Early on Saturday morning, with a very small force of volunteers, we started work on preparation for the removal of the No.4 engine

Work commenced in Zone 1 of the engine, this is the area of the engine mainly behind the first 2 doors of the engine bay. Number 4 engine is being removed so that we can trace some cabling problems that are plaguing the power generation of this engine. A previous fault was discovered in this area and was cured by bypassing the damaged cables, but now that a second fault has occurred in the same area , it has been decided to tackle the root cause, so the engine will be removed, giving us the chance to carry out a CMFS (Chassis Mounted Fuel System) swap and on the removed unit review how to fix the problem of fuel flowing through the unit when the engine is shutdown. The cooling ducts for the alternator and various other parts of the engine were removed. The alternator cables were removed and labelled to allow their correct reconnection following the return of the engine to its home. On the port side of the engine the five 10H connectors were disconnected and bagged out of the way. Unfortunately we were not so lucky with the 1 of 2 10H connectors on the intermediate bulkhead that connect the fire detection loops, as the insulation that should turn smoothly in the connector barrel jammed and has damaged the pins in the fixed socket on the bulkhead, this will have to be replaced and the jammed connector stripped and lubricated to remedy this problem. The work will be continued next weekend to complete the preparation for the engine removal.

The continued work of painting the Starboard wing and the associated air intake is on-going by the painting crew, the slight changes of colour and of the matt to a more glossy finish indicating how the work is going. A more hardwearing epoxy paint is being used to extend the life of the airframe.

During the day we had quite a number of walk-in visitors, some of whom knew that the aircraft was there, but the highest hit seems to be “We saw her as we were driving past”, the iconic shape catching their eye. Volunteers were on hand, even though we were shorthanded, to talk about the aircraft and for the majority of visitors conduct a short cockpit visit and talk.

Picture courtesy of Tim