reply to post by GoldenFleece
Yeah....OK, Golden....I like the link you provided. But, you do know that Western Airlines was bought out by Delta Airlines in the 1980s....I know,
because I applied for Western, while I was flying for Scenic Airlines in Las Vegas. I also applied to every airline as well....but I was most familar
with Western and CalAir, since I grew up in LA. (CalAir was absorbed by American Airlines).
Here's the thing....I've crawled around a few airplanes in my time, especially when they are 'opened up' in a 'D' Check (also called the 'heavy
check').
Here is my point: According to this story, there were pipes running from a pressurized section (the cargo areas) out to the wings. This would be a
BIG DEAL, requiring equipment that penetrated the pressure bulkheads, and would have to be undetectable from the regular stuff, such as hydraulic
lines, etc. Hint....the Hydraulic reservoirs are in the Wheel Wells....unpressurized areas of the airframe.
Fuel pumps, in wing tanks and the center tanks, are 'submerged'....the plumbing from them goes to the fuel distribution matrix, where there is
something called a 'cross-flow' valve. The APU, in the case of the B757 and B767 is fed directly from the left main tank, in the wing. (Other
airplanes have similar dedicated systems for the APU)
Point is, these systems are NOT in the pressurized portion of the airplane.
Control wiring, of course, must exit through the pressure bulkheads, but this is part of the original design.
Could an airplane be retrofitted? With CIA and Black Budget funding, of course!! Could a regular passenger jet, that we pilots flew and mechanics
crawled around on be retrofitted, and none of us noticed? No.
See...pilots and mechanics pre-flight every airplane, before a departure. Every time. We know our equipment. Passenger airplanes, unmodified, just
do not have the ability to 'spray'.
Modified jets, now there's a whole new can-o-worms!! Brings me back, to the Military. Of which, I have NO knowledge on this subject.
I DO know, however, that even Military airplanes flying in civilian airspace MUST communicate with ATC. However, they can do that on UHF....we,
civilians, use VHF....never the 'twain shall meet (or hear) if that's what THEY want.
