[BITList] Fwd: Over pressurization to fuel tanks during aerialrefueling.

[HUGH]

John,

Given the scale of the damage, I wonder why there wasn't a procedure to make it humanly impossible for the vent plugs to be left in place. One can't allow for sheer idiocy, but neither should one assume that people never make mistakes if left alone to do so.  Whether or not it was a BI rule I cannot say, but on every diesel ER I was in with BI there was a procedure to ensure an engine was not started with the turning gear engaged.  First, a big notice board on the end of a length of steel tube was shoved onto the end of one of the levers at the engine controls.  This read TURNING GEAR ENGAGED in big letters.  Next, the turning gear was engaged.  Disengaging the turning gear wasn't simply a reversal of the first procedure. The gear was disengaged, sometimes a two man job, one doing it and one looking on with interest.  Next, the person who'd disengaged the turning gear worm from the engine turning or fly wheel passed a hand down through the gap between the two, then back through the same gap - seeing the gap was not enough.  The same person would then remove the notice from the controls.  If I was to be on the controls, I was that person, and many a time I hesitated when about to blow her round on air, hoping I had really done it.

I note the Boeing practice of having 120% over maximum structural load factor - I assume this is factor of safety.  Off the top of my head, I recall that for marine applications I often used a factor of safety very much larger than that.

Hugh.
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