Tire Change

Early Sunday morning air hung crisply
Raising goosebumps on my skin as I hopped out of the line truck
The pale concrete of the airport ramp all around
Surrounding me
The red pickup truck
And the airplane

The rest of the airport swallowed in the darkness

The old Douglas DC-8 sat as quietly as everything else
Myself and maybe a couple cleaners far away in the terminal building
Being the only people on the field at this hour of the morning

I looked at my watch
It was almost 1 am

The airplane had a flight Sunday evening
A nearly empty run back to the hub in Chicago
Which left me plenty of time to change a tire
And complete the rest of the daily inspection and servicing
Probably before day shift showed up at 8 am

But until then
I was a one man show
My stage the remote overnight ramp at the back of the airport grounds
On the far side of the runway from the terminal

I unhooked my tire dolly from the back of the truck and pushed it closer to the landing gear
Only about ten feet away
Popping the tailgate down
I grabbed a couple of tools and a flashlight
And started by taking off the center cap of the number four wheel
Then removing the anti-skid sensor and safety bolts
Setting them in the removed center cap

I liked a clean work area
So I took those tools back to the truck bed
Along with the removed parts
Neatly arranging them on a large clean rag

The hydraulic bottle jack was a heavy unit
It's exterior scratched and scuffed from years of use
It hung on my arm like the fifty pounds of dead weight that it was
After I yanked it out of the truck bed and carried it over to the rear axle of the left main landing gear

Tapping it into place with the toe of my steel toed boot
The pump handle slipped into place and I started pumping the cylinder up
With each pump raising the staggered cylinder assembly up about an eighth of an inch
It took many easy pumps to get it the six inches to the jacking lug on the axle

Then it got a little harder to pump
With the partial weight of the aircraft on the little jack
I put my weight into it and soon had the tire clear of the ground by a few inches

Pausing for a minute to go back to the truck for a quick drink
I soaked in the silence of the night
Which wasn't entirely silent
With animals in the nearby brush that separated the airport from the surrounding fields
Rustling and making the odd noises

Glancing up I could see the little dipper
Holding it's liquid
Or pouring it out
Depending on the perspective

Picking up the large breaker bar in one hand
The axle nut socket in the other
I turned back to the sad bald tire that was begging to be changed
Carefully putting the axle nut wrench on the nut
Gathering up the slop on it with the five foot breaker bar
Before hanging my full weight on the end of it

Rewarded with the grudging rotation of the nut
I turned it loose a coupe turns with the wrench
Before returning the breaker bar and nut adapter to the truck
And spinning the five inch nut off with my hands

Wiping the large nut off with a clean rag
Before it joined all the rest of the parts laid out in a line in the back of the truck

The wheel assembly was still fast in place on the axle
So I slipped a thread protector on the end of the axle
And then put the bad tire in a bear hug
Wrenching it back and forth a bit to get the bearings unseated

Which was when I felt something move
And not in the way I had anticipated

The old beat up bottle jack didn't make a sound
Or give a warning
Before it collapsed
Letting the rear of the landing gear down suddenly
Right in front of me

I let go of the wheel as the movement startled me
And tried to step back quickly
But sudden pain and an unstoppable force stopped me

The tire had come down on the front of my left boot