Cloth on string that hangs down on old aircraft

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

Hello, first time in the tea room hope I'm not ignored. I have noticed on old planes like the Spitfire that when they are parked up they have red cloth hanging down on parts of the body, what are they for.

Bob

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

I think they are flags attached to plugs,bunging up holes that don't want things in them. A reminder of where the plugs are, and to remove them before taking off.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

“Remove Before Flight”

MichaelG.

.

Bo’sun beat me to it

.

For what it’s worth … I posted this last year:

Just a thought …

Perhaps we should follow the aerospace example: **LINK**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remove_before_flight

provided, of course, that there is somewhere to safely stow the flagged key after removal !!

MichaelG.

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=146601&p=3

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 05/05/2020 10:49:24

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 05/05/2020 11:02:43

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

Undercarriage locks, arm/safe keys on weapons, control surface restraints, covers over sensitive probes, all sorts of things. We had a load of air to air missiles sent out to Ascension Island in 1982 on a VC10 as cargo along with plenty of passengers. The air load master removed all the remove before flight flags that earthed the firing circuits and turned the arm/safe keys to armed to remove them as well. When out armourers went to assist with unloading them they they had to carry out an emergency evacuation of the plane before they could make them safe.

Martin C

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Stops insects getting into the tubes like mud wasps and blocking them up.

[DrDaveParticipant @drdave]

I’ll get me coat…

[RobinParticipant @robin]

Hatches and latches, tight and secure. Radio on, functional, frequency selected. Brakes, on, off, pressure exhausted. Red dangly cloth string things, gone…

[Jon LawesParticipant @jonlawes51698]

Posted by Clive Hartland on 05/05/2020 12:08:31:

Stops insects getting into the tubes like mud wasps and blocking them up.

I've had that happen to me on a helicopter I was babysitting in the US. The aircrew couldn't work out why they had no pitot-statics.

Horrible job pulling all the larvae out with a bit of locking wire…. *barf*

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Martin Connelly on 05/05/2020 12:02:01:

Undercarriage locks, arm/safe keys on weapons, control surface restraints, covers over sensitive probes, all sorts of things. We had a load of air to air missiles sent out to Ascension Island in 1982 on a VC10 as cargo along with plenty of passengers. The air load master removed all the remove before flight flags that earthed the firing circuits and turned the arm/safe keys to armed to remove them as well. When out armourers went to assist with unloading them they they had to carry out an emergency evacuation of the plane before they could make them safe.

Martin C

>BOGGLE<

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

Posted by Jon Lawes on 05/05/2020 15:01:17:

Posted by Clive Hartland on 05/05/2020 12:08:31:

Stops insects getting into the tubes like mud wasps and blocking them up.

I've had that happen to me on a helicopter I was babysitting in the US. The aircrew couldn't work out why they had no pitot-statics.

Horrible job pulling all the larvae out with a bit of locking wire…. *barf*

Insects in your Pitot tube, nasty!

[Author]

Posts