Interview with David Butterfield (Engineering Technician Airframes)
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2024
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We interviewed ex RAF Engineering Technician Airframes, David Butterfield. He gives us an insight into what it was like being a ground crew member in the RAF.
With a detailed walk around Jet Art Aviation's resident Tornado F3, we can see what a day in the life was like for an aircraft technician working on front line fighters.
Thanks to Jet Art Aviation for hosting us. Check out their website www.jetartaviat...
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A real gold mine for a modeller this kind of walk-around.
Thank you very much!
I think the pilots undeservedly steal all the fame... The ground crew really do an important job!
And an interesting one.
I found this to be one of the best aircraft interviews. I wish there were more like it w the crew who make the planes keep flying! They are just as important as the pilots ! Love seeing all the panels on the tornado opened up, inside the cockpit, etc!
Thanks Stephen. We are going to try and do more of these videos in the future.
Great video to highlight a worthy cause. Fair play to you David.
Thumbs up for this gentleman talking about his personal problems and the advice he is giving.
Most would think that ground crews would be too remote from combat stress but it can hit anyone.
I wish you well
This guy is amazing, he went through the ENTIRE damn aircraft holy shit, just awesome. I'd love to hear more from the ground crew's and technicians I love learning about single thing about the aircraft!
Only a single trade rigger. Not a proper techie - propulsion & airframes
This is my favourite video of all!!!
This gentleman seems like a real self starter. That is one way to keep your time in the military exciting. In 1993 as a young Infantry NCO I attend a week long battlefield computer course. I could barely type and that course alone helped get me up to speed!
Great insight into the Tornado thanks for spending the time to produce it
Best and most honest interview so far. A tribute to the in-depth technical training the RAF used to provide. Junior Tech - the best rank in the RAF.
Cheers mate.
Top man! Great walk around. Cap definitely doffed to David, Sorry to come to it so late.
Those last few minutes were epic, I wish him all the very best.
I think this guy is the Tornado expert...! At least on the mechanical side. I wonder if he advised on any of the walkaround manuals for the type(s)!
Wow -- VERY, VERY thorough.
Some aspects of the wing sweep mechanism are like the F-14. The Tomcat also had airbags as part of the sweep mechanism. The bags inflated to make sure that the plates (part of the "pancake") on top of the wing stayed taut... You don't want those plates wobbling for both aerodynamic cleanness and to keep everything in place so that the sweep mechanism works properly. I only paid partial attention as the video went through (I was eating and reading another website as I watched) so I can't remembered him speaking much more than the Tornado airbags got worn and had to be replaced periodically. I imagine they had to replace the airbags on the F-14 periodically, too.
Neither plane had ailerons and used spoilers on the wings to aid roll. I can't speak for the Tornado but the F-14 also had a taileron system (full-moving tails) that coordinated with the spoilers to help it roll. When the wings were at max-sweep (68-degrees), the spoilers became inoperable and the tailerons completely controlled roll. FYI, no swing-wing plane with a taileron or spoiler-roll control accelerates into the roll as quickly as a conventional fixed-wing plane with ailerons. The F-16, Mirage 2000, Eurofighter, Rafale, and Gripen would all easily outroll the F-14 or Tornado. Ailerons provide faster roll response/roll acceleration. Now, the maximum roll rate MIGHT be as good in a swing-wing (at max sweep; min in-flight sweep is inferior) but that's not as important as roll ACCELERATION.
The Tornado F3 had an autosweep mechanism like the F-14 but they never used it in-service. I've read two different reasons from A) the system never worked that well, it was too slow to be practical for dogfighting to B) they found that the system actually caused increased wear on the airframe.
One difference in addition was that the F-14 wings swept faster. The motors moving the F-14's wings were more powerful. They supposedly swept faster than the other swing wing planes (B-1, Tu-160, MiG-23/-27, the Tornado's -- ALL manual sweep, btw) and were designed to sweep under G (up to the "maximum limit"* of 7.5G) but at higher-G the wings of course swept slower. The F-111B, which was the failed USN F-4 replacement aircraft, couldn't sweep its wings at more than 1-G which is just another reason the USN didn't order the plane for production and developed the F-14 instead.
* The actual structural engineering limit was 1.5 times the advertised G-limit. ( I've read in multiple places F-14's pulled 9.5G's INSTANTANEOUS, one hard turn... the sustained G-load was 7.5, reduced to 6.5G in later service to extend service life to 7200 hours.) That's true for most modern fighters. The latest can generally pull 12-14 G's structurally BUT it's not a good idea, it wears out the airframe quicker, and no human being tolerates above 9-G well. Most of us would pass out well before 7 or 8G and very few people tolerate above 5 or 6 G sustained well unless they're in tremendous shape and/or wearing G-suits.
David passes on his thanks for your comment. He is a very knowledgable bloke that’s for sure.
They should definitely talk to him about the manuals if they do walkaround books. They've published a few of those for the US market. I should be very careful about aviation books and credits -- half of the books were ORIGINALLY published in the UK and then reprinted in the US! A lot of the aviation experts/historians you hear about on military aviation documentaries are based in the UK -- Bill Sweetman, Bill Gunston, Jon Lake (to name 3 I'm familiar with because I own or owned books they wrote), etc.
Honestly, Mr. Butterfield SHOULD be contacted when someone decides to write the definitive book on the Tornado.
The retirement of the last UK GR4 Tornados is coming in less than 2 years unless they have an emergency and NEED to keep them in service longer. Everybody else (the Germans, Italians, Saudis), whether you think it's wise or not, are keeping THEIR IDS strike models in service until at least 2025...
The only Tornados that are totally out of service are the ADV models and from what I understand aside from the very few that were preserved for museum/static display they scrapped the airframes after they stripped them for parts to support the strike Tornados. They wasted less time in scrapping the Tornado ADV fleet than they did in scrapping the bulk of the remaining F-14s at the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB near Tucson, Arizona. Quite a few F-14 fans were NOT happy when they scrapped the stored planes but they weren't happy, either, when the Harrier was retired in the UK! That's probably the biggest aviation icon in the UK after the Spitfire, isn't it?
AvengerII I am sure he could certainly give it a bash! Your correct, the Harrier is seen as a British icon. David is currently heavily involved with the preservation of F-4 Phantom “Black Mike” so you may want to follow that project if you’re interested.
"An expert" - Well as a line maintenance mechanic he HAS to know how to inspect these things and more importantly WHY you look at them.
He doesn't seem any more expert than other ground crew would be. But, they will all have a high level of knowledge.
The guys in depth maintenance will have an even greater knowledge of the airframe and it's systems.
Don't forget that the safety of the aircrew rest in his hands when he does a pre-flight or carries out rectification work.
Such a great video. Really enjoyed it.
Great interview. I love the fact you interviewed a member of the ground crew so he can give us a look in to the other part of the airforce life. Don't get me wrong I love watching interviews with pilots and there experinces but to become a pilot a lot is riding on you being 100% physical fit for the job i.e good eye sight. So to be able to work on these birds would be a dream job for me as no way I could be a pilot with my eye sight. Sorry about David PTSP. Hope he got better.
I’m sure David will appreciate your comment. Cheers.
I enjoyed that very much- well done. Wish the F3 had stayed in service longer.
An amazing chap and a great walkthrough.
The lower pair of engine gauges are not RPM, they are nozzle area, marked AJ for Area Jetpipe.
Selecting taxi nozzle makes nozzle area larger, not smaller. The idea is to reduce thrust for taxing.
Once again, another fascinating and informative video. Shows just how complex modern combat A/C really are! Often considered the Tornado F3 somewhat underrated.
Pilots know everything from helmet to the front panel and about flying tis thing. This technician knows everything about the whole aircraft. Hats off, respect!
Engineering Technician Airframe, or to us in the trade Riggers, dating back to the days when we rigged the bracing wires and control cables of the aircraft of WW1. I am actually old enough to have been trained to tension aircraft control cables,
Very interesting. Ground crews really know their stuff. Important message (again) ptsd is nothing to be ashamed of. God bless all our service personnel. Everyone a hero. ❤
Painted many Tonkas in the 12 years I was in the RAF,very interesting and noststalgic video very well presented by knowledgeable guy.
Hearing from ground crew is super fascinating
That's what make the aviation industrie so special and so harsh. Dreams, dedication and passion
Well done boy.
Oh dear David, you didn't close all the latches on the Rh gun panel lol. Especially with all that red paint. Good fun to watch, ex GR1 rigger myself but lots of similarities.
Straight away you hit the spot=PHANTOMS. What this jet has over me i will never know.
He must have been in AMF at Coningsby when I was there.
nice to see. reminds me of the years I did on the F3 sim'
Great interview. I vaguely remember Dave from VC10 SMF - nice fella.
Excellent, as always.
Good man.
He is indeed.
Nice guy.......
Nigel Flynn He is indeed
As soon as he said birdnest at 22 minutes, I saw one behind his right hand....
I was in the 402 back in the day yours must be in the 700?
A chock by any other name. Flight line mechanics 'flems' are not engineers. Still a JT after 9 yrs? Did he upset somebody?
That was pretty standard back then - particularly with "Options for Change" which did hamper promotion. When I joined ('98) there were many JT's that left after time-ex (9 years). Most of my first Cpl's left after 22 -years not going any further. Folk get promoted far to quickly these days.
@@djexceptionalsleeper I joined in 82, was a Cpl by 86.
@@jjsmallpiece9234 Time promotion then?
@@djexceptionalsleeper I was a split brain A Eng Tech A/P. 'Appo' to flms and tech DEs, as they were then.
Mimimum of 3 years reporting needed for promotion from JT to Cpl and as this experienced aircraft engineer only appears to have done 3 years in that rank before he left the RAF further career progression was not possible. In my experience ex Flight Line Mechanics were competent and driven in their careers as they didn't have it handed to them on a plate.
No questions were asked by the interviewer so it doesn't even constitute an "interview" in the most basic sense.
No, it doesn't, you are right..
However, it is a great video nonetheless and an excellent change from the norm.
Great idea and good on Dave for remembering his walk around!