Almost Ran Her Again Today | DT286

Añadido: 2026-05-05

[00:00:04]Hey, how's it going guys?

[00:00:06]I apologize for this one cuz this one is going to be a super short video this weekend. I was looking forward to possibly having a far better video on my hands for you guys, but that just wasn't in the cards cuz if you notice behind me these panels are open because we're chasing an air leak again. We were planning on taking her outside and making a little bit more noise to also verify the fuel leak like we did last week. And now that everything's been final torqued, obviously we want to check it again. So, why not make a little bit more noise with those lovely J79s? Unfortunately, that wasn't in the cards today because well, that that there.

[00:00:56]That valve was we cuz part of the part of the process of getting everything ready to go is you got to put air on the jet. And by that I mean the the high pressure compressed air.

[00:01:10]So, we rolled the high pack over and huh, why is it hissing at us?

[00:01:18]Mhm.

[00:01:20]So, I had to had to take the panels off and figure that out. Now, for those that don't know on F4 Phantoms, a lot of the panels that you see on the fuselage, a lot of the panels are part of the actual aircraft structure. They're structural panels. And in the manuals they're referred to as stress panels because they carry some of the load of the airframe.

[00:01:48]Those right here are very much stress panels. Anytime you take one of those off the jet cannot move from how she sits.

[00:01:59]Cuz otherwise, what can happen is the screw holes will no longer be lined up for that panel and it is a bear of a problem to try to get those lined up.

[00:02:12]Usually involves hooking up a tug and towing the airplane and trying to twist her around in various ways to try to line up the screw holes and you get screws in the holes that do line up and then keep repeating that process until you get all the screws in and it takes hours and it's a huge pain in pain in the butt.

[00:02:30]Other techniques for that involve using jacks to try to push the airframe in various directions using the jacking points, of course, but to try to line up the holes. Anyway, that's [snorts] a long-winded way of saying we had an air leak. I was hoping that we would be able to take her out and make a lot more noise. We even took put the radome back on.

[00:02:50]We even put the radome back on to in anticipation of that. So, unfortunately, just wasn't in the cards.

[00:02:57]Part of this also cuz a lot of today was spent with the high pack running and which if you're not familiar with what the high pack is, that's this guy.

[00:03:08]High pressure air compressor or high pack is what it's called and just a little diesel engine with a big high pressure compressor. This is capable of generating 3,000 PSI of dry air to feed an airplane like the F4.

[00:03:22]And yeah, I spent a lot of time burning some fuel to keep air on the jet while we were cycling the um the rat the ram air turbine up and down a few times and it's just noisy and tedious and really not a lot to film, so unfortunately. So, also discovered that this thing has another dead like this is a dead battery. It's it's all dead.

[00:03:44]We're struggling to charge it, but yeah, it that one's gone.

[00:03:48]So, this needs to get a new battery. So, that was another part of this is discovering that um even though we could jump start the engine and get the engine running, there are some electrical components on this valves and solenoids and whatnot that if they don't operate, this this will run, but it won't build pressure. So, we had to figure that out.

[00:04:08]So, what I got today, hopefully next week we can do something a lot more fun.

[00:04:14]We definitely do want to run the engines again to verify fuel and it's always good to um move the fluids around, engine oil, hydraulic fluid, everything cycles everything, keeps everything nice and moving and greased and lubed.

[00:04:30]And uh it's also fun to make a little noise with those J79s cuz how how many Phantoms are flying at this point?

[00:04:36]Anyway, that's all I got for today. I'm sorry guys, another short one like I said. So, until next week, [snorts] take care and hopefully we have a lot more excitement going on next week.

[00:04:49]Again, weather and ops permitting. So, until next time.

[00:04:54]Thanks for watching guys.