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CharlieLifeSupport

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Posts posted by CharlieLifeSupport

  1. Gizz, you remember the older automatic release.

    It was orange, metal and flat, about two inches around

    I was assigned to a SAC tanker wing in mid-1974. Then to AWACS in 1978. I remember the orange knobs on the BA-18/22 chutes. There was hole in the bottom of that knob. I think there was a TCTO that removed something. Giz, Was there a cable that reeled out of the knob ?

  2. The automatic opener changed over the years. The one you remember mechanical. It was set by the riggers ,and checked by L.S. with a tool similar to a skate key. They later changed to an actuator with an explosive charge and a booster. Basically a 38 special blank, the booster changing it to 357. To check the pins you had to unsnap the comfort cushion. The pins and the nylon loop held the chute closed. The pins were pulled when either the manual release was pulled or when you got to the altitude the auto actuator was set to after bailout. i don't know why, but something was removed from the orange knob you remember. It may have been a TCTO to remove an unsafe feature. The red loops in the risers were used to make the four line cut. It was supposed to give you improved control during your descent. The shroud line knife was in the riser in case the loop cutter failed, or you had an older canopy without the red loop mod. What I don't understand is when troop drops were being done, the Army jump master wore one of these chutes, not the chute the jumpers were using.

  3. That monthly inspection by Life Support was basically a visual inspection. The missing minimum survival kit would have been discovered when the chute was broken down for repack. By tampering you took government property, and placed an aircrew member at risk in the event the chute was needed. On some versions of the chute, a ELT beacon was also in the risers. That could have been activated as well.

  4. Not Herk Humor per se but do the oldtimers (myself included) remember when they first put super glue on bench stock?

    At Pope we had a Radar shop chief that was very predictable: each morning he'd walk in the shop, pick his coffee mug (bucket) off his desk and proceed to the 55 gallon percolator then in use. He had a nice sheet of plexi on his desk with everything in the world under it. One morning he grabbed his cup and took the whole top of the desk with him. He was only steamed for a bit and really took it pretty well, though after that the shop bench stock monitor had to keep the glue under lock and key so grave shift couldn't get to it. (Couldn't have been us swing shifters, we never did anything wrong....or if you asked the other shifts we never did anything, period).

    Shortly after I joined the ANG, I got a few drops of super glue on one of my hands. The boss said to go to the clinic. The nurse handed me a bottle, and said try this. It turned out to be surgical glue, not acetone. Then she said to try washing it off with lava. Both hands were a green mess. It had to wear off.

  5. Thru out my career in Life Support I was assigned duties making the custom fit foam liners for aircrew helmets. The chemicals contained isocyanates. ( Same as the early spray foam insulation for building construction. ) The aircrew members had limited exposure, but the LS tech's were exposed to 2 to 5 or more pours in a day. Biomedical always claimed the was no hazard.

  6. CharlieLS

    These days, groceries aren't that much cheaper at the commissary than at the civilian grocery stores (Super Wal Marts?). I live less than 20 miles from MacDill AFB and probably have been out there less than 3 times in the last 18 months. What I save on groceries there is lost on gas and tolls.

    Sorry Dan, another thread hijacking.

    Don R.

    This was an honest question to Dan. I try to avoid Wal-Mart.

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