I want to tell you that my voice was steady
That I sounded strong
That I took it like a man
That I kept calm and carried on
But I can't
It was a hot day in August
We were working in Hangar Three
An ancient Douglas DC-8
Stood upon shoring
In to the facility for extended maintenance
It was training day for me
Just having recently transferred departments
I was going to get to play with some equipment
"Just have your radio on
And press the power button to start the motor
Then adjust this knob until it hits three thousand"
Pounds per square inch that is
"Don't do anything until I tell you though, ok?"
It sounded so simple
Performing flap rig checks
Just fire up the hydraulic mule
Run the flaps up and down a few times
Then use the digital protractor to check the angles
At several different stop positions
It doesn't get much simpler
A fine way to kill a few hours
On a sunny day in August
But as with most things
There is always just a little bit more to it
Than you think at first
And Murphy
With his silly little Law
Was lurking around the corner
Ready to laugh as something went wrong
We plugged in the ground power cable
My partner going upstairs
To nestle himself into the cockpit
With all it's 1950's era controls and dials
My radio crackled
At the same time I could hear the inverters fire up
As the aircraft power came online
"Ok, fire up the mule and give me pressure"
I pressed the big red button
The heavy duty electric pump
Buried inside the mule came to life
With a loud whine
LIke a huge vacuum cleaner
But without the rushing air sound
I grasped the knob
Turning it clockwise
Watching as the pressure gauge inched upwards
To the operating pressure
Of 3000 psi
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