Third gen bordumb chat

[dyn085]

How much work goes into keeping them polished/clean? It seems like it would be a ton of work, though everything I've ever worked on has been painted...

[meattooth]

When they bring them in for a light or heavy check they wash them with a chemical that removes all wax,polish grime, and leaves a heavy chalky oxide. Then the a/c cleaners take a high volume air operated buffing wheel (looks like a 12 inch drum with wool pad and screw on extension poles you can get it about 10th feet long) put polish on it and run it up and down the plane until its a mirror. Inspection is pretty easy with no paint, and it looks awesome. All the painted surfaces have to be sanded down to green primer which takes forever then rolled. the entire plane can be polished in two days 24hrs coverage. total repaint gets done on heavy checks when the aircraft is in for 30 days.

[TiStick]

Originally Posted by meattooth

I just read an article stating that since the new American airplanes are all composite they will have to be painted........ I love the polished aluminum birds, and they are talking about painting all our planes to match. Booooooo

I picked up a new factory Lancair for one of my students in Bend in 2001. We were shown how the composites were laid, gelcoated, painted, etc. I could see how the new "polished 195" look could be obtained with an exposed gelcoated CF weave, just like a ricer hood. With the advancements in colored composites, you could easily add some color w/o weight, but at great expense. Wonder if you could get an STC to vinyl wrap the bird in that mirrored film like that BMW that's floating around the web right now?

[meattooth]

Well they also mentioned painting them metallic silver to mimic the look of polished aluminum. I don't see American getting rid of the whole look since it such a brand specific. I just hope they don't do white. It will be interesting to see what kind of retooling we'll have to do to deal with all the composites. Then again I maybe looking for another job in the next few months.....we have 6,000 A&P mechanics just in Tulsa and they are talking about cutting half of them, and outsourcing to China or south America.

[TiStick]

Originally Posted by meattooth

Well they also mentioned painting them metallic silver to mimic the look of polished aluminum. I don't see American getting rid of the whole look since it such a brand specific. I just hope they don't do white. It will be interesting to see what kind of retooling we'll have to do to deal with all the composites. Then again I maybe looking for another job in the next few months.....we have 6,000 A&P mechanics just in Tulsa and they are talking about cutting half of them, and outsourcing to China or south America.

I hear you.

Best way to make a million dollars in aviation is to start with two million.

[copernicium112]

meattooth your avatar is TOTALLY MATH (yep, I have a 12 year old son, we have a 7:30 pm Monday night ritual).

[meattooth]

Originally Posted by copernicium112

meattooth your avatar is TOTALLY MATH (yep, I have a 12 year old son, we have a 7:30 pm Monday night ritual).

Lol trust bump. I love that show.

@titaniumstick lol that's the truth..... I would like to know how you can file bankruptcy with 6 billion in the bank?!?! oh well i guess those bean counters are a lot smarter than us rivet smashers .

[dyn085]

Originally Posted by TitaniumStick

I picked up a new factory Lancair for one of my students in Bend in 2001. We were shown how the composites were laid, gelcoated, painted, etc. I could see how the new "polished 195" look could be obtained with an exposed gelcoated CF weave, just like a ricer hood. With the advancements in colored composites, you could easily add some color w/o weight, but at great expense. Wonder if you could get an STC to vinyl wrap the bird in that mirrored film like that BMW that's floating around the web right now?

I went and interviewed with Lancair back on '06. Didn't they file bankruptcy in '07/8? Really nice facility and awesome flying sports cars...

Originally Posted by meattooth

Well they also mentioned painting them metallic silver to mimic the look of polished aluminum. I don't see American getting rid of the whole look since it such a brand specific. I just hope they don't do white. It will be interesting to see what kind of retooling we'll have to do to deal with all the composites. Then again I maybe looking for another job in the next few months.....we have 6,000 A&P mechanics just in Tulsa and they are talking about cutting half of them, and outsourcing to China or south America.

I don't know your overall situation, but we're looking for sheetmetal mechanics (like everone else) and pay is pretty decent because it's a government contract...and stable...

And working on OH-58D's is quite easy work...

[TiStick]

Originally Posted by dyn085

I went and interviewed with Lancair back on '06. Didn't they file bankruptcy in '07/8? Really nice facility and awesome flying sports cars...

Yeah, they went under then Cessna brought them back. Not sure what(if any)production they have now.

[meattooth]

I just checked in to being able to bring my own materials to work to build a custom airbox on my own time. Yeah they frowned on that. I've seen people building all kinds of carbon fiber projects out here with company materials on company time, but screw me for asking to do it honestly.