Gotta Fly!

It got all the way up to 14F in Minne today - a total freaking HEATWAVE. I had enough of the office..... it was clear..... winds not bad.... only one thing to do! Pull out the -9A and catch some sky. Gas is 3.69 at Cambridge 30mi North - so there is a REASON to fly. Flight up was fun with a nice little tail wind:


landed at CBG and took some sunset pics:


-13C at 3000 ft just loafing at 3.2 GPH


Nothing like a nice sunset in the plane:


Tracker caught me flying circles just because I can:


Never got gas because the fuel lube on the o-rings was jelled up solid. I plan to remove it and use Tri-Flow per my Plane Guru Alex. Good to get out - don't let the cold stop ya!!

Attaboy, Pete

Nice writeup. Made my day

Saturn and Apollo!

Joel,

I looked at your profile - might you have some stories for us rocket lovers on the forums?

Saturn rocket tester - no way I can let that slip by!

Saturn and Apollo

I don't know if I can help you very much Pete, as I only worked as an Instrumentation Tech. at Marshall SFC for about 18 months. It was my first job after I finished my enlistment with the US Navy in early Apr 1963.

We started out test firing Saturn I engines and boosters to qualify them for flight, where they put the first Apollo command modules into Earth orbit. One of my more memorable moments was to watch one of them launch out of the Cape later after I had hired on with RCA as a Range Ship Instrumentation Tech. at Patrick AFB. That was quite a thrill, knowing that I had played a small part to make that possible.

As for the static firings, they were pretty much routine after you get past the fact that this was a far cry from the 2hp plows and wagons I was used to back on my grandparent's farm just across the line in Tenn. Ever have a ride in a wagon with runaway mules? Unforgettable! That's what firing rocket engines was like, though that was not as scary. BTW, I never did get over the fact that we were doing something very special and exciting.

We were operating out of blockhouse with 18'' thick reinforced concrete walls mostly underground. The sound was naturally muffled down considerably, although it was interesting to watch the oscillographs bounce around on their shock mounts during booster firings.

The routine part I mentioned earlier happened principally due to our excellent safety record. The only exciting incident I was aware of occurred prior to my employment there, when an engine failure on the engine test stand damaged the fuel control valve, which resulted in the test stand burning down while the folks in that blockhouse held on with bated breath and crossed fingers, hoping it wouldn't collapse on them and block their exit. Fortunately, it didn't, and they lived to test another day

Another incident happened when a test stand mechanic stepped into a pool of LOX while searching for a missing thermocouple after a test. Fortunately (??) he only lost both legs below the knees It could have been much worse. They found out later that dead grass, leaves and etc would float on discarded LOX and appear as if it was regular ground. I have seen the same thing with water puddles back in Tenn. when I was younger.

More later. Joel

Thanks Joel

"BTW, I never did get over the fact that we were doing something very special and exciting."

Yep, I agree - those were special times and some awesome events.

Saturn and Apollo

OK Pete, a little more of what I think you were really looking for. Part 1 was setting the background, now we'll get more to the meat of the subject.

First, I think most pilots are aware of the danger of flying close to rocket launches due to the acoustic pressures they generate. I was always curious about that, so I opened a back door to the blockhouse once to experience this during a static engine test. I would describe it as a deep, powerful rumble rather than the sharp crackle in some afterburners. The interesting thing was that when the engine shut down, I nearly fell out of the door. Apparently I had been leaning against the pressure waves without realizing it.

Along the same line, a co-worker reported that one of our guards (yes, we had gated communities back then too) reported that he noticed a flock of sparrows land
in a tree next to the guard shack immediately before another engine test. After the test was over, he noticed that every one of them were lying dead under the tree. So yes, they can put out some very powerful acoustic waves. Also, these engines only produced 188k lbs of thrust, quite modest by today's rockets.

Next, the most interesting event occurred during the first firing of a Saturn V engine (F1??). The control room was filled with people monitoring strip-chart recorders while holding cut button switches in case of ANY out of bounds conditions. The countdown continued normally down to "Ignition", but nothing happened! Absolute quiet on our recorders. At t+3 seconds everyone was looking around wondering what was happening, when about t+3.8seconds that monster (1.5M lbs of thrust) came to life. No doubt about that. That monster knew how to rumble, and did!
IIRC, without any serious anomalies. Not bad for a first firing on both a new engine and newly modified test stand.

We found out later that the turbo-pumps on that engine were so large that they required about 3.75 seconds to spool up sufficiently to light the engine.

Now for the scariest moments, that happened when we ran the first LH2 tests on some modified LO2 lines, tanks, valves, etc. I was monitoring several LH2 leak detectors in the blockhouse while several of my friends were monitoring the test outdoors on a dark night. I was getting several large leak indications, and they couldn't find the leaks. This was a potentially hazardous operation, and my concern for my co-workers safety mirrored the leak level indications and delays in finding and stopping the leaks.

Fortunately, they were finally able to locate and repair all the leaks without any misfortune. O what a relief that was! Turns out, the leaks were caused by the extreme low temperature of the LH2 had shrunk the gaskets which worked fine for LO2. Secondly, the leaks were extremely difficult to spot in the dark. Truly, all's well that ends well.

PS: For the curious, LH2= liquid hydrogen and LO2=liquid oxygen.

More later, Joel

I'm reading!

Good stuff Joel. Please keep sharing. Amazing power in those beasts!