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Over the past 40 years of the A-10's I was thinking I hear about the \"A-10C\" this and the \"C\" this etc...

But their are thing's that have changed even more over the years by reading the WT.

Before the 1 Gulfwar you couldn't tow an A-10 with the APU on for night time towing or long distances., You got a DSV for even hooking the Tow bar up with the APU on (I got One) . We started that in the Gulf.

ICT's now \"CT's\" You sent them either to the Hot-pits first before and then left the #2 engine running and loaded the GAU and hung Live Bombs and MAV's , and if you didn't get them across the Pits you Re-fueled from a Truck after #1 was shut down. You had to watch the Wind Sock for wind direction for the Fuel Vapors.

Before Live Weapon Loading You didn't do anything , only on a \"Cold Jet\" .

After Jet cleared ICT and was on the ALERT PAD , Pilot would want to get out and breif Intel , take a Piss, get a PBJ but leave the Jet Running and they would have Us Crew Chiefs Jump in the Seat and Monitor the radio's until they got back.
So guys weren't Engine run Qualified ,but Seat and brake , so we showed them \"Don't touch this, just make sure Cockpit is Safe and plane Chocked and watch this gauges, and alot of them could pass the emergency shut down test on the first try.,Couldn't run engines but they needed to know how to do the \"Emergency Procedures\" for \"Engine Fire\"


Then we would even change out Nose tires, Lightblubs, anything we saw that was needed that we could do fast you did it. Yes we even changed out a Main Tire or 2 that wasn't caught on ICT but was O/L's

The \"SAR PAD\", if we had a Scramble, once ready to taxi, we pulled the all the pins and armed the Jet so they could do a \"QT \" Take -Off\"

Now that was during the 'WAR\"

Now those days are over it sounds like, Yes the AFRES TECH. Shot the MAV into the WALL and we all \"SH$$\" OUR PANTS\" , but that Jet wasn't even flying it was just a \"Pre-Flight Check\" they wanted and He wasn't following the Checklist and as a E-6 never worked with a \"Live MAV \"but Op's Ck'ed them as if the TGM's were \"Live\", Well he had it down but it was a AGM-65.
But it WORKED!

I think these days some of us with our
\"Bag of Spare parts\" we would still be in Prison

So what is some of your A-10A days that don't float today?

Goose

_________________
\"Live Free Or Die\"

Not so much A-10 have the rules changed, but the AF in general. We've gotten away from following the intent of a rule to following the rule becuase thats what it says, no matter what.

Example - You can't park in front of a hangar.

Original intent - You don't want to block an aircraft from emergency extraction, however unlikely it may be.

Current enforcement - You CANNOT park in front of a hangar. Even if the jet in the hangar doesn't have a nose strut, is on fuselage jacks, hasn't flown in 7 months and is awaiting a depot team to take it apart and put it in a box. Even if the hangar is EMPTY! So we've gone from \"don't block a jet\" to you're not allowed to park in front of an empty hangar\" because \"the book says so\" Well the book says a lot of things- it would be nice if we were allowed to introduce common sense and think about WHY these rules exist and follow their intent instead of blindly doing things.

But you can't show me in the book where it says that you are allowed to use \"common sense\".

Exactly. You have no idea the headaches I've gotten in the last few months from this. We've been having exercises one on top of the other the last few months and people are doing the dumbest things. When I suggest a better way I get the response "Do you have guidance that says we can do it that way?"
Uuummm, do you have "guidance" that says we have to do it this way???

As far as parking in front of a hanger, I think I may know at least one reason the BOOK was changed. At DM, in the 358th TFTS back when I was a loader there in the late '70s, we had a hanger queen in the hanger and were taking advantage of the fact, and a light work load, to train some jeep jammer drivers. This was also in the days of 4 man load crews. Anyway, being a 3 man and not needed for this training, I was in the shop reading. I could hear the jammers out in the hanger running around and practicing lining up on particular stations, when I was jolted out of my seat by a loud \"BANG!\"

Then came a slow groaning of metal under stress. Then a massive
BOOOM!!! that shook the whole building. I rushed out in the hanger to see what had happened and there sat one of our jeep 4 men on a running jammer, back to where the hanger door had been hanging. The kid had backed into the door, and knocked it off it's upper track. No longer supported at the top, it fell down to the pavement in front of the hanger.

Luckily, no one was parked in front of the hanger and CE had the door back on it's rails the next day. Had there been a truck there, both the truck and door would have been totaled, along with anyone in the truck.

Not to say we never pulled any stuff. Can't tell you how many times I carried BDU-33's by their tails, and pulled the guns on the TER's to smack them on the TER frame to loosen the breech cap during turns. Ripped out some of the foam in the wings so we could get to the cannon plugs when pulling and replacing pylons.

_________________
Slow is Fast, Fast is Slow
Violence may not be the best option, but it IS an option

I don't miss that Kind of BS , Plus I said it before
\"I don't RED BALL FOR A INOP COFFEE POT\" or \" Aircrew needs more Pillows and Blankets\".

I just couldn't Gear back down out of the Sandbox, lucky for awhile we had to deal with Evacuating Clark AB for a Month around the Clock. 20+ C-141's at a time on the ramp coming and going, my run sheet looked like my 2 years drawings in a 12 hour shift.

But if it wasn't for those few \"Ex-Hog Keepers from USAFE\" I probably would of gone nuts with all that Stupid stuff, and not using \"Common sense\" to make a change.\"

Hats -off to You guys that Stuck it out, I could of if I would of stayed on A-10's

Goose

_________________
\"Live Free Or Die\"

I hated that foam stuff . And remember when we pulled tons of it out of the jets for some TCTO

My philosophy on guidance: Just because it doesn't say you can doesn't mean you can't.

Most rules are written either in blood or for the bottom 25% of the population.

Coach

Coach, in most cases I'd agree with you, but in this specific scenario my way was definitely better with absolutely zero risk. The others were just too scared of doing something "wrong" and getting written up by EET.

Foam? Foam was the TCTO for the changing the Flt Control Cable blocks on the aft outside wall of the Main tank in the \"HELL HOLE\".
Drop the APU, , pull everything you could out to get to it,crawl to the Tank's wall then \"Un-Bolt\" the Old Foam plates then tear off most of the other crap then \"Put the New Foam Kit\" in place after replacing the new blocks.
That was done in late 85 early 86 if I still have a mind? If lucky 10 hours or 2 shifts or while in Phase dock..
More Blood was Shed on that TCTO I think then the rest, I know Chico and I both left Blood Smears on the Walls and wrote a \"Foul, Nasty thought on the TCTO\".

The Slat TCTO Foam was the other one, that got yanked-out more times and replaced then anything else.

But Coach is right,

Prime example, the T-39A Servicing Guide for servicing struts , it was written wrong for almost 15 years and it took 2 people getting killed to get it changed and alot \"Head Chopping\" in QC's across the USAF.

Goose

_________________
\"Live Free Or Die\"

Hey Goose,
The TCTO that Carl was talking about is a weapon's thing. Anytime we had to pull maintenance on a pylon, and had to reach up into the wing to R&R cables for the pylon there was a bunch of that foam that was always in the way. After a good while of trying to cram your hand into the tight space allowed by the foam we'd eventually give up, whip our our Buck knives, (almost std equipment for us back then), and hack out the foam so we could get to the cannon plugs. We always joked about it being a TCTO. I swear, you had to have hands like ET inorder to get to those plugs with all that freaking foam in the way.

_________________
Slow is Fast, Fast is Slow
Violence may not be the best option, but it IS an option

What would we have done without Buck Knifes and Mag lites???


Goose

_________________
\"Live Free Or Die\"