Midnight Shift

A bit of a busy night at work yesterday. My airplane (the overnight airplane that I`m responsible to ensure is serviceable for the next morning) came in as scheduled at 1:20 am. There were three items to take care of, a two day check, a weekly check, and a snag. I also do maintenance on the in flight entertainment system, which, although it`s not required, seems to help.

The two day check looks at tires, brakes, fluid levels (oil, hydraulics, oxygen), an external inspection, a cabin and cockpit check, and a check of the log books.

The weekly check looks at interior and exterior lights, escape slides nitrogen pressure, generator oil levels, and a couple of quick function checks.

During the walk around, I found one tire that was worn out, so that had to be added to the list of items. Fortunately, there were two other AMEs available, who did most of the tire change for me.

My snag was a damaged cabin window blind. It refused to stay put, and would immediately retract when released. Making the job both easier and harder, the blind was the one in the emergency exit. So I would have to remove the emergency exit, remove the exit liner, and then replace the blind.

I met the airplane as usual, did my walk around, and then went on the airplane. I offered the flight attendants a chance to remove the exit, because I know most of them have never removed an exit for real - they have a cabin mock up that they use for training. However, it was the end of a long day for them, and they declined - also, they seemed overly concerned about the possibility of blowing the escape slide.

The first step is to put a safety pin in the overwing slide bottle, which is located in the aft cargo compartment. That takes a moment. Then, I went into the cabin, to the forward emergency exit, removed the handle cover, and disarmed the exit. At that point, the exit can be removed without any chance that the slide will inflate. I placed the exit on the seats, and removed the ten screws that hold the liner onto the exit. This is actually the most time consuming part of the job, due to the poor placement of the screws.

Installing the screws on the window blind

With the liner off, it was a quick process to replace the blind, three screws, although annoyingly, two different types of screws. Putting it all back together went quickly, and I re-installed the exit in its cut out.

Installing an overwing exit is a critical function, since it is both part of the escape system and part of the pressure vessel. This means that a second signature is required, so one of the other AMEs came out to double check. He also had to check that I had removed the safety pin from the inflation bottle, as this is also considered a critical function - if the pin is left in, the slide will not inflate in an emergency.

After the exit was finished, I had a light bulb to replace (which can be seen in the image, the dark area just to my right). The upper sidewall panel, which I know as a cove panel, is removed, the florescent tube is replaced, and the panel re-installed. You have to take care to ensure that the panel is properly installed, so that it won`t drop in a hard landing - or a regular landing. That would probably unnerve the passengers.

I spent most of an hour doing the paperwork and computer entries that comes with all of that work, finishing just in time to start waking up the airplanes in preparation for the day`s flying.

Google Maps and Google Earth Project

Last month Google offered an on line course about Maps and Earth. There were a few little projects, intended to familiarise users with different features of the two programs. The final project for the Google Earth part of the course was a tour. I chose to use my trip around the Grand Canyon as the subject for my tour.

The Google Earth tour file is here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0By30ntHPGo4MUjVVb0V5MUNPRlE/edit?usp=sharing, and some of my photos from the trip are here: https://picasaweb.google.com/114725989857408454174/GrandCanyon.

6 - 9 October 2006

In October 2006, I decided to take a tour around the Grand Canyon. I wanted to see as much as I could, so that mostly precluded any serious hiking. The Bright Angel Trail would have to wait for another time. I knew that I would be travelling in some areas without paved roads, so I booked an SUV to help with some of the unpaved roads.

I took Friday off work before Thanksgiving, then caught the Air Canada Thursday direct night flight from Winnipeg to Las Vegas. I arrived there about 11 pm, spent a bit of time driving somewhat aimlessly along the Strip - pretty impressive, in some ways, although I'm certainly not a gambler. I left Las Vegas at 9 am on Friday, and arrived at the Grand Canyon in the late afternoon. 

I arrived at Mather Point, near the park's Visitor Centre, just about 4 pm, and walked up to the rim with great anticipation, and when I got there... fog. The canyon was completely fogged over, as far as I could see. There was nothing to do but wait, and after a little while, the fog did lift, and I was able to get a good look. Sunset was quite early at that time of year, about 6 pm, so after a short time at Mather Point, I joined a ranger led walk along the rim to Yavapai. The thinning fog made for nice crepuscular rays as the sun set.

After dark, I joined another ranger led walk, which focussed on night sounds and sights of the canyon. I remember two things from that walk - a young kid asking his father if Noah's ark sailed through the canyon - yikes - and walking back towards the Visitors' Centre, talking briefly with the ranger, and he said, "You're from ... Manitoba." Wow. He said that he had my accent narrowed down to Saskatchewan or Manitoba, and he guessed right. We had only been talking for a minute or two, and it was totally dark. He talks to a lot of people.

I drove to Grandview, and slept in the SUV overnight. Not particularly comfortable. I watched the sunrise at Grandview, and then hurried over to the South Kaibab trailhead, where I was just a few minutes late to catch a guided walk into the canyon. I found the start point, and hurried after the large group, catching up with them after a few minutes. We descended to a plateau, ending up at Skeleton Point, about 2,000 feet below the rim. We were released to return on our own, and I made it up in just over an hour, reaching the rim at about 11 am.

Me at Skeleton Point

After a bit more sightseeing, I took a detour to go look at airplanes. Just outside the National Park entrance is the Planes of Fame museum. I took an all too brief stop there, where there were several unusual airplanes to catch my eye. The most notable for me was a very beat up de Havilland Vampire F.3, serial 17018, which was flown briefly by 402 Squadron in the late 1940s.

  Derelict Vampire 17018

A Northrop flying wing

I drove back to the rim, and proceeded to Desert View, at the east end of the park.I stayed there for only a short time - it was quite crowded - before leaving the park, heading east. I stopped at a point where the Little Colorado River gorge comes close to the road. Although it's not scenic enough to be included in the park, the terrain was really interesting, with a precipitous drop to the river. I continued east, and then turned north on Highway 89. The scenery was fantastic along the road, lots of colourful mesas, and I regretted not leaving myself enough time for all the stops I would have made.

Me at the Little Colorado River

Little Colorado River gorge

I arrived at the north rim, and woke up early enough to catch the sunrise at Point Imperial, which was beautiful. There's a prominent peak, Mount Hayden, not far from the viewing point, which really adds to the photos. After sunrise, I went over to Bright Angel, and spent a few minutes admiring the distant south horizon, and the impressive canyon walls just to the west.

From there, it was a long haul to Toroweap. The road is paved until the Toroweap turn off. The road to Toroweap is unpaved, uneven, and very isolated. It took an hour to reach Toroweap. The attraction, besides the amazing scenery, is that it is supposed to be one of the most isolated places in the United States. When I got there, however, there was a children's birthday party going on, so that took some of my enthusiasm. However, I could mostly keep them far enough away that I couldn't really hear them.

Half the view from Toroweap

Volcanic rock north of Toroweap

The scenery was exactly what I expected, spectacular. Besides several nearby extinct volcanoes, typical desert vegetation, and the canyon, there was also the Colorado River, three thousand feet straight down. No rails, no barriers, and I couldn't quite bring myself to look straight over the edge. I got some great photos, but all too soon, I had to leave. I made a few stops along the road on the way out, scoping out some extinct volcanoes and enormous volcanic boulders, and drove to St George.

At some point, approaching St George, I got a flat rear tire, but due to the rough road, I didn't even notice until I got into town. I found a gas station, which I needed anyway, but when I went to change the tire, I found that I was missing one of the tools I needed. Fortunately, I got some help from a person at the gas station, and I got back on the road with only an hour's delay. I took the interstate from St George to Las Vegas, arriving in lots of time for my midnight flight to Winnipeg. Luckily the rental car agency didn't look too closely at the flat tire, as I think I might have ruined the rim.

A great trip, and as usual, all too short.

Assiniboine Park fireworks

I tried to get into Assiniboine Park to see the Canada Day fireworks, but the crowds were just too much. I gave up and headed for home, but along the way, decided to try Westview Park. WP is an old garbage dump, turned into a park, and also Winnipeg's highest point.

I found a good vantage point on the hill, and was able to watch both the fireworks display at Assiniboine Park, and also the display at the Forks.



My photos were mostly an experiment, under slightly adverse conditions. I got the settings more or less right after a few shots, and I'm reasonably pleased with how most of them came out (many others will never be seen again). I need a remote shutter release for these kind of shots, though.

I have some other shots posted here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/114725989857408454174/CanadaDayFireworks#

Brand New Bombardier Q400 Passes Through

A brand new Bombardier Q400 (aka de Havilland DHC-8-400 Dash-8) passed through Winnipeg on 1 July, on its way to All Nippon Airways in Japan. The crew was nice enough to let us have a quick look around. The airplane had only six flying hours on it when it landed in Winnipeg. The pilot gave me a quick update on the changes in the cockpit, which otherwise looks pretty similar to the Dash-8-100s I've worked on for twenty years. The pilot also mentioned that he had flown the CT-142s when they were still in primer, in 1989.