This channel features aviation related content I create from DCS World, a fantastic and highly detailed combat flight simulator for PC. Within DCS World I'll also showcase content from our virtual squadron, the 62nd Virtual Fighter Squadron. The channel will also feature live action content from the volunteer work I do helping keep the only civilian owned and flightworthy F-4 Phantom II operational.
Thank you for your interest and welcome to the channel!
Fasteners are NOT made of plated aluminum. I've removed and replaced thousands of fasteners on F-4'E & G's and none were aluminum. Boeing uses a lot of titanium fasteners as well as stainless.
That info came right out of the book. There are some titanium and/or stainless steel fasteners on the Phantom, though that is mainly used on the horizontal stabs and tail cone near the engine nozzles.
@@DieselThunderAviation I would really like to see that reference. There may be a few aluminum bolts but I find it hard to accept that the majority would not be steel. The weight savings would be relatively negligible. Generally, aluminum fasteners are not used in any application where they might be removed regularly. Do the bolts in your hand have two dashes on the head? "AN aluminum alloy bolts are marked with two raised dashes".
I get that the back seat is busy but I never understood why they wouldn't give the WSO a fuel gauge. It seems like it would have been a quite simple thing and would help the crew stay on top of it.
Hi. If the US gave S. Korea the first F-4's in 1969,eventually totalling up to 90 + jets, why can't some of them just be given back to the US so that spare parts can be used. To me it seems backwards that Soviet era aircraft are easier to acquire with less hoops to jump through than our own airplanes. Thank you.
Good to see you putting that Phuture Phantom Phixer to work👍. We had a couple folks at WB that tree small in stature. They were great at getting into those small spaces.
Had many hours 'of fun' doing similar tasks on UK Phantoms!! As an aside, we used to have a small (yellow) clip that held down the ejection microswitch (shown at 5:08) to stop the IFF squaking 'emergency' if you applied power with the seat removed (aircraft thought you had ejected). I see you have yours held down with locking wire by the look of it, don't know if that clip was a UK only thing or whether it was a standard F4 maintenance tool?
Kinda ridiculous that you can`t import pieces from a USA build aircraft from a foreign (yet friendly) country, to (at least) keep these (USA built) jewels flying.
Yeah, sure is. The topic has come up before (not just here in the comments) whenever another country retires their Phantoms. Japan was the last to retire Phantoms a couple years ago if I recall.
That's how we did it. Having a budy system, where one is working in the cockpit, while another is standing on the ladder with the tool tray, handing tools and receiving them back. One of the motos we had was יש כבוד ללא פוד "Yesh kavod lelo FOD", which translates to There Is Honour/Pride With No FOD, only in Hebrew it rhymes nicely. We were issued 5 knucked finger extentions for those inaccesable nooks and cranies !! You needed extra long and strong fingers to work on Phantoms, preferably with an integrated magnet on your fingertip 😠 ! We've all been there ! Looking good.
Do old time maintainers have any advice on how to get nuts and bolts into and out of impossible places? I was thinking of a thin wall tube you could thread the nut into then thread the other end through the mounting bracket and the bulkhead and when it's pulled through it brings the bolt through, grab the end and secure with the nut. Needs to be really thin to pass through the holes with the bolt shaft.
A few friendly Congressmen can lubricate the process of getting parts from allies who have retired their Phantoms. It won't hurt to reach out to your Congressional representatives and ask if they are willing to help. And if they do agree to help, people will volunteer to make the rest of the process happen.
Think I've seen it, or something similar, while refitting the titanium hot panels located aft of the engine nozzles. I remember seeing hydraulic componants in the tail secion.
I'm curious about this. Done stab actuators on 5th gen. Wonder if it's as much a nightmare as I imagine it could be? Though unlike my tails you probably don't have to pull an engine to do one on the F-4...
@@dannysnyder4035 I was structural maintainer, so I didn't blead quite as much. Problem is, in that tail area there are more titanium and stainless componants, if I recall. Even a small burr on a stainless part will get you well. Spook demands payment in sweat and blood !
So..... after collings foundation killed 7 people due to poor maintenance and a incompetent pilot.... why would the family let them operate this hunk of shit?
When you are in the WSO seat theres a cable running along the ejection seat rails that looks a bit frayed, whats that for? I'm guessing it gets replaced when that portion gets worked on next?
Without properly working ejection seats, this F4 will not be flying again. Unless there's some waiver with the FAA. That seems to be the big elephant in the room nobody wants to talk about.
Dude. We have been using xray equipment for years to look for fod in aircraft. If found and it's in a trapped area that posed no problem the AFTO 95 was annotated as so.
Question! I was an avionics instrument systems tech on USAF F-4 airccraft late ''70's to early '80's. So many systems to make it functional for flight. Fuel quantity indicating system, JETCAL for the engines, etc.. Does this aircraft have the original CADC? If so do you have all the necessary tech equipment for it?
This may be a bit of a “down the rabbit hole” question, but are all the nuts and bolts on her steel? Steel fasteners would add, I’d guess, about 200 pounds all up from nose to tail. Did they use any aluminum nuts/bolts/fasteners on her to save weight?
Using a camera?!! You’re not doing it right unless you’re hanging upside down from the canopy rail with your face in the seat’s rocket pack! That’s how we did it 😂. Telling the pilots to do a slow roll and pick what they find off the canopy was another…
Reminds me of borescope fishing for WMS switches under the seat when pilots kick it off the throttle entering and existing F35s. It's a bit of a hellhole down there lol
Fly upside down and vacuum stuff off the canopy 🤣 I heard some crews use to pass food and other stuff (maybe in the F-14?) by going inverted and sliding it forward or back. One long haul F-117 pilot dropped his go pill before, pulled negative G's and the other guys could see him trying to grab something out of the air. Sounded pretty funny.
Outstanding effort. Finding those tiny washers more than justifies the effort. Don't want anything loose, especially metalic. We didn't have affordable boroscopes in my time, only hand held torches, mirrors of verious sizes, telescopic magnets & those 4 fingered claw grabbers.
Are you going to try to put the seats back in for the engine run or just a chair? Have you had anyone check to see if the cockpit mounted & seat mounted ballistics are still within their time change life? You can find the info in 1F-4D-6 TO. You will also have to find someone to repack the drogue and main parachutes since they have to be due inspection and repack. Can't wait to hear the engines run again and see her fly.
Sometimes putting a piece of duct tape folded outwards with the sticky side out attached to the end might work. Sorry, it’s hard to explain. But I’ve done that many times to fish out lost items. Just a thought. Good work by the way!!!!
I have a nasty scar on the top of my head from an engine bay door on an f4e we were doing an engine change and I was not paying attention, when I was at the hospital getting sewn back up the doctor joked and asked me was the thing landing when it hit me 😂. Was a large gash a guess it’s a souvenir from the air force
When the Phantom flies again, the pilot should invert it, shake it a few times, and then any missing nuts, bolts, pocket change, etc. will fall onto the canopy and be pretty easy to pick up. Hopefully there won't BE any. Fod check at 20,000 feet!
That’s how they did it back in the day. We didn’t have fancy stuff. We pulled the entire pilots cockpit out to find a washer. I think it was a F-4C if memory serves.
Yup, when it comes to FOD, or even lost tools, there is absolutly no place for uncertainty. It has to be FOD clean. One time our whole base got grounded (several fighter squadrons), because one bucking anvil was lost. After almost a whole 24 hours, it was found trapped between the double skins of a drop-down engine door on a Kurnass. It took a borrowed boroscope from the engine shop to find it. When drilling out rivits and fastners, we had to collect every last chip, clean up as we go along. Wipe around wing beams, bulkheads & longerons with MEK and gauze, use flashlights and mirrors to inspect conceled every corner. Ex-Airframe maintainer / Fitter.
@@pickandstrum I was structural technician / airframe maintainer on F-4E "Kurnass". Watching them rumble down the runway at dusk with a full payload was a sight and sound I'll never forget. Some of our jets were emergency delivered from Vietnam after '73 to refill the heavy losses. Colloqually called "Karpada", meaning Toad, due to them being pressed into service while still in USAF dark green livery. We were forever thankful to the USAF. Thanks for your service.
Oh yes, our crews DID roll over and Command a climb...usually resulted in something. The common write up was, "Lost 1 mechanical pencil". And to note, those required a outside visual of the upper ejection seats before opening the canopies.
The fuel indicating system on the F-4 is... garbage. Not sorry. I am surprised it was not upgraded over the years. The fuel distribution system is logical and nothing out of the ordinary. I hate the boom. The basket gives me no problem, but that boom, man.
Yeah, kinda surprising they never improved the fuel gauge, or even added a totalizer in the backseat. Boom is harder, I agree. Nice thing is you don’t have to spend as much time on it as the transfer rate is higher.
@@DieselThunderAviation I thought I misheard when he said there was no totalizer in the back and I didn’t check before I commented. I thought there was no way this could be, since fuel is one of the most important factor. Oh well now I know why he’s asking once in a while.
