Re the Vanguards,
In many cases closing down the inboards allowed the props to stop turning by the time we came on stand, you don't want 14' 6" blades whipping arround the ground crew, however this was not the case with GAPES,GAPET, they had two compressors, if carrying livestock the inboards were left untill last, they supplied the A/Con needed to keep the beasties cool.
The rest of the fleet had only one compressor on #3 gearbox, but some crew were reluctant to close down the inners, this often resulted in rapid dumping of residule cabin pressure, very uncomfortable.
Nothing to do with saving the engines Dave, when we aquired the A/C from, BA in 1978, we were lucky to get 90 hrs between repairs, after twelve years and a lot of help from MTU, we managed 450 hrs with luck!.
Robbie.
The Viscount
Moderators: Guru's, The Ministry
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DaveB
- The Ministry
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That's great Robbie.. many tks 
I don't suppose you have any recollection of what sort of cargo a standard 953 would have carried (if any) on pax flights?? We know what sort of weight the 953c's would have carried (it was probably you who furnished the info!!) but remain at a loss with the standard aircraft. I have EP's 'generic' Flight Manual here but can't get my head around the numbers :roll: This is the one off the flightdeck that wasn't modded to Merchantman spec so is to all intents for pax config. I scanned it and can send you a link to the upload if you think it may blow a bit of dust off
Incidentally, EP ran her engines up a couple of weeks ago for the first time in months.. perhaps since she was on the airfield.. and it took a couple of goes to get them to light. Fuel starvation was the initial problem. They'd put 100gal in the outer tanks and left it for a fortnight before the run and during that time.. gravity did it's bit and the fuel found it's way into the inboard tanks! :shock: The general feeling is that the generators are reaching an end (if they've not done so already) as it is not possible to get AC. Also, the engines are using a great deal of oil, supplies of which (hint, hint to anyone looking in) are low.. (that's Castrol 98.. Aeroshell Turbine oil 750 or similar and the request has gone down to 10galls though 20g will still be nice!!)
No one guessed they'd go on for this long anyway so they've had a good run
ATB
DaveB :tab:
I don't suppose you have any recollection of what sort of cargo a standard 953 would have carried (if any) on pax flights?? We know what sort of weight the 953c's would have carried (it was probably you who furnished the info!!) but remain at a loss with the standard aircraft. I have EP's 'generic' Flight Manual here but can't get my head around the numbers :roll: This is the one off the flightdeck that wasn't modded to Merchantman spec so is to all intents for pax config. I scanned it and can send you a link to the upload if you think it may blow a bit of dust off
Incidentally, EP ran her engines up a couple of weeks ago for the first time in months.. perhaps since she was on the airfield.. and it took a couple of goes to get them to light. Fuel starvation was the initial problem. They'd put 100gal in the outer tanks and left it for a fortnight before the run and during that time.. gravity did it's bit and the fuel found it's way into the inboard tanks! :shock: The general feeling is that the generators are reaching an end (if they've not done so already) as it is not possible to get AC. Also, the engines are using a great deal of oil, supplies of which (hint, hint to anyone looking in) are low.. (that's Castrol 98.. Aeroshell Turbine oil 750 or similar and the request has gone down to 10galls though 20g will still be nice!!)
No one guessed they'd go on for this long anyway so they've had a good run ATB
DaveB :tab:
Old sailors never die.. they just smell that way!
Dave,
I'm more than willing to take look at the figures, I'm no load master and quite honestly didn't realise there was any differance in any of the cockpits!. EP always looked the same to me?, the loads in the lower holds shouldn't have changed much, the floors were lowered during the freighter mod. but the bay area stayed the same as far as I know.
As for the engines, they were notorious for holding air in the bleed valve ram, when bleeding the system, a long screwdriver was used to operate the valve, this allows trapped air to escape.
If you look at the fuel panel you will see two switches, labbeled TANK ISOLLATION 1&4, when the fuel level in the outer tanks got too low it was possible to draw air into the system and flame out all engines. with these closed you must open cross feed & inter engine cocks or the engines won't light.
A/C generators are 208 volt frequency wild, they weigh about 150 lbs,
tell them to remove the end cap and spray out the oil and dirt from the brushes, should get a few more hours out of them.
Max oil consumption is 2 pts per hour, they don't normally use oil, just leaks internally through the propeller transfer muff and collects in the sump, drain the R/H wheel case and put it back in the tank.
PM me if you need any technical info, I'm helping Fraser with the panel, it keeps me in touch.
Robbie.
I'm more than willing to take look at the figures, I'm no load master and quite honestly didn't realise there was any differance in any of the cockpits!. EP always looked the same to me?, the loads in the lower holds shouldn't have changed much, the floors were lowered during the freighter mod. but the bay area stayed the same as far as I know.
As for the engines, they were notorious for holding air in the bleed valve ram, when bleeding the system, a long screwdriver was used to operate the valve, this allows trapped air to escape.
If you look at the fuel panel you will see two switches, labbeled TANK ISOLLATION 1&4, when the fuel level in the outer tanks got too low it was possible to draw air into the system and flame out all engines. with these closed you must open cross feed & inter engine cocks or the engines won't light.
A/C generators are 208 volt frequency wild, they weigh about 150 lbs,
tell them to remove the end cap and spray out the oil and dirt from the brushes, should get a few more hours out of them.
Max oil consumption is 2 pts per hour, they don't normally use oil, just leaks internally through the propeller transfer muff and collects in the sump, drain the R/H wheel case and put it back in the tank.
PM me if you need any technical info, I'm helping Fraser with the panel, it keeps me in touch.
Robbie.
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DaveB
- The Ministry
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- Joined: 17 Jun 2004, 20:46
- Location: Pelsall, West Mids, UK
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Hi Robbie and tks for that
Incidentally, the majority of the current Vanguard panel (including views) is EP so I'm sure it looks familiar
It wasn't my intention to infer that EP's flightdeck was any different from any other VC9.. just that the FM I borrowed was the 'spare'.. 'generic' 953 manual (not EP's Merchantman specific) version as I knew it would take me yonks to scan and I didn't like the idea of the 'proper one' being away for as long as it took me to scan the spare
As for the engine run.. this is the first for a long time that has not been under the watchful eye of Ron Brant (who Fraser and a few others here knew) as Ron passed away a few weeks ago. Whether he'd have been a little more 'aware' of any possible problems, I honestly couldn't say but the guys did a fair job in fault finding and getting the lumps up and running
The last time the engines ran (probably during the last taxi run when the airfield was still there).. they'd have liked to have done more runs than they managed but ended up with all but one generator off-line. In their efforts to get the old girl running, it's likely that the generators were tripped (too much on/off throttle) but they'd been notoriously fickle before then. They have good batteries now (and still no GPU) and these have been unstressed turning the engines over so at least all is well there
Tks for your input to Fraser. Just make sure he doesn't add too many nasty bits!!
I'll PM you a link to the FM and pass your advice on to the guys at Brooklands
ATB
DaveB :tab:
Incidentally, the majority of the current Vanguard panel (including views) is EP so I'm sure it looks familiar
It wasn't my intention to infer that EP's flightdeck was any different from any other VC9.. just that the FM I borrowed was the 'spare'.. 'generic' 953 manual (not EP's Merchantman specific) version as I knew it would take me yonks to scan and I didn't like the idea of the 'proper one' being away for as long as it took me to scan the spare
As for the engine run.. this is the first for a long time that has not been under the watchful eye of Ron Brant (who Fraser and a few others here knew) as Ron passed away a few weeks ago. Whether he'd have been a little more 'aware' of any possible problems, I honestly couldn't say but the guys did a fair job in fault finding and getting the lumps up and running
The last time the engines ran (probably during the last taxi run when the airfield was still there).. they'd have liked to have done more runs than they managed but ended up with all but one generator off-line. In their efforts to get the old girl running, it's likely that the generators were tripped (too much on/off throttle) but they'd been notoriously fickle before then. They have good batteries now (and still no GPU) and these have been unstressed turning the engines over so at least all is well there
Tks for your input to Fraser. Just make sure he doesn't add too many nasty bits!!
I'll PM you a link to the FM and pass your advice on to the guys at Brooklands ATB
DaveB :tab:
Old sailors never die.. they just smell that way!
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Garry Russell
- The Ministry
- Posts: 27180
- Joined: 29 Jan 2005, 00:53
- Location: On the other side of the wall
After all this time the old girl still looks good. (back on thread :shock: )
A tribute to Ricks genuis :prayer:
I'm certainly still enjoying her
In fact here is BAF Freighter G-AOYS taking off on a late delivery
Well it's BAF so it's bound to be late :roll:
Garry
A tribute to Ricks genuis :prayer:
I'm certainly still enjoying her
In fact here is BAF Freighter G-AOYS taking off on a late delivery
Well it's BAF so it's bound to be late :roll:
Garry
Garry
"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."
"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."
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Garry Russell
- The Ministry
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- Joined: 29 Jan 2005, 00:53
- Location: On the other side of the wall
The Viscount is my most as well, but for a time it was One-Elevens.
There are still three VC9 operators on my to do list....plus a couple of oddballs.
But you can't have too much of a good thing and the models form resident makers are definately a good thing
Garry
There are still three VC9 operators on my to do list....plus a couple of oddballs.
But you can't have too much of a good thing and the models form resident makers are definately a good thing
Garry
Garry
"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."
"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."