Participants:
Series Code: OTG
Program Code: OTG000014
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00:19 One of the things that we do here administratively
00:21 probably the most important thing that we do 00:24 at Adventist World Aviation located here in West Allis 00:27 just outside Milwaukee Wisconsin our corporate headquarters 00:31 is to assure the safely of our missionaries and pilots. 00:35 Safety - not enough can be said about safety 00:40 You know, You really only have one chance to do things right. 00:45 In real life there is no rewind button, or pause and hit reset. 00:51 Among the many things that we do here administratively is to 00:55 assure the safety of our pilots and missionaries, our students 00:58 as well as our staff that train our students in our 01:01 three schools that we have training in aviation. 01:05 We are very pleased to say that our safety is unmatched. 01:11 The only way that that can be done is assuring that all 01:15 the i-s are dotted, all the t-s are crossed. 01:18 Administratively that means a lot, because FAA requirements 01:24 very stringent, but they are stringent for a reason. 01:27 They want to make sure that there is no possibility of error 01:33 in human effort. We want to do everything that we can humanly 01:37 possible to make sure that our aircraft are absolutely safe. 01:42 Safety in aviation is an absolute necessity. 01:46 One of the ways safety is enforced is by having every 01:50 aircraft meet FAA regulations and maintenance requirements. 01:56 Every airplane must be routinely inspected and maintained 01:59 to be considered air worthy. 02:01 Adventist World Aviation holds it's entire fleet of aircraft 02:05 up to these safely standards. 02:07 Every plane must meet the Federal Aviation Administration 02:11 flight regulations; even those who fly in the jungles 02:15 where the FAA has no jurisdiction. 02:18 Safety of our pilots and passengers is paramount, 02:22 and Adventist World Aviation takes great effort to make sure 02:26 each aircraft meets safety standards. 02:29 Each aircraft can fly a certain number of hours before it 02:32 reaches TBO, meaning time before overhaul. 02:37 Once the plane has reached TBO, it is taken out of service 02:42 and brought back to our headquarters 02:44 maintenance facility, located in Wisconsin 02:47 to be refurbished and rebuilt. 02:49 TBO is time before overhaul - OK 02:52 If you start with a freshly overhauled engine, 02:56 you are going to start with zero time. 02:58 Most engines will give you up to 2,000 hours of operation 03:04 before TBO. 03:06 Currently, two of Adventist World Aviation's aircraft are 03:10 up against TBO. 03:12 In order to follow safety protocol, every plane must be 03:16 taken back to the States and undergo a complete rebuild. 03:19 The first plane that needs work is a Cessna 182. 03:24 Known as three-eight-x-ray. That's the aircraft's name. 03:29 Once completed it will be placed in the mission field of Guyana 03:34 to fly medical evacuations from the jungles. 03:36 AWA has many talented mechanics that come together 03:41 to refurbish projects. 03:44 Today, Pastor Ric Swaningson is going to the airport to pick up 03:48 2 very talented mechanics that are flying in to work on getting 03:53 this plane back to the mission field as quickly as possible. 03:58 OK, it's time to do some maintenance. We are on our way 04:02 to the Milwaukee airport here. MKE to pick up Luis Acosta 04:09 and Vonzell Chancy. Both of them are coming up. We are going to 04:12 working on the number 8838 x-ray, which is a 182, 04:19 that's scheduled to go to Guyana in replacement of right now 04:29 of our Pathfinder plane. The Pathfinder plane has come back 04:34 from Guyana, after serving approximately 2,500 hours 04:40 of service over there. And so about every 2,000 to 2,500 hours 04:45 our airplanes need to come back. Even with good facilities 04:50 on location it is very difficult to do a refurbishment 04:52 on location. Pretty much the aircraft needs to come back 04:56 to the United States here for refurbishment. 05:01 What's important to us, is that we have well maintained aircraft 05:08 that we don't have the potential for structural or engine failure 05:14 so maintenance is just the top priority. 05:20 Both mechanics have arrived as Rick pulls into the airport. 05:24 We're here in Sullivan Wisconsin this week to work on aircraft. 05:29 Not only am I a pastor, but I am also a pilot as well. 05:31 The safety of aircraft is extremely important to me. 05:35 But it's equally more important to our missionaries, 05:38 who are in the field, that have no maintenance facilities 05:41 to speak of, where they are located at. Especially in Guyana 05:45 Vonzell Chancy is here, training as well as working 05:48 on an aircraft that we are planning to deploy here 05:52 very shortly to Guyana. But in order to deploy it, 05:55 it has to be completed. And we are sitting here 05:58 with an aircraft that's in many pieces because of the additional 06:01 maintenance that was required. We called up experts. 06:04 Experts from Texas. Luis Acosta is here with us. 06:07 And Luis Acosta will be with us for the next week. 06:09 He is training as well as making sure that the aircraft is 06:13 in absolute tip-top shape. 06:15 Frank Smith, who is also a mechanic and IA - 06:19 Inspection Authority mechanic is working here with us. 06:21 We are all working furiously this week to get as much work 06:24 as we possibly can get done. To deploy not only a safe aircraft, 06:28 but a reliable aircraft in Guyana. 06:30 Vonzell is currently in the process of becoming an AWA 06:34 missionary pilot for Guyana. 06:37 The plane he will be working on the next couple of days, 06:41 will be the plane that he will be flying in the mission field. 06:44 So by the time it gets to the field, he will know the ins 06:48 and outs of this particular aircraft. 07:53 In order to be extra thorough and be as safe as possible, 07:57 the entire plane is stripped of all its parts, so it can be 08:02 meticulously examined for any cracks, corrosion or damage. 08:07 Every inch of the plane must be inspected and reviewed 08:11 Safety is paramount, so this step is time consuming, 08:16 but it is proven to be worth the time it takes to do it right. 08:54 Corrosion is a big challenge in the mission field. 08:57 The humidity and salt air of the area where the missionaries fly 09:01 can be especially harmful to the aircraft's frame 09:05 and metal surfaces. 09:06 Corrosion in South America is a serious problem. 09:16 In the tropics of Guyana, in the jungle, where the humidity 09:20 is almost always at, or near a 100%. And the rainfall is 09:27 just consistent, there is just no release and relief 09:31 from the wet humid climate. 09:38 Special care must be taken for corrosion protection. 09:44 Corrosion is caused by oxygen and moisture, salt in the air, 09:49 not necessarily salt in the air, but minerals of course. 09:53 Dirt can also add to corrosion. 10:33 On a previous inspection, made a shocking discovery on 10:37 the Cessna 182, where corrosion had already taken it's toll. 10:42 It is a perfect example of why detailed inspections 10:46 are so vitally important. 10:49 This is a forward wing attachment fitting 10:54 Your wing actually fits in here in this channel right here 11:01 There is a bolt that goes through and we have probably 11:07 about 30 to 40 thousandths of the metal damage right here. 11:13 from corrosion. And this is definitely a serious problem 11:19 because it is right there on the radius, right there which can 11:23 cause fatigue, and you can probably start a crack 11:28 right here in this area right here the wing attachment. 11:48 This area right here is very difficult to inspect during 11:54 your routine maintenance due to the fact that your wing 12:00 fits in here and this area here is not readily accessible 12:05 for inspection. So this in it self is pointing to us mechanics 12:12 to be able to at least look in this area as best as we can. 12:17 for any - any size of corrosion. 12:20 One of the reasons that we go through? taking our 12:24 airplanes farther apart than just your routine maintenance 12:28 is to be able to detect problems such as these right here. 12:31 And that way we can know that we have a airworthy aircraft 12:37 and we know that every time the pilot gets into the airplane 12:41 with his passengers, that airplane is very safe. 12:44 This piece is what holds the wings on to the airplane. 12:48 Had this plane not been stripped down and completely 12:52 disassembled, the corrosion might not have been detected 12:56 in a route inspection. 12:58 The corrosion of this piece is very dangerous and puts this 13:03 plane's pilot and its passengers at high risk. 13:07 Finding this piece alone shows how invaluable these aircraft 13:12 refurbishments really are. 13:14 Vonzell is currently working on stripping the old paint off the 13:18 plane to get down to the base metal frame. 13:21 We are standing here looking at Vonzell. 13:24 Vonzell tell us what you are doing, man 14:58 Detail inspection of an aircraft is always a plus you know. 15:02 When we conduct these detail inspections, we are going to 15:08 be able to find cracks, or any damage that is hidden underneath 15:12 the paint. Before putting a new paint job on the airplane, we 15:17 we were able to strip the complete aircraft and inspect 15:22 the airframe for any damage and be able to find damages, 15:26 such as cracks, dents, so forth 15:29 and perform the proper repairs on them. 15:32 Once the old paint is removed, the plane's parts were examined, 15:36 Frank Smith begins spraying the frame 15:38 with a corrosion resistant primer. 16:10 This aircraft is going to Guyana we have to take extra measures 16:14 to make sure that there is extra corrosion proofing going on. 16:17 that any small detail is not overlooked. 16:21 Even the smallest crack in a piece of metal 16:26 must not be overlooked. 16:27 What we are doing here, is making sure, that every detail 16:32 is covered, that safety abounds. 16:43 The next stage the mechanics focus on is re-skinning the 16:47 the horizontal stabilizer. Now that's the horizontal piece 16:52 that sits on the tail of the aircraft. 16:54 This is the horizontal stabilizer of the 182, 16:59 or project airplane right here is Sullivan Wisconsin 17:05 We've actually been able to rivet the other side of the skin 17:09 the bottom side. Now we're working on the top side 17:12 right now. Trying to get all these rivets done, so that we 17:18 can finalize this horizontal stabilizer and be done with it. 17:24 install it on the aircraft. 17:25 New sheets of metal need to be fastened to the stabilizer frame 17:30 This work is very time consuming and problematic. 17:34 One by one, each rivet is set in place. It takes at least 17:39 2 people to do this tedious work 17:42 We have certainly been running against some challenges. 17:46 Part of it is accessibility to the rivet 17:51 is very, very difficult. We are going to have to actually 17:55 kind of peel the skin back this way right here? 17:58 and try to rivet some of the holes through small, 18:03 very small openings right here. So that is the challenge that 18:06 we are going to be running across right now. 18:10 Finally after 2 days of very hard work, 18:13 the horizontal stabilizer is complete. 18:18 These skins are fastened to the structure by means of rivets. 18:26 I am pointing to all the lengths of the rivets right here 18:29 We had to install all of these fasteners right here. 18:35 Luis and Frank have done an exceptional job and they are 18:39 both very proud of the finished product. 18:42 Everything turned out to be pretty good. 18:45 It actually took us just over two days, which is really good 18:49 for this type of work, that we just performed. 18:55 Vonzell Chancy is preparing to become an AWA mission pilot 18:59 in Guyana. He is both a pilot and a mechanic. 19:03 Vonzell has the wonderful opportunity to work 19:06 on the aircraft he will be flying, 19:08 an advantage most pilots do not have. 19:11 Here in Wisconsin, he is helping to rebuild the Cessna 182. 19:15 By the time he gets to Guyana, he will know 19:19 every inch of this aircraft. 19:20 Vonzell also takes the opportunity to learn from his 19:25 highly skilled peers, Frank and Luis. 19:28 Anything they can teach him here 19:31 will greatly assist him once he is in Guyana. 19:34 With this experience and knowledge he is gaining, he can 19:39 do repairs and maintenance on the plane in Guyana. 19:42 This will help eliminate costs and down time of having to 19:45 send the plane back to the United States 19:49 for maintenance and repairs. 19:51 Today we are taking a break from the actual maintenance 19:55 part of it, so that Luis, who is a master mechanic, so is Frank 19:59 They are showing me some of the procedures of what we would do 20:06 in order to continue our inspection. 20:08 There are some airworthiness directives. Some things that 20:13 need to be checked to make sure that we complying with Federal 20:17 Aviation requirements on these aircrafts, se we are taking 20:20 some time right now and going over those things. 20:23 The one advantage that we have is that Luis Acosta is 20:30 from Central America. He knows the environment 20:33 where we are going, where this plane is going to Guyana. 20:38 He is familiar with that, plus he has years of experience 20:41 as an airplane mechanic. Very valuable resource for training, 20:48 as we prepare to go down to Guyana. 20:53 The materials that we have here, the tools. We don't have these 20:56 tools in Guyana. So the opportunity to use what we have 21:01 right now to prepare for the trip to Guyana. 21:04 Prepare to go down and work is valuable. Prepares me for the 21:12 work that needs to be done down there. So I need to take 21:16 advantage of this and this is what Luis Acosta and I are doing 21:19 right now. Working to prepare for that journey to Guyana 21:25 Adventist World Aviation is passionate about involving 21:30 youth in our projects. 21:32 The opportunity to teach young people is not lost 21:35 on this project. 21:36 Luis is very pleased to be working with Nate today 21:40 and mentoring him. He enjoys the opportunity 21:43 to share his knowledge and encourages the young man 21:47 to pursue his dreams in aviation. 21:51 Here at Adventist World Aviation Sullivan maintenance facility 21:54 we try to bring master mechanics in here to offer apprenticeship 21:57 levels for our youth. Today we have Nate with us. 22:04 Nate is working with Luis Acosta who works out of Texas. 22:10 Nate is a sharp young man, he's been working with us 22:14 volunteering for us for the last probably year, year and a half, 22:18 or so. He was interested in what we did. So we are excited to be 22:25 able to offer apprenticeship youth programs 22:30 for our young people. It's exciting to see young people 22:36 like Nate. Showing interest in aviation. 22:39 Luis and Nate spend the day working on the airplane's wings. 22:45 As they work on the wings, Luis is thorough and decided to 22:50 check the fuel tanks. 22:51 To get an inside view of the tanks, he uses a borescope. 22:56 The borescope proved to be quite helpful as they were able 23:01 to detect a problem inside the fuel tank. 23:04 The borescope is a tool pretty much what the doctors use 23:07 They use it on the patients to be able to use - they don't 23:11 have to actually perform surgery so they go in with a borescope 23:15 It is a small tube right here and you can go into areas 23:21 You have it connected to your computer and you can get a full 23:25 view of what is inside in that area. In this case we are 23:29 looking inside the tank all the way to the interconnects to see 23:34 if they had been collapsed from the hose fittings. 23:39 The interconnects are underneath this wing skin right here. 23:44 There are 3 connections right there. 2 on the bottom, 23:47 and 1 on the top. A few minutes ago we did a 23:52 borescope inspection. We went into the fuel tank opening 23:56 right here and we looked inside where the connection points are 24:02 and we found that one of the interconnects was collapsed. 24:06 That could cause a problem in the future if we were to fuel up 24:11 the tanks, we would definitely have a leak in that area. 24:14 So what we are going to be doing in the next couple of days since 24:19 the wing is already off and since removal of the tanks 24:24 of this particular aircraft, this particular installation 24:30 requires the wing to be off the airplane. We are going to take 24:33 advantage and access the wing tanks so we can perform the 24:38 appropriate repairs of the interconnect lines over there. 24:42 OK, here is the auxiliary tank we took out, and here is 24:47 the top of it. You can see these fittings. There are 3 hoses 24:51 that went to the other tank. One, two, three. 24:54 This is the one that was leaking right here. You can see how 24:58 it's all caved in. 25:00 See that? 25:04 Here is the bay that the tank goes in, that is what we are 25:06 up against. And than there is this hose here. That goes into 25:09 the other tank. We had to cut this hose here. 25:13 That has to be replaced. But how do you get in there? 25:17 You can see the hose clamp down in there, way in the back. 25:20 Somebody got a hose clamp in there somehow, but underneath 25:25 there is no access panel, to tighten the hose clamp, 25:29 or anything. This is it. You got to do it from here. 25:31 This detailed inspection of the plane literally requires 25:35 examination of every inch of the plane. 25:38 Once it's finished, there will be no doubt that this plane 25:41 will be one of the safest aircraft to fly. 25:45 We were able to accomplish much of the airplane. We were able to 25:49 primer and clean the other floor area of the Cessna 182. 25:55 We were able to completely paint strip and remove any corrosion 26:00 on the wings, both wings. We were able to paint strip 26:04 all the way to here Finally on the last two days 26:07 we were working, as you can notice these tail feathers are 26:13 out of the airplane and they were in a million pieces 26:18 If you would just follow me over here we've been working on the 26:26 horizontal stabilizer for the last two days. 26:32 This is finally our end product right here. We were finally able 26:39 to get the horizontal stabilizer reskinned right here. 26:45 This is one of the things we do here at Adventist World Aviation 26:49 administratively. Many people wonder where does the 26:53 administrative dollars go? It goes to support the field. 26:59 The hangar supplies, the flying in of mechanics 27:04 with specialty skills. You know. Why don't you use local 27:11 mechanics? Well, local mechanics aren't always available. 27:14 Number 1 and number 2 it is very expensive. Sometimes we have 27:18 highly skilled individuals like Luis Acosta, who has come up 27:21 here from Huston, Texas. He has agreed to come up here. We are 27:25 grateful to have Frank here, he is a very skilled technician 27:28 himself. It takes a cross pollination 27:31 of great work to be able to get the job done. 27:35 The mechanics have been working most diligently 27:37 for over a week now. 27:39 The Cessna 182 has been inspected both inside and out 27:44 and is well on its way towards completion. 27:47 As the week draws to an end, everyone is pleased with the 27:51 amount of progress they were able to make. 27:54 Yes an AnP mechanic's prayer could very well be 27:59 Keep them safe, keep them flying! 28:05 Well it's a rewarding and enjoyable thing to bring 28:07 the airplane into an airworthy condition. 28:09 As Luis explained very clearly 28:16 I am certainly pleased and very thankful for this opportunity 28:21 to be able to work hand in hand with the maintenance 28:26 technicians here at AWA. Here in Wisconsin. 28:30 It has been truly a joy. We had a lot of fun, it's been a lot of 28:36 work, but we had a lot of fun. And certainly looking forward to 28:42 be able to do this again with my fellow team mates here at AWA. 28:47 We want to thank you for watching 28:49 Adventist World Aviation's OFF THE GRID! 28:52 And we pray that you will continue to keep us 28:56 in your prayers on a daily basis! We always need financing 29:01 of course, but without the blessing of the Holy Spirit 29:05 none of this could take place. 29:07 Adventist World Aviation is dependent upon you, 29:13 your prayers, and God And if we can work together 29:17 in that, we can accomplish much. We can reach the seemingly 29:21 unreachable of the world. Reaching the unreached. 29:24 is what Adventist World Aviation is all about. 29:28 If you would like more information about 29:30 Adventist World Aviation, please contact this station. 29:33 Ask them, tell us about Adventist World Aviation, 29:36 or AWA OFF THE GRID 29:39 Thanks for watching, have a great afternoon! |
Revised 2014-12-17