Caravelle's flight deck door

Suomeksi

The Caravelle’s flight deck door came from Arlanda dismounted from its hinges and the wall panels around it were mainly missing, so it took us a while to figure out how the door had been installed and what its surroundings looked like. We were surprised to find out that the door opens both ways, which explained the unusual fasteners on the door frame and the double-sided hinges.

The restoration work of the flight deck door followed the same steps which we used earlier when working on both toilet doors. First the edging strips were removed, and the door handle was dismantled, together with other possible elements. The flight deck door has a ventilation grille at the bottom which could be closed from the flight deck side using a small panel.

Then the surfaces were sanded and spackled. A new surfacing material was installed on both sides: on the flight deck side a vinyl wallpaper and on the cabin side a wallpaper which resembles the original surface material.

The following step was to install the edging strips and other elements back into place. The photo below shows how the closing panel on the ventilation grille was installed.

Then the door was mounted into place, to test how it worked. After some adjustments the door was in place in its correct position. As the door has been designed to open both ways, the brackets on the door frame had to be adjusted before the door functioned properly.

Finally the wall panel above the door had to be built because the original had not been preserved. In the photo below the wall panel is preliminarily in place but it requires some adjustment. The edging strips on the door frame are also missing.

In the photo on the left you can see the new electrical board and the lighting switches above it. On the right you see a photo of the original flight deck door on the wall. We used this photo to figure out how the door is installed. A new lighting fixture has already been installed in the ceiling. The ceiling panel on the left side still needs to be resurfaced.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen and Ismo Matinlauri.

Translation to English by Erja Reinikainen.