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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Reservoir pt3 - Tales of the Wrench

The airplane hadn't quite stopped shaking
When a new noise rushed in
Sounding like a waterfall
Hydraulic fluid began pouring out of the aircraft
Dumping on the floor at an alarming rate

I grabbed my radio and yelled like a panicked French hen
"Stop it! stop it! just make it stop!"

He was quick to reply
"You silly bastard, you have the off switch!"

I punched the off switch as fast as I could
The whine of the pressure pump inside the mule stopped
But the sound of the waterfall did not
At least not right away

It still rushed out
All over the floor
From the left main landing gear bay area
Covering the floor with over 100 gallons of Skydrol fluid

I was in full panic mode
Something had happened
And I'd had something to do with it

I grabbed the speedy dry barrel on wheels
And pushed it towards the spill
Dumping it on the floor
Trying to keep it from getting to the drains
It would be hell to clean it out of those pits

A couple other people working in the hangar came over
Dragging a second barrel of speedy dry
Following my example
They tipped theirs over too
And started using the push brooms to build little dikes
Containing the mess to one large area at least

My partner had arrived by then
Having shut down the plane and unplugged power
He took one look at me
And told me to go get some more stuff

Somehow
When he said 'stuff'
It translated to 'spill kit' in my head
Which is a plastic barrel full of special absorbent pads
Only to be used in an emergency
Which I considered this to be

I drove over to a different hangar looking for a kit
Spotting a supervisor
I ran over to him and asked
"Where is the Spill Kit?"

He stopped in his tracks
And looked at me strangely
"Why do you need one?"
He asked cautiously

I hesitated
Due to my assumed guilt in the matter
"We, um, spilled some hydraulic fluid over in hangar three"

He narrowed his eyes at me a little
"How much, exactly?"

I fessed up sadly
"I don't know, however much is in the plane and the mule combined"

"Jesus Christ! Just go get more bags of speedy dry
I'll meet you over there"
And off he went
Swearing to himself
Though I imagined it to be at me mostly

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