Reservoir pt4 - Tales of the Wrench

Driving the tug back to hangar three
With my little trailer dragging behind me
Laden with a dozen bags of speedy dry
I dreaded arriving at my destination

I was a hundred yards away
And I could hear the yelling
Lots of "What the fuck"s
And some "Who the fuck"s
Were being thrown around

When I got there
I helped unload the bags
Dumping them where it was needed
To sop up the hydraulic pond under the airplane

Eventually, the mess was on it's way to being taken care of
And it was time for the finger pointing

Fingers pointing directly at one thing
The return valve on the back of the hydraulic mule
Which prevented any of the hydraulic fluid from returning
From the airplane to the mule

So the mule kept pumping fluid into the plane
Until it was full
And the quarter inch diameter relief valve
Which was located in the system
Was no match for the half inch supply line
Continually trying to pump a 3000 psi flow into it

When I was asked about it
My response was a blank look
"There's a return valve on there?"

It all ended up being chalked up to a training accident
And after the whole day job
Of removing the exploded reservoir
Which needed two ratchet straps around it
To chinch it back to some semblance of it's former shape
In order to get it down through the access hole

At the end of the process
The beleaguered and detonated reservoir
Took it's place on the scrap table
Along with a dozen or so lines
Which had had the misfortune of getting in the way
And two tired mechanics
Wet like two Skydrol swamp monsters
Posed next to the unfortunate victim
So as to preserve the moment

All mostly forgiven
Lessons learned
Experience gained

Murphy lurking in the background, somewhere