[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Kinda loud, too.

One of my more memorable moments involved the startup of the APU (auxiliary power unit), the small jet turbine that powers the on-board generator(s) in the tail cone. The exhaust nozzle usually points right out the very tip of the very back of the airplane.

Maintenance hangers typically have the office areas opposite of the big doors, and build-up and machine shops along the sides of the hanger. These office complexes can be several stories high. In this case, we had set up the management/engineering/planning/quality assurance personnel on the third floor, behind big glass picture windows with a view of the hanger.

We had a few new engineers, inspectors, and such along on this trip that were in need of some "breaking in". We were getting ready to hand the airplane over to the customer, so we were running functional tests. There was ground power to the airplane, so there was no need to have the APU running in this particular instance, and the airplane was backed into the hanger anyways.

Some of you have guessed where this is going. We made sure all the FNG's were in that office, busily finishing up their paperwork. The rest of us evacuated... So, right on cue, one of the mechanics in the cockpit "accidentally" fired up that APU. Did I mention they are kinda loud? That the airplane was backed right up to that third story picture window?

Some of them took it pretty well, once they crawled out from under their desks and changed their shorts. Some were absolutely livid, indignant, and immediately lodged complaints with their respective bosses back home. No sense of humor.

That was, of course, one of the many creative ways in which we sorted out the real AOG personnel from the wannabes...

One time I was in a metal enclosure for this P&W engine during start-up. Had to do that for trouble-shooting. It was loud.