February 2011 - Indian Airforce

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JWO AK SinghThis incident happened while I was posted toa premier fighter squadron in the westernsector in 1992. On this eventful day, I wasdetailed to carry out First Flight Servicing FFS ona MiG-21 ac. There were about ten ac’s on line. Atechnician was detailed for oxygen-charging withan oxygen trolley and a tractor. This team wasvisiting each pen to charge the ac parked there.After finishing electrical checks, I was waitingfor oxygen charging of the ac in my pen. Whenthis tractor with the oxygen trolley was broughtto my pen, I started the process of charging myaircraft after connecting the oxygen hose to thecharging point. While I was opening the oxygencylinder with the cylinder key, the other personwas inspecting the oxygen gauge in the cockpit.During this process, I felt as if the oxygen trolleywas moving forward. I also noticed that theMTD of the tractor was missing from the driver’sseat! The oxygen hose was now getting taut. Iimmediately stopped the charging process. Bythis time, the other technician rushed towards thecharging point to disconnect the oxygen hosefrom the ac. I panicked because the hose wasfully tensed by now. I immediately rushed to thetractor and disconnected it by removing the rodfrom the trolley thus preventing a major incident.Had the tractor not been disconnected from thetrolley, the charging point (oxygen) would havebroken from the ac. Later, I also found out that thebrakes of the tractor were partially serviceable!This incident taught us a great lesson. Wehave now started disconnecting the trolleyduring the charging process. I hope the same isdone in all the flying bases.- JWO AK SinghEditor’s Comment Do we ‘take care’ of the slope throughworks or the MTD through HRM . The egg orchicken? Chokes were designed to prevent rollingwheels. They dont weigh much and may preventthe ‘disconnected’ trolley from rolling off.28 Aerospace Safety F e b r u a r y 2 0 11INDIAN AIR FORCE
WO Ram KaranIwas posted as Warrant Officer in charge ofAircraft Special Vehicle ASV Section of a premiumfighter base in the northern sector. The squadronwas recently supplied with two mobile Air Fieldcompressors by a civil firm. During the acceptanceof the equipment the representatives of the OEMcarried out all the laid down checks as per themanual.The IncidentNext day, during the DI, it was found that adipstick of one of the compressors was broken. Thiscompressor was declared unservicable and thematter was taken up with the OEM. After a few daysthe representative of the firm came to investigatethe matter. Prima-Facie it appeared to be a case ofan implied foreign object since the question was‘where was the lost piece lodged?’InvestigationThe OEM representative tried to suck out thesuspected foreign object from the sump of thecompressor by using a magnet through the dipstick hole while it was running. But, nothing couldbe retrieved. The only option left was to open upthe gear box of the compressor, which took almosta day to be completed.damage. I asked the representative how could ithappen. He had no answer. The fact was that thebolts could not have gone inside after assemblyof the compressor, as there was no passage whichcould allow the bolts to pass through. The onlypossibility of going into the crank case was duringits manufacturing or assembly.After Foreign Object Removal the compressorwas assembled and functional test was carried out.It was serviceable. Had this breaking of the dipstick not been taken seriously, FOD would havecompletely written off the compressor.Lesson Learnt Never assume a component / equipment to beperfect if it is new, everyone is liable to mistakes. Never ignore even the minutest of a problemof your ac / equipment. It may be a precursor tosomething big. Timely reporting and a full-fledged investiationin any unservicablity saves time and effort in thelong run.- WO Ram KaranEditor’s comment: Machines and people both giveample indication of impending failure. We just needto observe and Report to strike out ‘CHALTA HAI’.When the top portion of the crank case ofthe compressor was opened we were utterlysurprised to discover the items at thebottom of the sump. There were twobolts of dimensions 30 mm and 14mm length, which had caused theINDIAN AIR FORCE 2 0 1 1 F e b r u a r y Aerospace Safety 29
Page 4 and 5: Wg Cdr DS DeshpandeIt was a typical
Page 6 and 7: Sqn Ldr S SrinidhiSqn Ldr Vinayak S
Page 8 and 9: Air Cmde A SubramaniamIwas having d
Page 12 and 13: Wg Cdr GS Bishen10 Aerospace Safety
Page 16 and 17: - drops them home...but forgets to
Page 18 and 19: other commands, the flight safety o
Page 20 and 21: Blast From The Past18 Aerospace Saf
Page 22 and 23: LAC AK SinghLife in Communication F
Page 24 and 25: Sqn Ldr Juhi BorgohainIn aviation
Page 26 and 27: Gp Capt S Ghosh24 Aerospace Safety
Page 28 and 29: The best timeto visit the Gym.Anyti
Page 32 and 33: ON 15 Mar 10 Fg Offr P S Chahal 298
Page 34 and 35: ON 20 May 10, 658197-N MWO RP Upadh
Page 36: 36 Aerospace Safety F e b r u a r y

February 2011 - Indian Airforce

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