24 March 2003 18:43
in case anybody noticed, i had a rather cool hair style last wednesday. (nobody noticed, right? i feel so unloved). isn't anybody the least bit curious why my pillow smells like hydraulic fluid? okay, since you're so insistent on me telling...so that day i was in props lab right? this is where we work on aircraft propellers and get to learn all about them. right, so i was "learning" about propellers by messing around with the landing gear mockup sitting there in lab. no, it wasn't really part of our lab project (actually, it had absolutely nothing to do with the lab... uhm, i was bored perhaps). so the gear came up. fine. the gear goes down (i'm pumping this with a double action hydraulic hand pump, for you trivia seekers). fine. but to get it to truly lock in place requires a fair bit of pressure. normally we don't go for full lock, we let the electric pump worry about that, but hey, i was bored. so i'm hanging off the end of the pump handle when the line from the pump decides to disassemble itself. this is the point where i see what used to be upwards of 1000psi of hydraulic fluid in a 3/16 inch aluminum tube flying towards my face. i made the decision (a rather wise one i say) to close my eyes.
ah, the fun i had. i got them closed in time (instincts are great, it was only about 20" away, i didn't have much time to think about the subject). then i got to grope my way to the eyewash station that i've always made fun of. oh, it gets used regularly, mr. scroggins finds it's the ideal thing to wash his coffee pot out with on a daily basis. also for the uninitiated, 5606 (the type of hydraulic fluid. it's red btw) is decidedly oil based. which decidedly doesn't mix with water (ancient memories from chemistry classes long ago brings to mind the word "emulsify"). so uh, yeah, it wasn't coming off very easy.
i was fine and dandy, i could see at least anywayze :). after all, this isn't the first time i've doused major portions of myself with various and sundry aviation chemicals. so i wiped my face off, tried to soak a majority of the 5606 from my shirt, slicked my hair back (i happen to think it looked cool) and kept going. i did end up with a headache later due to my scalp's wimpy inability to stave off caustic solutions of oily stuff. so i went to bed for a nap (hence the pillows). this was after a shower, but like i said, water and oil arn't happy in the same boat.
why did i tell you this? i don't know, but every time i go to bed i think about it (it has a strong smell). so today i decided to get it off my chest. i washed my pillow cases that is. i’m telling you simply because.. because.. uh. because!
ps, if you happen to be a powerplant electrical student, i'm sorry about the papers i graded—you know, the ones with 5606 splattered lightly over them. fortunately they were mostly out of the way.
moral? if you're going to be applying high pressure to a rickety old system that really shouldn't have high pressure applied to it, get your lab partner to do it.
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