslow wrote:

It is a requirement in both the flight manual and mx manuals that when a crew is on board the door will only be opened from the inside. The pilot opening his window is only a technique, albeit a good one, to ensure the aircraft is depressurized prior to calling \"exits clear, insert chocks\" There is no requirement to having ground wires installed prior to opening the door, now before applying power maybe...
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Well, I didn\'t do that quote very well.

However, that\'s not such a bad rule and would have saved me a lot of pain and anger had I known about it about twenty years ago in Ethiopia when, as a one man start crew with no headset, and after giving clearance with hand signals to get all four were turning, there was a problem on the flight deck and the pilot waved me to come on board.

As always, I stood fwd of the door supporting it with my right hand and operated the lever with my left, and, you\'ve guessed it, the aircraft was slightly pressurised and as the door burst open, my arm was nearly wrenched out of it\'s socket.

If we were in the military, I would have been in deep doo doo for the things I said to the crew, especially the engineer who should have known better.

I of course, should have checked that the DV window was open, and waited for someone inside to open the door, but we\'d have run out of fuel before that happened, and who would have expected a very seasoned engineer start pressurisation at that stage.

PS. I can\'t find it within myself to use a Z in \"pressirisation\", I\'m a Scottish person and we probably invented the word.

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