AIR LINERS And OVERALLS

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 142, 18 June 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

AIR LINERS And OVERALLS

(See Pictures on Front Page) THE. neatly-uniformed pilots climb into the nose of the giant plane; the passengers lean back in padded ease. Si;-:- root metal propellers turn gently as the self-starters wake the motors to life, then with an increasing roar as the ground engineer signals all clear. A rush of wind from the slipstream and the huge 'plane leaps into the sky.

By W.G.P.

And the passengers? Gone is much M the glamour anil adventure which yurroun.led the early days of flying. It Jias been replaced by appreciation of the high degree of skill and sense of responsibility of the two cool figures in the control cabin. Modern aviation has eliminated guess work. It plays safe, jariil science bestows upon the airline pilot every possible device to enable him •to bring his machine through the ithickest weather to safety. ' Whether the machine is a twin•pngined Lockheed Electra or a lighter ifour-engined D.H. 60 the man in overalls is meticulous in his care. Every every foot of pipeline, every strut iand stay is checked and rechecked. Carefessness might cost many people their ives. In the workshops of the Dominion's tairlines, every day, highly trained men dre "keeping them in the air." Let us flook into one of the servicing hangars, <and, if we can catch him with a spare moment, ask the chief engineer what foes on when the passengers step from •the 'plane. ■Spick and Span The Kuaka lands at Mangere, having taken the length of New Zealand in her stride. She looks as spick and span as tiie day she was assembled. Into the •workshop she goes, and the men in overalls get busy. Nothing is taken on trust. It is a two hours' job, and it is done conscientiously. Enough fuel and oil in the tanks, no leaks, propeller cylinders clear, cowlings in order? Then |iie engines come to life and the propellers scream at 2000 revolutions. The Tariable pitch mechanism is tested, first one, then the other of the two ignition systems fitted to each engine are cut out, dials are checked. The diagnose is complete and the engineer is ready to place his signature on the daily inspection sheet. In the meantime the frame and body pre being rigidly overhauled. The pressure of the huge balloon tyres is tested iand the landing gear and retract screw examined—most important this. All controls are tried for freedom of action •nd the cockpit equipment overhauled. Back to the tail, a glance at the hinges of the rudder and elevators, then at the cables that link those control surfaces •to the controls in the cockpit. All control cables firm? Tension right, safety pins fitted ? After a last look over the machine for anything that might be wrong the aircraft man is ready to sign his name on the inspection sheet. All remaining to le done before the 'plane can legally leave the ground again is for each engineer to O.K. item on a daily inspection form and for the chief pilot of the 'plane to countersign. Until this ihas been done the civil aviation branch of the New Zealand Defence Department and the company say that the aeroplane cannot set out on its next day's job. Is all this necessary? Does so perfect « mechanical job require such meticulous care to ensure its perfect functioning? The answer to this is emphatically yes. There are 'planes operating in parts of South America and in war-torn Spain that have flown thousands of miles without the ministering hand of an engineer. They just keep going, their pilots either incurable optimists-—or fatalists, hoping for the best. Yet there ■will come a day of reckoning. The man in overalls had not had his chance. Such a little thing may cause disaster. | The engineer takes this element of chance from flying. It is said that even after 1000 hours' flying the bridge-built job that is the modern all-metal aeroplane will have little wrong with it. But it is that 'little" that the engineer is constantly probing for. The daily Inspection Is nothing compared with the overhauls after the plane has fceen 25 hours in the air, while

♦ ♦ * ♦

Tasmania's Tiger THE Tasmanian marsupial tiger, a rare animal of the "living fossil" class which was thought to have become extinct, has been found again by the Animals and Birds" Protection Board, of Hobart, which organised special exploration parties. It apparently still exists in densely timbered, uninhabited and scarcely explored country near the west coast of the island State. In view of the animal's great scientific value, immediate steps to prevent its extinction by proclamation of sanctuaries, will be taken. The "tiger" or "wolf" is one of the few living descendants of the early mammals which, during evolution, has become carnivorous. In the early period of white settlement in Tasmania, it took heavy toll of settlers' flocks, and consequently hunted. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Man in Blue " Goes. /CAPETOWN'S "men in blue" are to disappear during 1938. Hundreds of new police uniforms of a greenish grey colour and of a new design are now on order, and as the old blue uniforms wear out the flow ones will take their place. The new uniform do*»s away with the hot "choker'' collar and is eaid to be cooler and smarter.

at o0 hours more men take more time o\e r the job. Valves are replaced with a tested set the oil screens are removed and clcaned there is a general check 1 °* su Pl>ly l>nes and pumps, motor mounts and bolts, and the p'ropeller nuchanism is given a careful once-over. i n volt a P relude to a grand m\tstigation embracing starter* boosters, mixture controls and throttles in tact all instruments, with the master switch both off and on. Particular attention is paid by the air-frame man to the landing gear, which is tested with the ship jacked up. The skin is gone over carefully for abrasions and cuts; even such apparently minor things as the condition of fuses and >paii*v the oil in the brake reservoirs, the seats and cabin equipment, cowlings, windows and shields are investigated meticulously. Most important of all a strict probing is made of the control columns and cable tensions.

At 100 zones even greater carc is i-xercnsed. When the aeroplane has flown 400 hours or six hundred hour* according to type, it is pletely overhauled. There are no half hearted measures about such an overhaul. Everything that is not actually welded to the frame comes off. The great engines are swung out, mounted ou frames, and systematically wrecked. The wings come off, ailerons, rudders, elevators all gone over by licensed engineers,. checked and rechecked. Some motorists are fori unate—or unfortunate—enough to know what the inside of their engines looks lik:e. Sometimes there are four cylinders, sometimes six or eight. Imagine then. bi<r brutes with 18 spark plugs. Imagine the thrashing the pistons" get as they leap up and down the cylinders under the force of a terrific explosion several hundred times a minute. Little wonder that every screw, nut and pin comes out and every part is cleaned and inspectad. A magnifying glass is applied to vital parts. Wear, even the thousandths of an inch that would not concern a motorist, means a new part. And while a small army of merchanics toil with the tens of thousands of parts, specialists are performing similar services for other components of the machine. Then the ship is rebuilt from scratch. Every process is checked. The motor is run for six to eight hours on the test bench, driving a huge propeller, before finally being declared O.K. All this takes many hours, so of course spare complete assemblies are kept in stock, ready for immediate servicing of a 'plane. And so it goes on, day in. day out. Man's constant fight against the elements