Shaffer
04-09-03, 07:16 AM
ABOARD THE BONHOMME RICHARD - Here are a few of the concerns weighing upon mechanics who service the Harrier jets flying bombing and surveillance missions high above Iraq:
Engines can't fail. Radar must work. Fuel tanks can't come loose. Planes can't get blown into the sea when landing vertically onto the deck. Ejection seats must eject, but not accidentally.
Plastic canopies must give way if pilots eject and come crashing through. Parachutes must open, and fliers can't fall into the jet stream.
Although it is the pilots whose lives depend on sound aircraft, it is the mechanics who toil from 12 to 14 hours a day to ensure their safety. None of this amphibious ship's 24 Harrier jets has experienced severe problems in the 3-week-old war, and every pilot has come back safely, but mechanics will surely receive much of the blame if anything goes wrong. Yet they are a serene group, seeing poetry in what they do.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.mechanics09apr09,0,4771797.story?coll=bal-news-nation
Engines can't fail. Radar must work. Fuel tanks can't come loose. Planes can't get blown into the sea when landing vertically onto the deck. Ejection seats must eject, but not accidentally.
Plastic canopies must give way if pilots eject and come crashing through. Parachutes must open, and fliers can't fall into the jet stream.
Although it is the pilots whose lives depend on sound aircraft, it is the mechanics who toil from 12 to 14 hours a day to ensure their safety. None of this amphibious ship's 24 Harrier jets has experienced severe problems in the 3-week-old war, and every pilot has come back safely, but mechanics will surely receive much of the blame if anything goes wrong. Yet they are a serene group, seeing poetry in what they do.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.mechanics09apr09,0,4771797.story?coll=bal-news-nation