Right angle BNC.
The mechs were doing 9-13 hour torque checks on the driveshafts following an FCF, we had pulled two for high time during the phase. Essentially goes on here is that we track the amount of time that a part is on the aircraft during flight, when it reaches a certain number of hours then we pull the thing off and replace that particular component. Usually this is done in conjunction with phase maintenance and when three or four other parts are due. Typically, these parts are dynamic components such as the driveshafts that make the tail rotor go round, the main, intermediate and tail gearboxes, the spindles and elastomeric bearings that hold the main rotor blades in place. After a component is replaced, there are a slew of small things that have to be done in order to ensure that it remains in a condition resembling (almost exactly,) what it looked like and was torqued to when installed. Hence the 9-13 hour torque checks on the #3 and #4 driveshafts following what was to be the second to last flight of the day.
Part Number (P/N): M39012/20-0503. Manufacturer's Part Number (MFR P/N): 20-01-9313
Ziggy and Jesus are bickering again about the way to torque the joint between the #3 driveshaft, flex pack and the viscous damper connecting it to the #2 driveshaft where it comes out from underneath the turtleback. The flex packs are basically ten thin metal rings about an inch wide with a cut out center designed to suck up jolt of torque transmitted to the driveshafts when the pilots release the rotor brake during startup. On the other hand the viscous dampers are fluid filled bearings that the driveshafts ride in that prevent the buildup of harmonic resonance in the drive train components during flight, the flex packs help with this a bit as well. The #2 driveshaft runs from the connection on the back end of the oil cooler, past the APU on the left and the ECS water/particle separator and air cycle machine on the left. Passing just below and to the right of the two bottles of compressed Halon used for the SH-60B's fire extinguishing system, the #2 driveshaft also runs directly beneath the ELT antenna.
Manufacturer Code (MFR/CAGE): 81836. K-Jack Industries.
Jesus is now yelling at Ziggy quite loudly about sufficient advantage to force the torque wrench over on the #3 connections. As usual Ziggy is standing somewhat mute while the yelling goes on, meaning he says little save for the occasional comment on the sufficient advantage needed to stick the torque wrench up Jesus' ass. Here Jesus is as on many an occasion, is incorrect in this situation and resorting to bullshitting in order to prove that he is right. This is why Mat is called Jesus, because he knows literally everything (or thinks he does,) is never wrong (in his opinion,) and is a generally swell guy (again in his opinion.) This is not doing anything for our Chief's blood pressure who is alternating between staring in abject horror at the sun setting on the other side of Mount Fuji and the argument unfolding near the side of the aircraft. This bird will require one last flight to complete the FCF and we'll be up to hop on the boat on Monday. By the way, we cannot FCF once the sun has set, so the onus is on Ziggy and Jesus to finish the torque checks with enough time remaining for one last flight. The torque wrench again clicks following Ziggy applying it in a manner inconsistent with Jesus' pandering rhetoric, a smug smile and a glance into the red shadows where the driveshaft comes from beneath the cowling follows.
There is a line in the paint on the #2 driveshaft.
A thin band of exposed metal encircling the entire shaft, the paint gone and laying in small hair-like ribbons in the corners of the cowling. Upon closer examination it is revealed that there is a slight v-shape carved into the precision spun aluminum on one of the most fragile and critical portions of the transmission system. There is something there that would cause this damage, hanging in the shadows of the flightline on NAF Atsugi at dusk.
The ELT connector. Right angle BNC. Part Number (P/N): M39012/20-0503 Manufacturer's Part Number (MFR P/N): 20-01-9313, Manufacturer Code (MFR/CAGE): 81836. K-Jack Industries, FEDLOG listed Price $35.18 (USD.)
Cold. Suddenly very cold in the muggy evening air.
Ed and I had removed the antenna for the phase, that was two days ago. It stayed off overnight. One of the 51 guys was supposed to have looked at it for me because I was busy with that THP dupe when Ed finished. Shit. This isn't happening.
Panic, shock, disbelief. Inexorable input of available information and realization of undeniable truth. Impact.
No, no, no. I didn't miss that. There's no fucking way I missed something that obvious, that simple.
The damage to the shaft turned out to be within tolerable limits, so much that it disappeared when covered with a light layer of gull gray primer. The connector was removed. I did this personally and then carefully wrapped the loose coaxial cable into the stringer supporting the turtleback. Next came spot tying the loose end and slack down such that anything short of a hand grenade or a pair of pliers was not going affect the position or proximity of the rigid center conductor to the driveshaft below.
Holy sweet fucking merciful jesus the bird flew. The bird flew and it flew with that connector like that and I fucking missed it. It could have gone through the driveshaft and…shit.
Unrecoverable flight regime due to total loss of tail rotor authority is what the manual says in sterile bold print.
It is dark on the line here in San Diego a year and some months later. The birds are all silent, plugged tight, waiting for Sunday and the inevitable round of inspections that follow a weekend. Hanging from the desk lamp on the corner of my desk is the chain holding a single dog tag wrapped in a half inch by ten inches of olive drab duct tape, a plastic whistle of course sans cork ball. (Cork swells in water, a bad thing if swimming in it and requiring a whistle to attract attention.) The chain is jacketed in green nylon 550 parachute cord with the center pulled out, thus preventing the undesired removal of chest and other short hairs at the back of the neck by the chain itself.
Despite damage to the driveshaft being minimal, the connector faired very poorly. Several major abrasions, serious removal of material from the outside of the connector and a total mutilation of the locking ring necessitated the immediate removal of the part. We ordered another an hour later, and despite my protests about the requirements indicating my qualifications as Collateral Duty Inspector/Quality Assurance Representative for 210 (Avionics) needing to be placed under immediate suspension, they were not. Chief wasn't having any of this that day. I didn't kill the bird, although I came damn close.
Battered and now a mottled grayish purple from light surface corrosion the ELT connector, the Albatross as I have come to regard it, hangs around my neck to this day.