Well, I found a new toy. The Firemill.
It’s basically a fancy tube with a regular CO2 bottle.
And I thought, why not use something that will put out electrical fires without leaving a ton of powder behind, to clean up. I mean, an extinguisher I’d might actually use…
So, I bought one. The cheaper plastic ones come in black or white.
Now, who has ever seen a white fire extinguisher in a cockpit?
No, there are regulations to adhere to. Right, @Hangar200? (Yes, I’m fishing for a sea story). And, my daughter has a friend sleeping over in the guestroom, so the SimBox had to be stowed and I needed something else to occupy myself with…
Here’s where I’m at. The Firemill tube got a rub down with some wet&dry sanding and a few coats of red paint.
Let me see…NATOPS regs apply here…I recall something about no smoking 12 hours prior to flight and no drinking alcoholic beverages within 50 feet of the aircraft…or do I have that backwards?
Had to split it in three sections because of the available printing space in my 3D printer.
The idea is that the lid is held in place by a pin. Pull the pin upwards and the lid falls off and you can use the Firemill. I thought a lid was a good idea since it secures the Firemill sideways and also covers the opening, preventing dust to enter the diffusor.
The lid, pin and firemill is held in place by gravity. So no negative G maneuvers from now on…
OK, next is the preventative maintenance schedule or PMS (I’m not kidding, that’s what it is called). So you need to hang a tag on it that has a little grid with columns marked Wt. and Int. Then you need to have a seaman or petty officer come through every month and weigh the extinguisher. Each time he or she does, they will write the weight and initial it in the appropriate column…although it is customary to have both illegible. When they finish a card (both sides) stick it in a file somewhere and keep it for two years…or until you forget where the file is located.
