From Scrapyard to Simulator

The Captain's instruments are up and running and we got some flying in this morning, with low-viz circuits at Bremen. A 22" monitor will fit behind the panel, so I'm toying with the idea of making the F/O's side mechanical, and using displayed instruments on the Captain's side. That will allow me to fit an HSI, RMI, TCAS and fill that big hole with a Weather Radar. Unfortunately I do need to go spend money some time soon and get a couple of DME displays. Projectors first though!

Winter has arrived, and there have been a few flurries of snow, driving today has been "interesting"! The garage (sorry hangar) roof should be on before Christmas, but we won't be ready to move in until the second half of January, so there's not been any major movement on the cockpit shell. I got my hands on a few more F27 bits this week, notably a main instrument panel fitted with a set of Simkits instruments and overhead panels. The original owner had done little to strip out the original wiring, so I spent a couple of hours today cleaning up the back of the main panel and removing wiring and static tubes. The whole assembly is now a few kilos lighter and much easier to work with. For anyone planning a similar job get a decent socket and wrench set, they were worth their weight in gold today.



I'm setting up a test rig to finish off the software side of things and start to tie in the hardware, over the next couple of days I'd like to get the Captain's instruments working and at least then we can get flying.



Ironic that these bits are from G-CEXD, a Channel Express Mk600, as 'XD and 'OB were rivals on the Royal Mail Skynet network. A few years ago I'd cuss at engineers not getting 'OB or her sister aircraft serviceable on time. Now having spent a few hours working at dismantling a cockpit all I can say is "respect"; at least I've got space to work in and I'm not out in the snow and cold.

The "heavy-engineering" process is well underway, and the cockpit has been under sustained attack by cutting disc today.

When 'OB was scrapped the cut was made about two inches in the wrong place which deformed the avionics bay on the starboard side. So we decided to remove the bay entirely and trim back closer to the cockpit bulkhead. The end result is really good, it's cleaner and makes the whole cockpit section look much shorter, even though only a foot-wide strip has been taken off the fuselage.

Once the back is tidied up the frame will be visible, which looks neat and Derrick is fabricating an aluminium back-plate to the circuit breaker panel. The remaining part of the cargo door mechanism is now gone too, I'm surprised just how light the two-foot long screw-jack actually is. In fact the whole structure itself is very light and its strength really comes from how the various components are combined. Most people who've seen the cockpit are questioning their faith in aircraft construction when they see just how relatively flimsy it is, especially the outer skin. What do weigh a tonne are all the copper wiring looms which we are removing by the metre. Someone no doubt put a lot of love and care into the wiring when 'OB was built, and we're just ripping it out in seconds.

The battery brackets on the forward bulkhead are also removed leaving just a few sections of pneumatic pipe to go and the front end will be ready for painting in due course. The tubing and wheels are ready for fabrication of the trolley and once that's in place the "major" jobs are done and it'll be on to cosmetic tasks, before giving the whole thing a good clean inside and out.

The other "heavy engineering" is building the garage. The foundations are in place, but Ireland is going through a really wet spell, 3 month's rain has fallen just a couple of weeks, so the damp course, radon shield and base are waiting for a few days of forecasted dry weather. At least that's the only inconvenience we have here, unlike the folks out west along the Shannon under a few feet of flooding.



Looks like a moat for a mini-castle with a couple of feet of water in the excavations 2 weeks ago.



At least it's safe again for the kids out in the back. The fog hasn't cleared all day. Once we get a couple of days dry weather the base can be finished, and work above ground should be less weather dependent.

Today was the first chance I had to really clamber around the cockpit and inspect all the nooks and crannies in the avionics bay and underneath the cockpit floor. This beast is just full of copper wire and cable. It's great to see the original Fokker manufacturer's plate by the cockpit door along with the inspection sign-off stamps, a nice piece of history.

Discussed a plan with Derrick for cutting and triming back one fuselage frame and then how we fit a "trolley" so the cockpit is mobile. The VHF antenna needs removing from the roof (temporarily) along with the battery mounting boxes on the forward bulkhead The last major structural item will be removing the cargo door screw-jack mechanism which is at head height and will avoid the need to wear a safety helmet!



Once that's done we can start to do some clean-up work and plan where to hook-up potentiometers to the control runs for the flight controls. Engine controls and trims can run directly off the quadrant (yes I did sit for a few minutes and play with the throttle and fuel levers!) and the nosewheel steering linkage runs straight out to the forward bulkhead.

I'm looking forward to next weekend.

It's been an "interesting" weekend on a two-day mission to collect the cockpit, involving an 874 mile round trip which would have been impossible without the help of Alan, who's more used to recovering cars, but suggested that he had a 4x4 and trailer which were perfect for this job.

The first storms of the winter saw a number of ferry crossings cancelled, so a last-minute change of plan meant an early morning start to get the 08:15 departure from Dublin Port. It's not often that I see 5am on the clock on a Sunday! We got down to Southend at 7:30pm and then struggled to find anywhere open to eat. I'm sure Southend is a buzzing seaside town in the summer, but I wouldn't recommend a visit on a Sunday night in November. Ah well, finally found that most traditional of English eateries, a Curry House.

Early start again Monday to begin loading at 07:30. Physically forking the cockpit onto the trailer in the end was relatively easy; removing and replacing the tailgate, shoring and strapping were the time-consuming bits.Using a large tarpaulin to cover the whole cockpit was the best decision of the day - I'm sure it was the reason we managed to avoid being stopped by police the entire way from Southend to Holyhead.



Terry skillfully maneuvering the forklift, under Alan's guidance

We rolled out of Southend at 11:15. Onto the M25 westbound and just as we get to the roadworks and no hard-shoulder there's a loud "bang". Alan and I exchange a look of surprise and start staring intently in the mirrors. There's still a tonne of metal behind us, so the nightmare scenario of emergency services freeing a cockpit embedded in a coach whilst trying to figure out how 90% of the aircraft completely disintegrated hadn't happened. We take it easy before the forward strap starts slipping down the windshield and the tarpaulin begins to flap like Dumbo's ears. We make it to South Mimms services where it becomes clear one of the straps has snapped completely. Getting priorities right called for lunch first, and following some adjustments and re-tightening 'OB was rock solid on the trailer with no danger of it getting airborne for one last time.

After 320 miles on the road we finally arrived in Holyhead at 8:30pm. Customs of course stopped us - "lads you know why we've pulled you over.....we're all trying to guess what it is". OK so none of them guessed at "bit of an aeroplane", half a boat was their final team answer, but once they were convinced it wasn't stolen (what kind of nutter would steal an aircraft with no fuselage, wings or engines anyway?) it was onto the ferry.



Tech-stop at Watford Gap and 'OB's final international departure courtesy of Stena Line

Three and a half hours later, after ploughing through 2 metre swells we docked at Dublin Port at 00:45 and I was relieved to see the adjacent vehicles on the car deck hadn't been crushed by a toppled F27. Final short leg home then after driving through a deserted north Dublin. She's now in the yard ready to be put on a trolley before the real hard work starts.

I just unearthed some old BAC Express papers, here's a scan of the 1st page of a company newsletter from 1996 when the F27 was introduced to the fleet, with a copy of the original livery drawing - no fancy graphics programs in those days, just a combination of photocopy and felt-tip pen. I also found a datasheet detailing the aircraft specs for customers. Right-click on either image to see a larger version.

Well the 21st October 2009 is a day of mixed emotion. It's sad to see an old aeroplane being torn apart, but exciting that I'll soon have my hands on the cockpit. These photos may be distressing to aviation enthusiasts with a nervous disposition, but for the record here's G-BVOB being "dismantled".