Happy birthday to my grandson Shawn, 11 today. I understand his Uncle Matt bought him a fishing pole and that they planned to go fishing today.
My work week was very interesting, as we at Maintenance were hosting contractors associated with a multi-agency communications installation up in the mountains of the park, where there are no roads. On Monday, two helicopters flew in and used the maintenance yard as a landing pad. Just before they got there, one of our guys went all around the yard with a street sweeper, but there was still enough dust to create quite a mess. I was trapped in the auto shop where I had gone to deliver a message, and my office is on the other side of the yard, with the door wide open. Although my boss and the park superintendent were just outside the door, neither of them thought to close it, so I had sand all over everything when I got back.
Over the rest of the week, we got used to the comings and goings, and I even worked through the take-offs and landings without getting up to close the door. At one point I realized how lucky I was to be doing office work in an environment where I could keep the outer door wide open and get the fresh air. My door faces north, so until 1:00 p.m. or so, it's in shade and the air currents are cool. After that, when the air conditioner comes on, I have to shut the door, but the guys aren't used to keeping it shut so I get my exercise getting up to close it after them.
They had two helicopters because one was to transport people, and the other was for cargo. I have some pictures for Facebook, but I'll say here that it was fun watching them stuff four big guys in the back seat of the 'copter, with one hanging half out the door as they took off, at least on the side I could see from my door. That first day they made three or four trips to take all the men up, and then the big helicopter started ferrying the cargo up, which took the rest of the day. Just before I left for the day, they lifted the biggest load of all--the building into which the communications gear was installed over the rest of the week. I got a chance to talk to the mechanic when he came into the office to borrow the copy machine, and found out some interesting stuff about the cargo ship.
First, it is the only helicopter in existence that can lift more than its own weight. It weighs 5200 pounds dry, carries 1000 pounds of fuel, and can lift 6000 pounds of cargo. The cargo is lifted in baskets (not the technical term, lol) or is just hooked onto the long tow rope (also not the technical term). It has two rotors near the front of the cabin, angled in opposite directions from each other, about 30 degrees off perpendicular in relationship to the body of the aircraft. They rotate in opposite directions, too, which stabilizes the craft and makes a tail rotor unnecessary. That's important because it's what makes it possible for the craft to lift more than its own weight. A tail rotor, the mechanic told me, takes up to 30% of the engine's production. I asked him if there were others like it, because I hadn't seen any. Other than the military ones that have rotors on each end of a long tube-like cabin. This is the only one that looks the way it does that's manufactured here in the US. He said there was a predecessor from the same company that had room for passengers, and that the Russians have a knockoff of this one and a different one whose rotors are one on top of the other. I asked him what happens if the blades of the rotors get out of synch and hit each other, and he said that's impossible from a mechanical point of view, but that inexperienced pilots sometimes whack one against the other because they are flexing up and down. That doesn't cause the craft to wreck, as one might expect, but the blades do have to be replaced, to the tune of $400,000. The mechanic invited me to take a closer look, and I said I wanted a ride. That's when he pointed out something I hadn't realized before...there's only room for the one pilot. He said they'd either have to duct-tape me to the side or put me on the pilot's lap--which I politely declined.
On the third day they were there, the park superintendent pulled some strings and they all went out into the desert back-country to locate a wrecked car that had been out there for about twenty years. Since it's a designated wilderness area, they hadn't been able to go in after it with a truck when it was discovered, so it was just out there slowly decomposing. The Resources Management person who had the coordinates wasn't available, so my boss, who had found it in the first place, said, "Take me up in the helicopter, I'll take you right to it." Anything to get a ride, lol. Less than half an hour later, they were back, the old wreck swinging beneath the cargo 'copter. That caused quite a buzz around the park.
In a funny side-note, I was asked to track down a recycling company that would take the car, and find out what documentation they needed to accept it. The Hispanic-accented gentleman I spoke to said, "Just a title, that's all we need." When I explained where we got the car, he said he would have to check with the company that would buy the car from them. The word came back that we could just write a letter on NPS letterhead explaining the circumstances. I was envisioning having to get a salvage title from the state, so it was simpler than we thought.
It seemed too quiet on Friday, after all the extra people and the helicopters left Thursday evening. At least I finally got the trailer out from in front of my window. My boss had told the contractors to park one of their trailers in front of it to be sure they didn't throw a rock through it on take-off, especially when they lifted the communications building. All of this was taking place in a yard that is probably just a bit smaller than a football field. I got used to walking between the helicopters, even when one of them was running, but believe me, I gave the back end a wide berth.
Next week I may get the chance to help another division. The Admin Officer has said maybe Resource Management, and my boss said maybe Law Enforcement. The only thing I can say for certain is that I've done just about everything I can do at Maintenance, clearing backlogs and doing inventories. There's not enough day-to-day work to keep me busy, as I can't do the most critical thing. That's the data entry to a massive database management system that keeps track of everything maintenance-related in the park. It requires a week of training to get into it, which they don't give to temp hires, so they won't let me do that.
Next weekend may be the beginning of a vacation, so I may not be back to blog for a couple of weeks...but I will be back!
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