I have been on the floor here for almost a week now installing the Bird-Strike MOD on a 747-400 LCF. I got all the new stringers in and the skins drilled and countersunk for Briels(?) rivets. After lunch I was going to remove the skins, trim, seal then begin shooting them on.
During lunch we are discussing finances and I make the comment, "That NWA gig was a good boost for me." This guy says, "Northwest?" I say "Yea Northwest at DTW." He says, "Before or after the strike?" I said, "Well I was contract before and after then I went direct for about seven months." He stares at me for a moment then looks at his buddy and says, "It's time to go outside for a smoke." He gets up and leaves. The guy sitting across from me says, "You worked for Northwest?" I said, "Yea, for a little over a year counting training." The guy laughs and says, "So did he till he walked out on strike." I'm like, "No shet! He's an AMFA Boy?" The guy says, "Yea, he went ahead and retired from there before coming here.
We have our after lunch meeting and you can tell this guy is really pissed. Well they pull me off the Bird-Strike Mod and put me on the Floor-Beam Stabilization MOD. After doing my parts inventory I look up and see three guys up on the nose of the aircraft. so I go up there to give them a turn-over on the job. One of the guys is a lead and they are trying to explain to them that the countersinks are screwed up. I said, "Wait a minute I did those countersinks myself there's nothing wrong with them. They said that they were to deep. I'm thinking, "Oh #### what the hell did I do?" So I dig out a rivet and climb down on to the skin and ask which ones are to deep. They say, All of them." I drop a rivet in a hole and it sets perfect. Now dude is really confused and says, "Well look at this one." I look in the hole and there sits a 1097 rivet at the bottom of the hole. I laugh and pull out another rivet and give a quick lesson on Briles rivets. Some people call them Brow Rivets. Up until this point AMFA Boy had been keeping quiet but once we started drilling some holes in some scrap metal, countersinking and shooting rivets he started coming around and getting into the swing of things. He hasn't run away from the lunch table these past couple of days so I think everything is going to be fine. I can't wait till we get put on a job together. I really do want to talk to him about the strike.
During lunch we are discussing finances and I make the comment, "That NWA gig was a good boost for me." This guy says, "Northwest?" I say "Yea Northwest at DTW." He says, "Before or after the strike?" I said, "Well I was contract before and after then I went direct for about seven months." He stares at me for a moment then looks at his buddy and says, "It's time to go outside for a smoke." He gets up and leaves. The guy sitting across from me says, "You worked for Northwest?" I said, "Yea, for a little over a year counting training." The guy laughs and says, "So did he till he walked out on strike." I'm like, "No shet! He's an AMFA Boy?" The guy says, "Yea, he went ahead and retired from there before coming here.
We have our after lunch meeting and you can tell this guy is really pissed. Well they pull me off the Bird-Strike Mod and put me on the Floor-Beam Stabilization MOD. After doing my parts inventory I look up and see three guys up on the nose of the aircraft. so I go up there to give them a turn-over on the job. One of the guys is a lead and they are trying to explain to them that the countersinks are screwed up. I said, "Wait a minute I did those countersinks myself there's nothing wrong with them. They said that they were to deep. I'm thinking, "Oh #### what the hell did I do?" So I dig out a rivet and climb down on to the skin and ask which ones are to deep. They say, All of them." I drop a rivet in a hole and it sets perfect. Now dude is really confused and says, "Well look at this one." I look in the hole and there sits a 1097 rivet at the bottom of the hole. I laugh and pull out another rivet and give a quick lesson on Briles rivets. Some people call them Brow Rivets. Up until this point AMFA Boy had been keeping quiet but once we started drilling some holes in some scrap metal, countersinking and shooting rivets he started coming around and getting into the swing of things. He hasn't run away from the lunch table these past couple of days so I think everything is going to be fine. I can't wait till we get put on a job together. I really do want to talk to him about the strike.
