Hello everyone. I am the custodian of a few training aircraft at the college in Hartlepool, UK. If it is agreeable, I’d like to use this thread to log what we are doing with our aeroplanes.
Most people know that we have Jet Provost T5a XW405 mounted on a pole outside the college, but not many people get to see in our hangar. Cosseted away from public view we have:
Aircraft:
Jet Provost T5a XW404
Jet Provost T5 XW309
Gazelle flight control demonstrator airframe
Major components:
RR RB211
AS Cheetah XV
Foxhunter Radar unit
I am steadily restoring the indoor JP’s with the intention that they should be fully operational airframes. I’ll post some pictures when I get home later. Both aircraft were in quite a poor condition when we acquired them apparently, but my association with them began in December last year. XW309 was the better airframe electrically, but lacked a hydraulic system and most of the useful bits in the cockpit. XW404 had a hydraulic system, but had spent several years in a field, and was not in the best condition. So I had to choose which would be the best candidate for restoration.
XW404
Following a lengthy survey, 404 was deemed to be the most complete, and needed minimal work to get the electrical system reinstated. Lots of splicing later, we are about 95% electrically operational. Neither aircraft have batteries, so some minor modification was required to power the canopy motors. For those who don’t know, the canopy motors are normally powered by a DC Bus bar which also contains the ignition and crash switches. For the record, we document everything and ensure that all mods are reversible… more on that later. The Flaps worked as soon as the hyd system was refilled, but with the electrics live, the airbrakes could be connected and operated. The remaining issue was the undercarriage. 404’s retraction chains were pure corrosion… I really considered swapping 309’s chains into 404 to get rid of the problem, but having stripped the chains from 404, the corrosion actually wasn’t as bad as it first appeared. That said, each link had to be held in a vice, lubricated and exercised individually. The eventually cleaned up, and they were refitted. So 404 is hydraulically and electrically live, with all major components operating. I’m currently repainting it, and toying with a Blades scheme (it flew with the Blades on a few occasions….
XW309
Following 404’s rebuild, I found a few components lying around, as you do… Having identified the un-serviceable systems, It was realised that we had enough to restore 309 to a reasonable condition too. The cockpit is complete with the exception of a radio and the left hand seat, but the RAF had butchered it well before disposing of it. I robbed the left hand undercarriage selector buttons and airbrake switch from 404, and fitted them into the centre console of 309. The hydraulic system was more-or-less intact except for the hand pump, reservoir and the gauges for the accumulators. The feed pipe from the hand pump was trashed too, so a robbing spree of 405 had to take place. Interesting, given that its 25ft up a pole…. 309 now has a hydraulic system, and now works.. kind of. Undercarriage, flaps, electric canopy… The airbrakes are dead, but I just need to replace a relay in the LH electrical bay and they’ll be fine. I’ll repaint, that one next year when time allows.
Future plans:
– both 404 and 309 need their nose oleos inflating. The mains will remain low so we have enough space to get them out of the hangar door.
– 404 needs a bracket manufactured for the desynn transmitter in the flap system
– 404 is to have its brake system overhauled and made operable
– 404 is to have its fuel system inspected and tested including all tanks.
– 404 is to have its engine inspected, and made serviceable – ignition is to be connected and tested. Modification will have to be done to power the Bus bar from external power. Yes, we’re thinking about getting it live…
– 309 needs a brake system… the legs are bare, but we probably have enough parts to fit out both legs.
– 309 needs its reservoir and hand pump fitting properly – they are both loosely fitted to be able to prove the system.
Missing components:
Two sets of undercarriage selector buttons
Two air brake selector switches
Three navigation light covers
One rotating beacon
A full set of bulbs! (plus both speed switch bulbs for the nose)
As we improve both aircraft, I’ll post more.
By: Arabella-Cox - 21st December 2018 at 21:40
I’m part of the team involved with JP T3 XM365 and T5 XW290 I was trained on jps at North East Wales Institute, which had a T4 and subsequently the T5s at cosford during training in the RAF. I also occasionally ground run and taxi them as part of anti Det maintenance.
By: Spannerfingers - 21st December 2018 at 17:50
December 2018 Update:
Jet Provost T5a XW404: Following a jacking exercise, the seal on the LH main gear decided it had had enough. We are going to change the legs before the summer, so its not a major issue. The aircraft has behaved itself, but is midway through our annual Maintenance Practices teardown and rebuild.
Jet Provost T5 XW309: A team of four students have diagnosed the Airbrake / UHF short circuit, and actually found a series of problems. They have all been corrected and the airbrakes now function as they should. We are operating on hand pump pressure only, so they do not deploy at the same time, and since the accumulators are missing their pressure gauges and a few other hydraulic components are absent, it is unlikely that we will ever run 309 at full system pressure. This aircraft is also in a state of teardown as our students complete the practical aspects of the course.
IAMT: No help whatsoever from the previous operators or system designers, so we have the computer away in the care of a specialist who should be able to hack it….
Gazelle: NELSAM graciously gifted us some spares which will be useful as we attempt to get the airframe complete. The unused or duplicate components will be re-gifted according to NELSAM’s wishes.
We are constantly on the lookout to replace our fleet with something less historic… anyone got a spare Cessna Citation or two?
Merry Christmas one and all
By: Spannerfingers - 30th August 2018 at 11:56
Thanks to Thunderbird167 and the guys/gals at NELSAM, we have taken delivery of an Integrated Avionics Maintenance Training rig – essentially a Tornado F3 systems simulator. These beasts were used to train Avionics Mechanics at RAF Cosford until reasonably recently. The question is…. do any of you remember a log in and password?…………
By: Thunderbird167 - 25th July 2018 at 21:20
We have various Gazelle spares at NELSAM in Sunderland.
Drop me a message and I will arrange for you to have a rummage through our spares container
By: Spannerfingers - 23rd July 2018 at 21:09
The summer holidays are finally here, which means I’ve put the aeroplanes to bed for a few weeks, so here’s an update:
Gazelle:
Some cut-down blades have been fitted, but we desperately need a set of lag dampers. The blocks of timber simply look horrible…. Here’s a couple of pictures showing the interior. I’d like to get the instrument panel built, but its not a necessity for the functionality of the airframe. It would be nice to find a seat though….
[ATTACH=CONFIG]261638[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]261639[/ATTACH]
The thing which must not be mentioned:
We have the Voltair 86… a locally-designed and built deregulated, electric motor – powered microlight.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]261640[/ATTACH]
XW309
I’ve identified the airbrake snag on 309. When the switch is made, the main relay can be heard followed by a second relay making. It turns out that the second relay is actually part of the V/UHF radio system which means I have a short circuit – most likely in the throttle lever. That’ll have to be corrected in September.
XW404
The re-paint is complete – just a touch-up really and to preserve the structure of the aircraft for a few years. Some of the markings need to be applied, but I’m holding off on the black numbers and ‘1 FTS’ fin mark until the next set of school holidays. Next on the list is to re-inflate the nose oleo.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]261641[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]261642[/ATTACH]
By: Spannerfingers - 22nd July 2018 at 08:28
We have contacts at Bruntingthorpe, but not amongst the JP owners. We are somewhat isolated at this end of the country. When it comes to spares, we’ll need to reach out, but conversely I’m sure we can offer tech help in return.
By: Rob68 - 22nd July 2018 at 08:14
Morning, presumably you’ve already made contact with other JP owners at places like Bruntingthorpe?
By: Spannerfingers - 21st July 2018 at 16:40
Canopy motor modification details:
Our JP’s are ground instructional airframes, and as such need to balance operating systems with the safety of our students. Neither aircraft has batteries fitted due to their obscene cost and the problems of infrequent use and charging availability. Our ground power is obtained via a 24/28V GPU.
The JP mk5 electrical system has a couple of peculiarities, one of which is the requirement to open and close the canopy without external power. With this in mind, the canopy motors are operated from the Essential (battery) bus bar, but this is dead for our aeroplanes – the peculiarity being that the battery bus does not receive power from the external GPU at any time. We could have just ran a link from a powered bus, but we want the ignition system to stay dead for now. In order to keep the ignition system and the crash switches isolated, but get the canopy motors functioning, we have performed the following modification:
This modification allows the use of the electric canopy without the requirement for batteries to be installed. This modification maintains Ignition system isolation for safety reasons.
Embodiment
1: Remove fuse E13 (IFF/SSR)
2: Remove Fuse D13 (canopy selection)
3: Remove link between Fuse D13 and post +A
4: Install link between fuse D13 and post +3 (Fuse bank B bus bar)
5: Refit fuse D13
6: Remove link between Fuse F5/F6 Bus bar (Canopy motors) to post +A (Battery Bus)
7: Install link between Fuse F5/6 bus bar (Canopy motors) to Fuse F1/2/3/4 bus bar. (Inverters & radio)
This allows the canopy 20A fuse to be run from the same bus bar as the Inverters (also 20A). We have restricted operation to EITHER canopy or inverters, just so we keep the current as low as possible, but there is no physical block to operating both at the same time – I just don’t have 100% faith in our electrical system. I’ll try to get a copy of the new wiring diagram on monday.
By: Spannerfingers - 20th July 2018 at 17:33
We have two possible candidates, but neither have run since service. I can see some long hours with a boroscope on the horizon. At this stage, there are other things preventing a ground-running aircraft such as the fuel system serviceability, but we’re investigating the possibility.
By: Wyvernfan - 20th July 2018 at 17:30
Interesting post Spannerfingers and welcome to the forum. Sounds like you’ve done the lions share of what’s needed but still have a way to go.
I can’t see it mentioned but do you have a ground runnable engine to use or is this a part of the resto that’s not required?
Rob
By: Spannerfingers - 20th July 2018 at 15:46
XW405
[ATTACH=CONFIG]261613[/ATTACH]
XW404
[ATTACH=CONFIG]261614[/ATTACH]
XW309
[ATTACH=CONFIG]261615[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]261618[/ATTACH]
Gazelle
[ATTACH=CONFIG]261616[/ATTACH]
Cheetah
[ATTACH=CONFIG]261617[/ATTACH]
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July 20, 2018 at 2:43 pm