Blonde moment
So there we were, five of us, in the rain, pushing one of the helicopters- an AStar, the kind I usually work on, though for the past month or so, we've had a BK117 instead- back inside yesterday after a pretty intense hailstorm and a successful ground run (not at the same time, thankfully!). One of the guys inside the hangar saw that we weren't going to clear the doorway with one of the blades and ran over to try and turn the tail rotor (which rotates the main rotor head, thus making it the easiest way to move the blades without getting up on a ladder or standing on top of the aircraft and pushing) so we would clear the doorway. He realized almost immediately that the rotor brake was on, so since I was right next to the helicopter door, I hopped up inside to release the brake- quickly, because half of us were standing out in the rain and the guy who was inside the hangar was holding the tail (which gets tiring). I climbed over the pilot's seat, reached for the center pedestal (on the floor, in center of the cabin, right next to the seat) and grabbed.....nothing. I stood there, staring like an idiot at the spot where the brake handle was supposed to be and all I could think was My god! It's only been a couple of weeks since I worked on this thing, and I've forgotten everything!! So I look at it again and yep! Still no rotor brake handle! Maybe it's by the door and I'm leaning over top of it- nope, that's the BK rotor brake location...where is the thing?? I was fully panicking (and starting to turn a very nice shade of red, I'm sure) when I happened to look up and there it was, just above the center of the windshields. I released it, jumped back out (to much ridicule from my soaked coworkers) and helped push the aircraft the rest of the way into the hangar.
It was, thankfully, the end of the day, so I didn't have endure too much more teasing. But I didn't get out of there fast enough to avoid my lead reminding me that I spent two days kneeling in the cabin of that very aircraft when it was in our shop for refurb, trying to reconnect the rotor brake cable to the handle (a tedious task involving several holes that wouldn't line up, a close-tolerance bolt that I had to beat into place with a hammer, and a cotter pin I could barely reach, all in a space about a quarter the size of your average shoebox. I could barely fit my hand up there, let alone a ratchet, hammer, or pliers). I do maintain that of all the AStars out there, there aren't many of them with that particular modification (the handles on the ceiling instead of the floor), so it could have happened to anyone.
I still feel blonde, though....
It snowed today, so alas, no maintenance flight for us. Hopefully Monday will be nice. On the other hand, the apartment is nice and cozy, and I'm going to bake cheesecake, so it'll smell nice too! Hopefully the cheesecake comes out good...the last time I tried it, the oven and I were having a bit of a spat. But that was a long time ago, and we've started to get used to each other. I've since bought a thermometer, and the oven has (mostly) stopped burning my cookies. So it's time for something more challenging. Yay cheesecake!!