Victor K2 XL231

[Jigsaw]

Thanks once again fpr keeping us updated mate

[Blue_2]

15/04/12 update

Firstly I must share Rich's video of Lindy running her engines a couple of weeks ago. As Rich said the sound quality's not great but you can hear the engines being throttled up and back if you listen carefully:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qmk8XOy ... 78W6OeMVc=

We got in good and early on Sunday, I got some shots of most of the hangars' inmates being moved out to make room for some function this week apparently.













Halifax looks a little lonely...




I did get Lindy basking in the morning sun too though!

We opened up the jet and went up top to make sure my repairs to the RAT scoop the previous week had been successful. I'm pleased to report they did, that seems to be that problem put to bed for good and all.
I had to retire early due to a double footwear malfunction (Basically my boots fell apart, twice!) but Rich tells me that the afternoon was fruitful, with tyres checked and inflated as necessary, and maxaret tracks given a good clean. There was also a very spirited flying visit by an RAF SAR Sea King, always nice to see!
And I've a nice messy job to look forward to next week...

[Xplumberlives]

Great photo report Blue, always nice when an oportunity presents itself!

Looking forward to finding out what your "MESSY" job will turn out to be!

[Dan4th]

YIKES!!!!!!!!

Looks like a Lawn Sale

Liked the vid, too, but we All Want MORE!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the report as well........

I just wish ALL the people who read and look
at your posts would take the time to say: THANKS!

Danf.

[Richw_82]

Its like a Cold War UK re-enactment! Lovely to see so many of them outdoors in the good weather. It would be nice to see the Halifax outside too; it would make for an excellent 'generations' photo parked next to Lindy.

[Sploosher]

Its like a Cold War UK re-enactment! Lovely to see so many of them outdoors in the good weather. It would be nice to see the Halifax outside too; it would make for an excellent 'generations' photo parked next to Lindy.

That sounds like a good idea to me Rich.........

[Blue_2]

It has been mooted, possibly as a nightshoot subject for some time in the future.

[Dan4th]

I'd say a photog in a chopper is
definitely called for if the meetup
ever occurs

Danf.

[MOD]

Thanks for the updates Graham and the XL231 blog makes for great reading.

Ian

[Blue_2]

No worries, I like to spread the word about what we're up to with our jet. She's something special after all... I'll pass on your comments about the blog to those responsible!

[Blue_2]

22/04/2012 update
Well, what a filthy day it was yesterday! Despite which we got our jobs done on the jet. We'd decided to drop the port aileron's pfcu door as there was evidence of oil leakage. While this is par for the course for Lindy as the seals have dried up a bit due to lack of use, we wanted to be sure there was nothing more sinister causing the leak. We got the door down quite easily, as the fixings had been well greased last time the door was dropped:


And Rich looks all proud he's found the pfcu!

We gave the inside of the door and the sightglasses for the reservoirs a good clean.

The hyd oil that had gathered on here had gone nice and sticky, so pllenty of old fuel was brushed on and left to break the oil up a bit while we went for lunch and to hide from the rain. It's seen above after cleaning off.
After lunch we put ground power on and Andre exercised the pfcu while we kept a close eye for leaks.
Aileron up:

Aileron down

We couldn't see any major leaks, so gave the fixings some more fresh grease and closed the door back up. For the first time in living memory the reservoir indicators can be seen through the sightglasses!

So next week's job will be to do the same job on the starboard side, and top up the fluids in both aileron pfcu's. The week after the team will be at Brunty, so the tail pfcu's will have to wait till the week after for their turn for some tlc.

And yes, as I predicted it was a messy job!

[MOD]

A superb photo-report.
Keep'em coming Graham.


ibw

[Xplumberlives]

Thanks Blue!

[Jigsaw]

Brilliant update

[Blue_2]

Cheers chaps!
If anyone's interested Rich took a video of the PFCU in operation, not something you see every day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxS67JfC ... e=youtu.be
I apologise for the frequent intrusions of my mitt with the LED lamp, but I was leak-hunting!

[Blue_2]

30/4/2012 Update. Or not...
Well given the weather I'm not sure why we even turned up! This was the sight that greeted us:

And 2 very damp jets




To quote Mick of the Nimrod team: it was wetter than an otter's pocket!

We got the wheel covers on Lindy seeing as she'd been shuffled during the week, and helped one of the hangar team wrestle with the canopy cover on one of the Tornados. Other than that we mostly hid either in the hangar, the Nimrod, the Naafi or under Lindy. It was best really, as there was little we could do other than watch te water level rise. And rise it did! The tower shot above was taken about 10ish. By 1330 we had this much water



So there was little we could do other than call it a day.



Won't be an update next week as we'll be at Brunty. If you see people in Victor XL231 crew t-shirts wandering about come say Hi!

[Xplumberlives]

Thanks for the northern weather report!

[Blue_2]

I was struggling to provide anything for this week's update to be honest!
I have a little news though, Lindy's owner Andre has been dragged kicking and screaming into the modern age and has done a podcast. It can be found below:

http://www.flyingpodcast.co.uk/

[MOD]

Nice photos Graham of Lake Elvington ...

BTW A very interesting podcast by Andre.

Mod

[Blue_2]

we were hoping there'd be a Catalina passing to give us a few touch and go water landings!

[Blue_2]

13/05/2012 Update
We more than made up for the last 2 weekends' lack of activity on the jet yesterday. As you can see from the previous update we lost a weekend to the weather, and last weekend saw us decamp to Brunty for CWJ day. So yesterday we got on with the lovely, easy, clean job of refilling the oil levels in all the PFCU's*.
(* warning, may not actually lovely, easy or indeed clean).
We opened up the Starboard aileron PFCU bay to give it a good clean out first, similar to what we did a couple of weeks ago on the port side. It was heartening to see very little corrosion present in that bay too!
Then Andre arrived with the risbridgers so we got on with filling the PFCUs. It was obvious to start with the Starboard side, as that was where we were working. While in there we found some classic 80's Pac-Man graffiti!:D

You can also see from this shot what good condition Lindy's internals are in.
Then to the Port aileron, before setting off across site to fetch our giraffe back over to the jet. With Ollie's tractor driving an epic journey if ever there was one!
We needed the giraffe to access the elevator and rudder PFCU's. Fortunately the access panels for these had been well greased previously so they yielded with very little trouble. However one panel was showing signs of major corrosion, so it was removed and Andre took it home for attention. By last night I'm told it'd been stripped back to bare metal ready for primer and paint; who says we don't crack on and get stuff done?!
The elevator PFCU needed very little oil, however one side of the rudder one was quite thirsty and showed signs of leakage; we tweaked a few things, topped it up and ran it for a while and all seemed acceptable however. Again the lack of corrosion in the tailplane and the fin is most heartening to see.
After all this fun we decided while the oil was out the underwing in-flight refuelling pods could do with their oil reservoirs topping and the systems exercising, and exercise carried out successfully with very little mess or drama.
In other news, the pilot's standby artificial horizon now works again after Andre attacked it yesterday.
Apologies for the lack of photos, the camera's having a rest after it was so busy last weekend. (*This flannel translates roughly as I forgot it.)

[Sploosher]

Interesting stuff Rich.......

thanks for the update, must come and visit again soon

[Blue_2]

Methinks you mean Graham! Rich is my gofer on working days. He also passes onto me what's been occurring on the rare days I'm absent from the jet!

[Sploosher]

Methinks you mean Graham! Rich is my gofer on working days. He also passes onto me what's been occurring on the rare days I'm absent from the jet!

oops

its me age.......... and we have had alot on our kinds these last few days as a gully cleaner decided to try and reshape my car ( which was parked outside our house) for me .

[Blue_2]

That was kind of the gully sucker... Hope you sort it soon!