Geoff

Out and about this morning I met Geoff. He was walking slowly with his head down, as soon as I said, “Good morning,” he smiled. 
Geoff had been a £10 Aussie, emigrating to Australia in the late 60s. He returned to the UK and went into a very different industry, Granite. Sadly his heart is causing problems, hence his slow gait. We had a really enjoyable conversation before I had to get home, it’s a brain fog day today.

Extra
This is an Astazou 3N engine on a Gazelle helicopter. It’s relatively small for a jet engine but powerful. The drive from the engine is delivered via a Centrifugal Clutch to the drive shaft The engine spins at 43,700 RPM, which is quite fast(British understatement). The drive shaft speed is then reduced via a gear system and delivered to the main rotor shaft and tail rotor shaft. The engine is being held in place by an extended U shaped frame while the clutch mechanism is changed.

When working as support for the troops on the ground in Belfast it was imperative to get to any incident as quickly as possible. To reduce time we would set all the switches in the correct position and wait for the siren to go off. It was then a simple case of switch on the battery and flash up the engine. In order to reach flight power we had to advance a speed select lever, the throttle, by hand. Here’s where my ham-fisted enthusiasm caused a few problems for the engineers. I wanted to get into the air immediately so pushed the lever forward faster than was recommended. This caused the clutch to slip and burn out, even though the mechanism is all metal. Oooops. 

The engineers, or Bendy Toys as I called them assumed I was training to be a fast jet pilot. I apologise for using your tax money to achieve my aim. 

Start your engines!!!!