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Author Topic: Aircraft mechanic steals plane, crashes on Ketron Island  (Read 186 times)

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Offline wilber

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Re: Aircraft mechanic steals plane, crashes on Ketron Island
« Reply #15 on: August 11, 2018, 10:40:09 pm »


Ya, too bad they are a nice old aircraft. Wood and fabric construction so no doubt it will be rebuilt but it looks like a big job.

I have a maintenance manual for that aircraft. My first job was as a parts runner at the old Canadian Pacific Airlines overhaul shops on the south side of YVR. It was from the Canadian Airways days and I bought it from a mechanic who was about to retire. It had been sitting in the bottom of his tool box for decades. The pages are fairly brittle from age but it is still usable.
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Offline Omni

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Re: Aircraft mechanic steals plane, crashes on Ketron Island
« Reply #16 on: August 11, 2018, 10:50:22 pm »
Quote from: wilber on August 11, 2018, 10:40:09 pm

Ya, too bad they are a nice old aircraft. Wood and fabric construction so no doubt it will be rebuilt but it looks like a big job.

I have a maintenance manual for that aircraft. My first job was as a parts runner at the old Canadian Pacific Airlines overhaul shops on the south side of YVR. It was from the Canadian Airways days and I bought it from a mechanic who was about to retire. It had been sitting in the bottom of his tool box for decades. The pages are fairly brittle from age but it is still usable.

Speaking of old planes and maintenance, a buddy of mine was the chief AME at Port Alberni keeping the old Mars flying. He invited me over for a weekend and he took me through the shop including the sheet metal portion where they used English Wheels and such to manufacture cowlings etc. because you couldn't buy them anywhere anymore. And man there's a lot of guages at the engineers station in the aft portion of the wheelhouse.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=engineers+station+of+the+martin+mars&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=ZV6aWzzS7HQuoM%253A%252C9A8fniVTFy3Y7M%252C_&usg=AFrqEzfdHC8DpKYdMiDylB-pNRjJ-nX0tw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjXyfGNzubcAhXIGTQIHWUiCp8Q9QEwAnoECAYQCA#imgrc=ZV6aWzzS7HQuoM:
« Last Edit: August 11, 2018, 10:53:35 pm by Omni »
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Offline wilber

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Re: Aircraft mechanic steals plane, crashes on Ketron Island
« Reply #17 on: August 11, 2018, 11:01:14 pm »
Quote from: Omni on August 11, 2018, 10:50:22 pm
Speaking of old planes and maintenance, a buddy of mine was the chief AME at Port Alberni keeping the old Mars flying. He invited me over for a weekend and he took me through the shop including the sheet metal portion where they used English Wheels and such to manufacture cowlings etc. because you couldn't buy them anywhere anymore. And man there's a lot of guages at the engineers station in the aft portion of the wheelhouse.

Lucky you. I worked as a learner for a short time at the old Port Alberni airport along the river. The tankers were the only outfit that had a B engineer and the local operator used to get him to come over and sign out any major structural jobs. The closest I ever got to a Mars was when Fairy Aviation was converting the last one at YYJ in 64. Never did get inside it though. I went through the Viking shop in YYJ back in the eighties and they did a lot of that kid of work as well. Those sheet metal men are a rare bunch.

Back in the days before autothrottles, the flight engineer was basically the only person to touch the power levers in cruise.
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Offline Omni

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Re: Aircraft mechanic steals plane, crashes on Ketron Island
« Reply #18 on: August 11, 2018, 11:16:07 pm »
Quote from: wilber on August 11, 2018, 11:01:14 pm
Lucky you. I worked as a learner for a short time at the old Port Alberni airport along the river. The tankers were the only outfit that had a B engineer and the local operator used to get him to come over and sign out any major structural jobs. The closest I ever got to a Mars was when Fairy Aviation was converting the last one at YYJ in 64. Never did get inside it though. I went through the Viking shop in YYJ back in the eighties and they did a lot of that kid of work as well. Those sheet metal men are a rare bunch.

Back in the days before autothrottles, the flight engineer was basically the only person to touch the power levers in cruise.

Not to brag but I did get to go for a ride. What was interesting is about how all that came together. I picked up some little aviation rag in the coffee shop in a hangar in of all places Chetwynd BC and on the cover page was a pic of my buddy and his crew exiting a Mars into a boat after they were done for the day. I had lost track of where he had gone but now I knew, so I phoned up FIFT. I had some time off coming up so next thing I was on my way to PA. Had a great weekend.
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Offline wilber

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Re: Aircraft mechanic steals plane, crashes on Ketron Island
« Reply #19 on: August 11, 2018, 11:19:19 pm »
That's really cool, I'm envious. Wonder what will happen to the last Mars. They spent most of their lives in BC and it would be only right if it could stay here.
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Offline wilber

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Re: Aircraft mechanic steals plane, crashes on Ketron Island
« Reply #20 on: August 11, 2018, 11:22:34 pm »
One thing I miss lately in Abby is the sound of the big round engines from Conair's, DC 6's and Firecats. They have gone all turbine. Just too hard to get the 100/130 and 115/145 avgas for those old engines.
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Offline Omni

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Re: Aircraft mechanic steals plane, crashes on Ketron Island
« Reply #21 on: August 11, 2018, 11:35:29 pm »
Quote from: wilber on August 11, 2018, 11:22:34 pm
One thing I miss lately in Abby is the sound of the big round engines from Conair's, DC 6's and Firecats. They have gone all turbine. Just too hard to get the 100/130 and 115/145 avgas for those old engines.

Yeah I think the last time I heard/saw those burps and farts and fire shooting out the pipe was up in Inuvik years ago when a Buffalo Joe crew was getting a C-47 coaxed into life in January. Of course even he's gone mostly turbine now. If I win the lottery one item on the list will be an old restored "greasy 3".
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Offline wilber

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Re: Aircraft mechanic steals plane, crashes on Ketron Island
« Reply #22 on: August 12, 2018, 10:34:29 am »
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Offline Omni

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Re: Aircraft mechanic steals plane, crashes on Ketron Island
« Reply #23 on: August 12, 2018, 11:25:57 am »
Quote from: wilber on August 12, 2018, 10:34:29 am
https://www.abbynews.com/news/breaking-plane-crashes-at-abbotsford-international-airshow/

At least it didn't catch fire. Here's hoping for a full recovery for the occupants. the plane definitely looks to be in critical condition.
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Offline Omni

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Re: Aircraft mechanic steals plane, crashes on Ketron Island
« Reply #24 on: August 12, 2018, 07:51:13 pm »
Quote from: wilber on August 11, 2018, 02:31:09 pm
No, I hadn't  seen it. Sad, it will be interesting to find out the whole story.

I'm  sure you've seen the overhead pics/videos. Obviously Mr. Russell was pretty serious on how he wanted this saga to end. I don't see much of a swath through the trees so he must have had that 400 pretty close to a 90 degrees nose down dive. I'm hearing the CVR might be US.
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