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Apparently the Jesus nut let go with fatal consequences for all four on board the aircraft.


Yup, that's exactly what happened. The Jesus nut let go.

John had flown 'AP for many hours more than he recorded in the tech log. Gill knew that too. She's Jewish and knew the value of a Pound. The Astazou cost about £90k for a hot end overhaul and its schedule was hours based, so he cheated. I'm horribly sad to say that I did warn him that it might bite him in the arse one day, but I was talking about the engine, not the main rotor guzzround stuff. I'd no idea that it had the wrong kind of grease on the threads of the Jesus nut

John was a lovely man, and 'AP was a lovely aircraft to fly, albeit with a rotor wot went bassackwards and needed right boot when pulling lever towards armpit.

Cacophonix wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 17, 2019 7:25 pm

these aircraft were operated by the Squadron 91 of the Portuguese Air Force in Angola, based at Luanda Air Base. When the independence of Angola in 1975, Portugal offered the aircraft to the new country.

"Offered the aircraft" - absolute BS. The Pork and Cheese just cut and ran. I was there at the time, flying puddle-jumpers in the area. One day the P & C were running the country and the next they were gone. Same in Mozambique. Fortunately there the Indians, who did all the work just stepped in. Can't remember whether I had just returned from a charter to LM or about to start one, but lots of confusion reigned for days.

Alison

Alisoncc wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 17, 2019 9:21 pm

Cacophonix wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 17, 2019 7:25 pm

these aircraft were operated by the Squadron 91 of the Portuguese Air Force in Angola, based at Luanda Air Base. When the independence of Angola in 1975, Portugal offered the aircraft to the new country.

"Offered the aircraft" - absolute BS. The Pork and Cheese just cut and ran. I was there at the time, flying puddle-jumpers in the area. One day the P & C were running the country and the next they were gone. Same in Mozambique. Fortunately there the Indians, who did all the work just stepped in. Can't remember whether I had just returned from a charter to LM or about to start one, but lots of confusion reigned for days.

Alison

Yes cutting and running was about the size of it although at the end the Portuguese were given just 24 hours to get out places like Mozambique.

We had a number of Portuguese boys arrive at our school having been literally abandoned in Luanda including the Santiago twins who had no English language skills when they arrived at our boarding department but within days Fernando had learned the word 'poes, as in "my brother ee iz a poes!" Armed with this useful word their future in SA was secured!

The Porras did a real number in Mozambique smashing up the infrastructure and even blocking up toilets in public buildings with cement some said!

https://mg.co.za/article/2010-03-19-the ... g-of-beira

My last memory of LM back in 1973 was being food poisoned and been so badly dehydrated that I was shoved onto a drip in Barberton when I got back to SA.

Caco