> For pilots and we mechanics, I think complacency and lack of respect
> for the aircraft/tool are the cause of most accidents. Many times when I
> talk to a pilot that has had an accident, the explanation is often
> prefaced
> by "I've done this approach (or whatever) a hundred times before BUT..."
> Mike Thompson
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Disclaimer: My logical mind knows it's not particularly dangerous.
...But....
I can't help being deathly afraid, like of heights, whenever I take an air
hose to a tire, or worse, when a tire guy puts the rubber on a new rim and
cranks the pressure to 50 plus #'s. Partly, I think it's because the
linemen in my F-4 Phantom squadron in the late 60's scared the beejeezus out
of me with stories of exploding magnesium rims on jets, so that they had to
approach them "head on" rather than from the side, because of the heat
sometimes generated from landing. Never saw it happen, but assumed it true.
Mostly, though, it's just that I sense so much restrained power in
compressed air there, and actually watched a rim split once.
Now, in the long run of things, it's not so dangerous. Thing is, though,
mentally I am confident I can control all my other tools just using good
sense. But I cannot control a blemish in a steel rim that might cause it to
send a piece of steel through my skull.
...I know it's not reasonable. Neither is my fear of heights. But there
you are.
Terry Smith
'59 TR3A (Body off, rest back on, mostly. By the way, what do y ou do with
a body shop guy who won't return your calls BEFORE you give him your
project?)
TS 58667
New Hampshire
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