COVER STORY
DISASSEMBLY Once onsite, the team prepared for disassembly by pulling fairings and access panels as needed. The goal was to approach it not as a salvage operation, but as a disassembly — every effort was taken not to damage any parts or components. The engines were pulled. Then
Second engine being placed on tires after removal
the aircraft could not be flown to Birmingham on a ferry flight — it would need to be disassembled and transported. A team was assembled to do the job. It included Priest, Patrick Delahoussaye, president of Pioneer Aviation Management, Neal Phillips and Robert Vandrell. Priest had experience on JT15D
engines, so his focus was on engine removal and assisting others as needed.
“I’m in the winter years of my
career in aviation,” Delahoussaye shares. “This is something that I had never done in my 59-year career. Unfortunately, in December of last year, I had surgery on both my hands, so the ability for me to turn wrenches or screwdrivers was out of the question. But Marlin encouraged me to help the team saying we need a scribe and photographer. And we needed someone to bag the bolts. There were a lot of things that went with the job that I could do. And of
course, I’m a hands-on guy, so I ended up doing things that I shouldn’t have. I did do some work with wrenches, but that’s just my nature!” The youngest member of the team
was Vandrell. He is a former Marine technician that had done jobs like this before, so he was appointed team leader.
Phillips, the fourth team member, is a master technician on four different aircraft platforms. Each member brought different strengths to the team.
An additional team member helped
for a day. “My eldest son Matthew, who obviously grew up surrounded by aviation as a child, has a special place in his heart for our industry. He owns a Cessna 182. He is in commercial real estate in Austin, TX, and when he found out we were doing this, he drove up for the day and helped us. He really worked hard, and it was nice working alongside him!”
the aircraft was jacked up. The main landing gear assemblies were removed, the nose gear was manually retracted, and the gear doors were locked. All flight controls were removed, and the horizontal and vertical stabilizers were removed. Shoring was placed under the fuselage. The wing attach bolts were removed as straps were placed on the wings and supported by a forklift to take pressure off the bolts. The wings were then removed. Once the wings were off, the fuselage was lifted using straps and a forklift to remove the shoring, which needed to be transported back with the components to Alabama. The fuselage was then lowered onto tires on the hangar floor. The fuselage and wings were transferred to Alabama on a flat bed. All the other components were transported in a moving truck. Only three small wire bundles needed to be cut — one in each wing and one in the vertical stabilizer. Everything else was disassembled without damage. “We were told early on that it would be a three- or four-week job to take it apart,” Delahoussaye shares. “We did the complete takedown in a day and a half — while cutting only three wire bundles.” The airport manager where the school is located provided hangar space at the airport to store all the components until the school has an opportunity to place them as needed.
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DOMmagazine.com | july 2019
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