The passenger seats are ready

Sunnuntai 18.5.2025 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

The interior and assembly work in the Caravelle’s cabin has progressed well during the spring. Finally the hard work is showing results - and about time, too! The passenger seats for the front section of the cabin have been under work for about 18 months, since early 2024.

One of the first tasks for the seats was the inventory of the existing seat covers. There were just enough original seat back covers for about twenty seats, which was the starting point for the cabin lay-out. The seat covers were washed and repaired last summer. The seat belts were cleaned and checked. New plastic foam padding was delivered for the seats during the summer too.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

In August 2024 the actual repair work began on the seat frames and their mechanisms. The seat frames which were in good condition were selected and the remaining seats were stripped of spare parts. The “seat repair team” managed to put together 19 seat frames which were in fair condition and suitable for further assembly. The pre-cut padding material was glued into form to fit the seat frames. When the weather got cold in November, and it wasn’t possible to work outside anymore, the painting work was moved into the office container in the Caravelle area.

Photo: Jouko Tarponen

During the winter months the seat frames were sanded and painted twice. First a base coat of paint and then the top-coat paint, which matched the original colour. Then the seat frames were stored for the winter in the DC-3 fuselage (DO-5) which is located beside our Caravelle.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

When spring 2025 arrived the seat assembly was continued, working outside with the seat fastened on a jig built on cargo pallets. The seat back covers probably had shrunk a little when washed or the new padding on the seat back is slightly thicker than the original, so putting them on caused a lot of huffing and puffing and some broken nails. The years of use and decades of storing have left their mark on the seat covers, and we had to pay attention that the covers with more damage were on the seats by the window. But the overall appearance is nice.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

The carpet had been installed in the front cabin section before the seats were brought in and the curtains had been put up, so the surrounding was ready for seat assembly. The seats were easily fastened on the original seat tracks on the floor. The seat assembly was completed by adding the headrest covers we got from the Finnish Aviation Museum.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

Photo: Jouko Tarponen

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio

Caravelle's cabin got the first refurbished seat and curtains

Maanantai 21.4.2025 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

The interior work in the Caravelle’s cabin has been going on almost since the aircraft left Arlanda, nearly three years ago. The surfaces in the cabin have been cleaned, insulated, refurbished, upholstered and painted. Now we have reached a point where some surfaces are ready, and the hard work is paying off. I am sure this summer the visitors will appreciate the outcome too.

A passenger cabin section has been built in the front part of the cabin, separated from the open rear section with new bulkheads. Four rows of passenger seats will be assembled in the front part, to illustrate what the cabin looked like in the 1960s. The seat frames, brought from Arlanda, were restored and painted last autumn, and the seat covers were washed and repaired. Now it was time to assemble a demo-seat where all restored parts are included.

Each seat has two pieces of padding made of foamed plastic: a section for the seat back, shaped according to an original model, and the thick seat cushion, cut to form. All padding parts had to be made from new material. The original set of seat textiles consists of three parts: the seat back hood, the cover for the backside of the seat back (including the seat pocket), and the seat cushion cover.  The seat back hood is fastened on the seat frame with Velcro tape, the seat pocket part with two screws and Velcro tape. The seat cushion and its cover are fastened on the seat with four snap fasteners, located under the seat. The seat belt halves are fastened on the seat frame with lock hooks.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

The seats are assembled outside the aircraft, using a jig built on cargo pallets. The seat frames are fastened on aircraft seat tracks on the pallet, and there is more working space around the seat than in the cabin. This proved to be a good arrangement, the working height was good and even the weather was favourable when the first seat was assembled. Developing the working methods and the correct assembly order required some discussing and testing, so assembling the demo seat took almost the whole day.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

The original cabin curtains were removed to be washed and repaired about a year ago. The curtains were mainly in good condition and no major repair was needed. At this point we installed back ten curtains in the front section of the cabin. The curtains are fastened at the top and at the bottom on the roller slides on the curtain track with snap fasteners. There are 28 snap fasteners per curtain and fastening them required some dexterity and patience.

Photos: Erja Reinikainen

When the 3-passenger seat had been brought into the cabin and the curtains were in place, it was time to sit down and relax. A new milestone had been reached in the Caravelle restoration project: the cabin is beginning to look like the interior of an aircraft again. It has taken a while – and it looks good.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

Photo: Jouko Tarponen

Repairing the flight deck seat covers

Tiistai 1.4.2025 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

There are four seats on the Caravelle’s flight deck: the captain’s and co-pilot’s seats in front, the third crew member’s / observer’s seat at the back on the right-hand side and on the left-hand side an auxiliary seat, without a seatback, located on top of the box containing the manual library. Last autumn all seat textiles and safety belts were dismantled in the cockpit for repair and maintenance. The seat frames and most of the padding material were in surprisingly good condition.

The captain’s seat’s armrest mechanism as well as all the seat position adjustment mechanisms were checked and fixed before the winter break. The padding for the pilots’ seat was all right, but new padding had to be made for the observer’s seat and for the rectangular auxiliary seat. There was plenty of plastic foam sheet, left over from cutting the padding for the passenger seats, to be used for this purpose.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

The seat covers on the flight deck, however, were in poor condition. Especially the pilots’ seat cushion covers had worn thin and almost transparent, and the seatback covers had actual holes in their upper part. We discussed the possibilities for repairing the covers, but came to the conclusion that for the seat cushion covers the only alternative was to replace the cover fabric.

Photo: Annya Crowther

New fabric resembling the original seat cover wool-mix fabric in the right colour is quite impossible to find, so we decided to make the new sections from completely different material. The colour of the heavy cotton fabric resembles the faded greenish grey colour of the original seat covers (originally the fabric has obviously been dark grey).

On the pilots’ seats the covers for the seat cushion and the seatback are fastened on the seat frame with snap fasteners. There are 44 snap fasteners per seat. We found out that similar snap fasteners are not easily available, and the top parts of new snaps don’t fit on the original bottom parts, fastened on the seat frame. Therefore we decided to keep the sections of the seat covers, which held the top parts of the snap fasteners. The worn mid-sections of the cushion covers were unstitched from the snap fastener sections and replaced. The new fabric was cut into shape, using the unstitched section as a template, and sewn on to the original snap fastener sections.

Photos: Annya Crowther

The holes on the upper edge of the pilots’ seatback covers were patched with the original fabric, using the better sections from the unstitched seat cushion parts. The patches were sewn on the holes and worn areas.

Only the top side fabric was replaced on the rectangular pillowcase-like cover of the auxiliary seat. The observer’s seat cover was in such good condition that it needed only minor mending.

Last summer we managed to repair the passenger seat covers with an ordinary household sewing machine and very basic sewing skills. This time we got help with the flight deck seat covers from an experienced soft furnishings sewer, who is using a heavy-duty professional sewing machine. A good sewing machine was needed when sewing the seams of old and new fabric.

The back sides of the pilots’ seatbacks have seat pockets and the elastic band at the top had lost its stretch and the pockets were sagging. New elastic bands were put in and the seat pockets got a refreshed look in an industrial pressing machine.

Photo: Annya Crowther

The seat belts from the flight deck were cleaned with a pressure washer and spread to dry. When the belts were dry their leather parts were wiped with colourless shoe polish. No other maintenance was needed for the seat belts. When the photo was taken the belts in the middle had been washed and the ones on the sides were waiting their turn.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

The flight deck seat cover repairs were completed just before the work season in 2025 began in Turku. “Caravelle Team Helsinki” travelled to Turku on 25 March to check the counterbalancing mechanism of the passenger door before the door was taken into use and brought also the repaired and refurbished flight deck textiles. The padding material had spent the winter in the storage container and felt slightly damp, so it was put up to dry in the sun against the office container wall for a moment before installation.

Assembling the flight deck seat padding, seat covers, and seat belts required some effort: there isn’t too much space on the flight deck and the covers had slightly shrunk when washed, so fastening all the original snap fasteners wasn’t easy. A good hour later, and after some foul vocabulary, broken nails and scratched fingers, the two pilots’ seats and the observer’s seat were ready. And they looked great. The fastening of the auxiliary seat cover still needs some adjustment.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

When the last missing flight instruments had been installed in the instrument panel, the flight deck was ready for the summer season and visitors.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

Caravelle's flight deck door

Torstai 13.2.2025 - Ismo Matinlauri

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.

Caravelle's bulkhead restoration - Part 3 of 3

Tiistai 28.1.2025 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

The segments of the cabin’s back wall panelling were found among the separate parts which came from Arlanda with the aircraft. The panels have some maintenance and inspection hatches for various equipment. The cabin crew seat which moves sideways on tracks fastened on the back wall was also found among the panels.

When the restoration and coating of the side wall interior had progressed to the rear part of the cabin, the restoration of the back wall panels could be started. In the photo the coating work has reached the rear wall, the following phase was to test-fit the wall elements into place and check their condition.

After some digging in the rear galley and the sea containers all wall panel segments were found. The last item to be found was the segment between the tracks for the cabin crew sliding seat, it is still missing in this picture. A small section of this panel, by the cabin wall, was not found and it had to be made. Some small parts of the left-hand side panelling remained missing, too.

The rear part of the overhead storage shelves was moved to the right-hand side, so a new part had to be made for covering the shelf end hole in the rear wall.

The missing parts were made of flexible building board, purchased earlier. It was protected from humidity by painting it with a suitable undercoat paint, then a suitable piece was cut into shape.

Finally the new panelling pieces were covered with vinyl coated wallpaper, resembling the original coating. Then each piece was fitted into place and fastened.

The assembly of the rear wall panelling went well. We took into account that the panelling may have to be disassembled in the spring when the ceiling coating is assembled in the middle of the aisle area.

The cabin crew seat was assembled into place and its bearings and wheels were oiled to make sure it moves smoothly. The seat frame was removed, it will be sanded and painted before final assembly in the spring.

The seat padding and cover had already been disassembled and taken to the Caravelle Helsinki Team “textile manager” to be cleaned and repaired.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen and Ismo Matinlauri.

Translation to English by Erja Reinikainen.

Caravelle's bulkhead restoration - Part 2 of 3

Keskiviikko 15.1.2025 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

A passenger seating area, consisting of four seat rows, will be built in the front part of the cabin. Seats for three passengers will be assembled on the right-hand side and double seats on the left-hand side. The overhead storage shelves and wall surfacing material on the right side were dismantled by the Swedes while the aircraft was still in Arlanda. With the four seat rows the cabin would look rather odd without the overhead shelves, so we moved some shelves from the rear of the cabin on left-hand side to the front on the right side.

The passenger seating area is separated from the open cabin area at the back with a new bulkhead. This kind of original bulkhead (or parts of it) did not exist in the aircraft, so it had to be made.

Building the new bulkhead

We had plenty of 10 mm plywood left from an earlier work phase, so we decided to use this material to make the new bulkhead. This saved a good amount of money; it will be needed for other purposes before the interior is ready. The outcome looks good and resembles an original bulkhead, which meets our requirements.

We used the bulkhead halves of the cabin front as a template to define the shape of the bulkhead parts. The outline of the bulkhead was drawn on a plywood board. It should be noticed that the line of overhead storage shelves on the left-hand side continues further back in the cabin and therefore we had to shape an opening in the bulkhead for the shelf. A rough sketch for the size and location of the opening can be seen on the plywood board in the photograph.

After the bulkhead halves had been cut to shape, they were test-assembled several times and the curvature on the cabin wall side had to be modified before the final shape was reached.

The plywood parts were sanded, and the largest holes and dents were spackled before the elements were surfaced.

Surface treatment

Both sides of the new bulkhead halves were surfaced using the same vinyl coated wallpaper which was used on the front bulkhead in the cabin. Vertical plastic strips were fastened on the aisle side of the bulkhead edges to protect the plywood material and to give the wallpapered sides a finishing touch.

Outcome

The surfaced bulkhead halves were assembled into place and fastened at the top and bottom with small corner brackets. At the bottom they will be covered when the carpet is installed and at the top they were hidden inside the overhead storage shelves.

There is a narrow gap between the cabin wall and the bulkhead, it will be filled with a strip of foamed plastic in the finalising phase next spring. The asymmetry of the bulkhead halves can be seen in the picture. The reason for the asymmetry is that the seat arrangement will be 3+2 seats, and the aisle is not in the middle of the fuselage but slightly on the left-hand side. (The picture was taken from the front of the aircraft towards the rear.)

Photos by Ismo Matinlauri.

Translation to English by Erja Reinikainen.

Caravelle's bulkhead restoration - Part 1 of 3

Torstai 2.1.2025 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

During the summer and autumn the interior work in the Caravelle’s cabin progressed surprisingly well. There were no major surprises on the way and the work progressed as planned. There are three bulkheads in the cabin and individual blogs will be written about each one.

This first part concentrates on the restoration work of the bulkhead in the front part of the cabin. It separates the front galley from the actual passenger cabin. As we don’t have a galley in our Caravelle, the front section could be called the entrance area.

The following blogs will describe the construction of the bulkhead which separates the seating area from the open rear area, and the restoration of the rear bulkhead which is between the toilets and the open area.

Test assembly

The cabin front bulkheads are original, they came with the aircraft from Arlanda, where the Caravelle waited for its fate from 1974 until 2022. On the entrance side the bulkhead had a grey plastic coating, which had broken and crackled in large areas during the decades. The remaining parts of coating were scraped off and then the old brown glue under it, covering the whole wall, was ground smooth.

In the picture both halves of the bulkhead have been test assembled into place for defining suitable fastenings.

Notice how the lower part of the bulkhead elements protrudes forward, towards the entrance area. This gave the passengers on the other side of the wall, on the first seat row, a little more legroom.

Dismantling and cleaning

The following step was to dismantle all decorative elements and add-ons, such as ashtrays, newspaper pockets, loudspeakers, etc. Furthermore, the fabric covering, on the lower part of the bulkhead on the passenger cabin side, was also removed as it was in poor condition.

The add-on elements were cleaned so that they were ready to be re-assembled on the restored bulkheads as the finishing touch.

Restoring the surfaces

A vinyl coated wallpaper, designed for humid spaces, was installed on the entrance side of the cabin bulkhead. Its pattern and colour corresponded with the original style quite well. The wallpaper was glued on the bulkhead surface using glue which is suitable for outdoor use and is water-soluble, which made it easier to get all the tools clean.

All the other bulkheads in the cabin were covered with the same vinyl coated wallpaper to create a uniform style inside the passenger cabin. On the passenger seating area side the original brown fabric on the lower part of the bulkhead was changed to the new carpet material. Finnair had donated a roll of aircraft carpet earlier in the year. Suitable pieces were cut from the carpet roll for the legroom part of the wall and glued on the bulkhead. The wallpaper on the upper part of the bulkhead was still in good condition, it only needed to be cleaned. This required a magic eraser, some cleaning liquid and a fair amount of proper scrubbing.

The outcome

When the restoration and cleaning work was ready, the add-on elements and decorations were fastened back on the walls and the bulkhead halves were installed into place in the cabin. Only the curtain is missing and the vertical strips from the sides of the bulkhead doorway. These will be installed during the spring 2025.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen and Ismo Matinlauri.

Translation to English by Erja Reinokainen.

Santa Claus visited Caravelle

Tiistai 10.12.2024 - Ismo Matinlauri

SuomeksiThis year Santa dropped by at Turku airport on 7-8 December and visited our Caravelle a week earlier than last year. This year Santa was accompanied by his wife and one of his helper elves. These two served the visitors glogg and gingerbread.

Santa sat down on the captain’s seat, fastened his favourite soft toy (a Santa Claus, naturally) on the instrument panel and everything was ready for the Christmas journey.

This year we had 49 visitors during the weekend, about 20 of them children. There were several Christmas markets and bazaars in the Turku area during this weekend, and this probably affected the number of visitors at the airport.

The Christmas crew served glogg, juice, gingerbread and chocolate. Old Feeniks aviation history journals were available for free, as souvenirs from the Caravelle visit.

Before Santa’s visit the office container and the Caravelle’s passenger cabin were cleaned after the busy autumn’s work. The tools were gathered, the floors were vacuumed, and all loose items were arranged neatly along the walls. This meant that the actual working period of this autumn has come to an end. Winter is coming and the lower temperatures restricts work in the aircraft and outside. We will come back to work in March when the winter is almost over.

The sales table in the office was slightly less impressive than in the summer, but quite adequate for Santa’s visit.

Several members of the Caravelle Turku team were present. Jari was there on both days and on Sunday also our chairman Janne arrived although we had a table in the Christmas bazaar at the Turku Fair Center during the weekend. This meant that the Aviation Museum Society Finland volunteers were busy in these two places. Janne, Mikko and Tanja were behind the sales table at the Turku Fair Centre.

We were pleased to have a good number of visitors in both places. Next year we will try to improve our programme in the Caravelle and hopefully get more visitors.

Translation by Erja Reinikainen.

Repairing the cockpit seat covers

Torstai 28.11.2024 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

This blog talks about the situation of the Caravelle’s cockpit seats and their covers.

There are four seats in Caravelle’s cockpit: the captain’s and co-pilot’s seats in front, the third crew member’s seat at the back on the right-hand side and an auxiliary seat on the left-hand side, located on top of the box containing the manual library. The third crew member seat can be moved into multiple positions along a curved rail fastened on the floor. The auxiliary seat has no seatback and is literally shaped like a box. The seat frames are made of metal sheet, they are in good condition and their adjustment controls seem to work, so there is no need for repairs.

Photo 1: There are several levers for position control under and beside the pilots’ seats.

The seat covers were removed to be cleaned and repaired. There was a multitude of snap fasteners to be unfastened in the most difficult places! The seatback covers of the pilots’ seats are in fair condition, both covers have a small worn area and a hole in the upper corner, probably where all visitors have been leaning when talking to the pilots. The captain’s seat cushion cover is very worn and is almost transparent in a large area. It will need thorough repair or renewal. The co-pilot’s seat cover is not in as poor condition as the captain’s. The third crew member seat covers are almost undamaged.

Photo 2: The captain’s seat cushion cover has worn thin. Photo by Jouko Tarponen.

The cover for the rectangular auxiliary seat is badly broken on top and on the side. The fabric cover has been made to hide the original leather-covered seat cushion, which remains inside in very poor condition. The padding will have to be replaced and probably also the top part of the fabric cover.

All seat covers are light grey but partly so dirty that they have turned dark – or this is what we first thought. The third crew member seat cover was taken off for a wash test. The test proved that the dark grey colour is not dirt but probably very close to the original fabric colour and the lighter part has faded in the sun. The original colour has remained unchanged on the snap fastener strips under the seat, on the rear side of the seatbacks and their seat pockets.

Photo 3: The seat covers have partly faded in the sun.

At this point a sub-plot must be told. When the storage shelves of the restoration workshop in the Finnish Aviation Museum were cleared, a cardboard box was found, and it was labelled “Finnair upholstery patterns”. The museum let us have a look at the material. The patterns, made of cardboard, proved to contain a good number of patterns for Caravelle seat covers. Among the 50+ sets of patterns there were four piles for Caravelle’s cockpit seats. We made copies from these patterns on non-woven fabric and took the copies to Turku to be test-fitted on the pilots’ seats. We were not lucky this time: none of the patterns found in the museum matched the seat covers on the flight deck of our Caravelle. Obviously the pilots’ seats on the Finnair aircraft were different from the ones on the SAS aircraft (our Caravelle was originally the SAS SE-DAF). Finding the correct patterns for the seat covers would have been a real stroke of luck, but it will be possible to repair the covers even without the patterns.

Photo 4: The seat cover and other upholstery patterns found in the Finnish Aviation Museum.

Plans for patching and partly replacing the fabric on the pilots’ seat covers and the auxiliary seat cover have been made. The following step will be to choose a new fabric which matches the original one. The aim is to have all flight deck seat covers repaired and the seat belts maintained before the spring season in the Caravelle refurbishment begins in March. There is a load of work ahead.

Photos by Erja Reinikainen except if otherwise mentioned.

Refurbishing the passenger seats, Part 3: All sorts of odd jobs and layers of history

Keskiviikko 6.11.2024 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

The Turku team of Caravelle volunteers has been working hard this autumn and the interior work in the cabin has progressed well. The front part of the cabin, which will be furnished with passenger seats, is now separated from the rear part with refurbished partitions. The surfacing material is in place on the walls and ceiling, electrical wiring has been installed and the new distribution panel connected. Only the strip of led lighting in the ceiling is missing. All floorboards are in place, but the carpet is waiting to be installed before the seats are brought in. The cabin curtain tracks have been fastened on the new wall covering and the curtain slides were fiddled back on the track. Everything is ready for installing the curtains.  

Interior refurbishment has been started also in the rear section of the cabin. This part will be an open exhibition area which can also be used for gatherings and meetings. The new wall surfacing material progressed well before the winter break. Hopefully we can start building a Caravelle exhibition in the spring.

Photo 1: Caravelle volunteers from the Turku team and the Helsinki team having a coffee break.

This blog talks about the progress of the passenger seat refurbishment. The so-called Helsinki team has been responsible for this work. (Funny though that not one of the four members of the Helsinki team actually comes to Turku from Helsinki…)

In the beginning of this autumn we were hoping that there will be one refurbished demo seat ready before the winter, fitted with new padding and “dressed” in repaired seat covers. We didn’t quite reach this goal.

The refurbishment work includes four seat rows, i.e. 8 seat frames with a total of 19 individual seats. These include five 2-person seats and four 3-person seats. Mechanisms of the armrests and seat tables were repaired, the broken seat back structures were reinforced and broken seat back rubber bands were replaced. Fortunately we have some seat frames in the storage container, and they have been stripped of various spare parts.

Photo 2: The seat backs have needed all kinds of repair and maintenance. Photo by Erja Reinikainen.

When dismantling the seats we have experienced some time travelling: the arm rest shield on the aisle side seat holds a good deposit of “history” from the time when the aircraft carried passengers. In this case this means nondescript lint. Among hair, dog hair, dried bread and other food residue, etc. we have found hair pins and coins, dropped by the passengers, and various kinds of small metal parts, which probably have escaped from the fingers of technical staff. The Caravelle team has now a collection of some Swedish crowns, but the big hoard of gold has not been found yet.

The seat frames have been painted several times when they were in use from the 1960s to the 1980s. (You may remember that the seats are from the Transwede Caravelle 10BR (SE-DEC) which was damaged beyond repair in an unsuccessful take-off in Arlanda in January 1978) The latest layer of the cream white paint was crackled and had partly peeled off. The painted surface is mainly visible on the seat legs and on the baggage guard rail, which prevents the baggage under the seat from moving uncontrolled on the floor. From these parts of the seat the layers of paint were sanded off before repainting. The sanding work was done outdoors, in rainy weather under the Caravelle’s wing. When sanding, we found some chewing gum under the seats, placed there conveniently out of sight at the time.

Photo 3: The seat frames were sanded under the Caravelle’s win.

Photo 4: The seat frames have been painted with primer and are drying in the autumn sun.

Towards the end of October the passenger seat legs and baggage guard rails were painted. The undercoat paint could be applied outside but the topcoat painting was done in the Caravelle area “container office” as the weather got colder. The “office” has proved to be very multifunctional, it serves the volunteers as an office, visitor centre, storage space, coffee room, paint shop and as workspace for the interior refurbishment.

Photo 5: Topcoat painting under way in the office.

The passenger seat frames were stored for the winter in the DC-3 fuselage which is located beside the Caravelle. This aircraft (DO-5) served last in Utti as a ground training device for the paratroopers and it has canvas seats by the walls with a wide empty space in the middle. So the DC-3 is quite suitable to be used as a storage – but there seemed to be mice dwelling in it. Small uninvited visitors are not wanted to build nests in the foamed plastic pieces, cut for the passenger seat padding. Therefore we decided to move the padding material to the sea container for the winter.

Photo 6: Caravelle seat frames and new padding material stored inside the DC-3.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen except if otherwise mentioned.

Refurbishing the passenger seats, part 2: Padding

Maanantai 21.10.2024 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

Refurbishment of the Caravelle’s passenger seats is under way. We repaired and washed original seat covers and now padding for 22 seats has been acquired. The refurbishment work includes four seat rows, i.e. 8 seat frames with a total of 19 individual seats. These include five 2-person seats and four 3-person seats. We are still debating about adding 2+2 seats to the open rear cabin area.

This is how the seats will be placed in the cabin. When this picture was taken the cabin partitions and ceiling material had not yet been installed.

This blog talks about replacing the seat padding.

We have only one original seatback padding piece, made of foamed plastic. We had to order new padding to fit the seats and the original seat covers. Muovikum Oy from Raisio cut new seat cushion and seat back padding for 22 seats, based on seat measurements and on the test versions we had prepared. The new padding was delivered in the beginning of August.  

The seat cushion (40x40 cm) was cut from 10 cm thick E30 quality foamed plastic. Its thickness at the rear edge of the seat is about 5 cm and at the front edge 10 cm. The cushion will be covered with thin felt plate to hide the bevelling in the material, needed for the change in the cushion thickness. With the felt plate the seat cover will also fit better and look neater. This finishing job we will do ourselves.

The seatback padding is made of 5 cm thick E30 quality foamed plastic. The size of the padding is about 41x75 cm. Preparing new padding for the seatback proved to be rather arduous because at the top there is a piece of foamed plastic, placed horizontally on top of the seatback edge as padding and supporting the seatback padding in its position. Originally this supporting piece has been made of hard foamed plastic and had a rounded shape. To save costs we didn’t acquire similar material or had it cut to shape but made it from E30 foamed plastic.

Left: The upper part of the original seatback paddin. Right: The first prototype of the upper part of the new seatback paddin.

First we made some prototypes of the supporting piece to find the right shape and make sure the seat cover fits nicely on the padding. Fortunately Muovikum had given us the waste pieces from cutting the seatback padding so there was plenty of foamed plastic for prototype tests and practising with the spray glue.

The parts for the upper edge of the seatback padding were cut from foamed plastic waste pieces.

After three test rounds, we had the seat cover top shape and angle right and “series production” could be started. Two foamed rubber pieces, cut to shape, were glued to the top edge of the actual seatback padding, using spray glue purchased from Muovikum. Spray gluing proved to be rather messy, fortunately we could work outside.

New seatback padding on the ”gluing line”, with finished items drying in the background.

The following step in the padding will be to cover the seat cushion with the 20 mm thick felt plate to make the seat cover look good.

We aim to get the seat frame refurbishment as far as possible this autumn. Hopefully we will have one refurbished demo seat ready before the winter, fitted with new padding and “dressed” in repaired seat covers.

Photos by Erja Reinikainen except if otherwise mentioned.

Refurbishing the passenger seats, part 1

Sunnuntai 29.9.2024 - Erja Reinikainen

The interior work in the Aviation Museum Society Finland owned Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle III at Turku airport is under way and the passenger seat refurbishment has also been started. There will be four rows of seats in the cabin, with a partition at the back, separating the open area in the rear section from the actual cabin part. The front seats on both sides of the aisle will be double seats, but the other three rows will have the original lay-out with three seats on the RH side and double seats on the left. We have original textiles and seat belts for fitting about twenty seats.

This blog talks about starting the seat refurbishment.

All the seat frames in our possession have suffered from the decades of storage and they will have to be repaired. The work was started by choosing from our storage sea container eight seats, which were in the best condition. In good weather the repair and refurbishment work has been done outdoors, with the Caravelle’s wing sheltering a little from the heat of the late summer sun. On rainy days we have been using the cabin of the DC-3 (registered as DO-5 in the Finnish Air Force), standing next to the Caravelle, as a workspace.

The condition and functioning of the seat back, arm rests and seat table are checked and tested. If some part is not moving as it should, the aim is to repair and fix it to functioning condition. Especially the arm rests are broken or not moving. The plastic covers at the end of the seat frame, under the arm rest, have suffered from transport and storage, some of the covers are broken.  The seat back webbing is made of rubber belts, some of them have dried and crumbled and the metal hooks, fastening the webbing to the seat back frame, have broken. It seems that during their lifetime the seats have been repaired several times, mainly the arm rests and the seat back webbing.

Photo by Erja Reinikainen.

Fortunately we have six more passenger seat frames stored in the sea container and it has been possible to dismantle armrests, seat tables, seat frame plastic covers and seat back webbing from them to use as spare parts for the seats under refurbishment. Up to now the functioning parts on a couple of seats have been checked and refurbished, faulty and broken parts have been dismantled and replaced with spare parts – and the work continues. Seat tables have been overhauled and cleaned. In some seats the seat back structure, made of light metal, has broken and it has been strengthened with a patch sheet. The life vest pouches were removed from the seats. We don’t have any life vests and the pouches under the seat obstruct the refurbishment and painting of the seat frame.

The following step will be the sanding of the seat frame legs, where the paint is flaking and peeling off. The legs will be painted using paint which matches the hue of the plastic cover on the seat end.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen except if otherwise mentioned.

Caravelle's seat covers repaired

Sunnuntai 11.8.2024 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

Caravelle two years ago. Some of it clearly belonged to the SE-DAF but there was also material from some former SAS Caravelle and probably from other types of aircraft as well. The material could be partly from the Transwede Caravelle 10BR (SE-DEC) which was damaged beyond repair in an unsuccessful take-off in Arlanda in January 1978.

In autumn 2023 we rummaged through the crates in the storage container at Turku airport. We found out that there were enough seat covers and other material for the 4-5 seat rows which were to be assembled in the front section of the cabin. The Caravelle seats could be fitted with original seat covers and seat belts. Original seat padding or cushion material has not been preserved so new ones will have to be made.

This blog describes how the old seat covers were repaired for use.

The dark green seat covers, made of some kind of wool mix fabric, consist of three parts:

• the cover of the actual seat part which is fastened to the bottom of the seat frame with four poppers (snap fasteners)
• the seatback “hood” which is pulled on the seatback frame and its padding, and fastened with Velcro tape on the backside of the seatback and by its lower edge on the seat pocket part
• the upholstery material for the seatback’s backside and the seat pocket which is fastened on the seat frame with screws by its upper corners, some glue and two hooks connected to the seat pocket, furthermore the lower edge of the seat pocket is fastened on the lower edge of the seatback hood with Velcro tape  

Further examination of the textile material showed that there were about 40 seat part covers, some of them broken and worn beyond repair. There were far less seatback hoods, about 25 of them. They are mainly rather worn and already patched. Seat pockets we have in large numbers, but many of them are dirty and several are broken. However, the situation looked good and there was useful material for covering about 25 seats.

The repairing of the seat covers was started with a washing test. The seat cover parts of one seat were washed in an ordinary household washing machine, in a 30°C gentle wash cycle, and dried. Comparing the washed parts to the unwashed ones proved that the fabric didn’t shrink. The wet fabric had a really odd smell, maybe it was due to decades of storage in the wooden box, or maybe it was some fire-retardant chemical from the 1960s… After the washing test the repair work commenced, the repaired seat covers would be washed later.

The first parts to be repaired were the actual seat parts. The typical damage included ripped seams, broken or missing poppers, round holes – probably caused by a cigarette fallen from a passenger or by the ash fallen from a cigarette. As patching material some non-fraying green cotton fabric was bought from Eurokangas, the colour proved to be very close to the original one. The patching fabric was washed before use. The holes and worn or frayed areas were patched by placing a piece of patching fabric under the area and stitch criss-cross over the hole area, using a household sewing machine. Poppers were moved from seat covers beyond repair to the ones in better condition but missing poppers. 

Then the seat cover hoods were repaired. The typical damage in them were ripped seams and threadbare areas in the lower parts of the hood where the seat belt and the seatback movement have rubbed the fabric. There are so few seatback hoods available that repairing the worst ones meant sewing new patches on old patches. The household sewing machine couldn’t handle the trickiest patches and help from a friend with an industrial sewing machine was needed.

The last item to be repaired were the seat pocket parts. At the time they have been removed from the seat frames without opening the screws on the top corners, so the corner pieces have been ripped off. Nearly all seat pocket parts needed their corners patched. The actual seat pocket is a pocket sewn on the fabric covering the backside of the seatback. There has been an elastic band at the top edge of the pocket, fastened on the seatback frame with small hooks. We don’t have any original elastic bands or hooks. Developing a new elastic band and hook system took some time. Eventually a small birdcage lock clips which fitted a 20 mm elastic band were found and the clip will be easy to fasten on the seatback frame. The downside of this solution is that it was quite arduous to slip the elastic through the seat pocket edge and sew the clips on the elastic band on 24 seats…

When all seat cover parts had been repaired, they were washed in 30°C gentle wash cycle. The ugly stains (maybe coffee?) on the seat pockets came off quite nicely even in the household washing machine. Weather permitting, the washed textiles were hung outside to dry to get rid of the odd smell.

There are plenty of turquoise seat belts in our container and we could select the ones in best condition to be reused. A pressure washer was used for washing the seat belts, then they were hung out to dry. The fastening mechanism on both ends of each seat belt needs to be checked and oiled. Each belt has a label with the manufacturing or installation date, the belts have been labelled in the 1960s and 1970s.

The repaired and washed seat covers and seat belts are now waiting for the seat frames to be repaired and for the new padding material to arrive.

Photos by Erja Reinikainen.

A busy weekend at Caravelle at Turku airport during July 13th and 14th

Maanantai 15.7.2024 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

This weekend was the busiest we have had so far this year at our Caravelle. In this blog you will find some photos from the successful events.

Saturday, July 13th

On Saturday there was a display of French vintage car technology beside the Caravelle.

Club Renault de Finlande is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. They started their Finland Tour from Turku airport on July 13th. For Renault 2024 is a year of celebration as well, the company was established 125 years ago.

Below some photos from the sunny Club Renault de Finlande event. The weather conditions were favourable, and the temperature climbed to +26 degrees Centigrade.

There was a nice collection of vintage Renaults on display.

The day was successful also for Caravelle as we had well over 50 visitors.

Sunday, July 14th

On Sunday morning it was rainy in Turku and the temperature was much lower than on Saturday, only +18 degrees Centigrade. Despite the drizzle, we celebrated the National Day of France and hoisted the flag appropriately. In the staff room “Café Caravelle” there were naturally fresh croissants available for our volunteers.

There were less visitors than on the previous day, probably due to the weather. However, there were more than a hundred visitors during the weekend, and we can be very satisfied with these summer events.

Next week we will have the main effort of the summer as Caravelle will be open to the public during the Tall Ships Race event in Turku. The aircraft is open daily from 10 am to 3 pm from Thursday to Sunday, July 18th – July 21st.

If you are in the Turku area next week, come and visit us at the airport!

Photos by Ismo Matinlauri

Translation by Erja Reinikainen.

Caravelle's holiday season

Lauantai 6.7.2024 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

The Caravelle Turku team volunteers finished their spring season at the end of June. The team members started their well-earned holiday at their cottages, travelling or being active in other hobbies. In the beginning of August they will return to Caravelle restoration work.

During the spring season the Turku team and the assisting technical team totalled almost 850 hours of voluntary work. Some news about the most recent work in June are shown below. Furthermore, the polishing of the lower part of the aircraft’s fuselage was continued whenever weather permitted.

The office

Ramirent Oy (the equipment rental company) donated us two modular containers which were joined and assembled beside the Caravelle. Now we have a combined office and shop on site.

A power supply was installed, and the office was furnished. Everything is ready inside and outside and we can use our new space during the summer season. A housewarming event will be arranged in August.  

Also our unofficial “Café Caravelle” (i.e. the Turku voluteers’ coffee break facility) was moved from the aircraft cabin into the new office. Now there is more space for the future interior work, and it is also easier to move in the cabin as there is less material and furniture.

The passenger door and cabin partitions

The left-hand side passenger door’s complicated opening and counterbalancing mechanism was repaired during the spring. This was quite an effort and a series of four blogs was written about it earlier. The repaired door mechanism works fine, and the passenger door is open during the visiting hours.

The partitions in the front part of the cabin are fitted into place in the two photos. The passenger door is open to confirm the correct location of the partitions so that the door opening mechanism is not disturbed. The partitions will be resurfaced in August, using material which resembles the original one, and then assembled into place.

Electrical installations

The electrical installation work is almost completed. Power outlets are already in place and connected. The wiring for lighting is almost ready, too. In August when the work continues, LED lighting will be installed on the flight deck and in the toilets and galley area in the rear section.

A LED-strip will be installed in line with the upper edge of the cabin overhead hat rack. The photo shows its wiring, waiting for the ceiling surface material installation. After that the LED-strip mounting can be assembled.

The last photo shows the white main distribution board which will be installed into the former equipment rack behind the flight deck, on the left-hand side. Wiring from the distribution board is located under the cabin floor. The wiring was being installed when the photo was taken.

Before going on holiday we collected all tools and tidied up inside the aircraft for the visitors’ events. The Caravelle will be open to the public on several occasions in July. Our volunteers will be on site to introduce the aircraft and its history.

Photos by Ismo Matinlauri.

Translation by Erja Reinikainen.

Caravelle's passenger door mechanism is repaired - Part 4

Maanantai 27.5.2024 - Erja Reinikainen ja Martti Saarinen

Suomeksi

The reparation procedure of the left-hand side passenger door’s complicated opening and counterbalancing system has been described in the previous blogs and the story is completed in this one.

During our previous reparation visit the door was already functioning in the desired way but after a long working day the last adjustments and final inspection were not done. Therefore the door could not be taken into use yet. In the week before our latest visit to Turku we asked the Turku team to check whether the bungee ropes are still tight when the door is closed. The reply was reassuring, they are tight all right. This meant that nothing had failed or broken while the counterbalancing system had been carrying a full load for a week while the door remained closed.

After arriving we lifted the cabin floorboards and checked the bungee ropes in the side tunnel under the floor. The ropes were still tight, so everything was ok. The polishing team was working outside, polishing the lower section of the passenger door and we had to wait for a while before we could open the door. It could be opened without problems.

Photo by Ismo Matinlauri.

When the door was open and in its highest position, we could see that the bungee ropes had slackened a little. This we had expected to happen. There is a convenient adjustment at the far end of the each bungee cord attachment cable: the fastener pin is moved on the connecting piece into the hole where the desired tightness of the bungee rope is achieved. The adjustment was done in a couple of minutes and the door operation was tested again. Everything worked fine. After this the last installations were done, and the final inspection was completed.

The Turku team members were given user training on how to operate the door. Now it can be used safely and there is no need to go back and forth through the small and low service door. The passenger door was open for the visitors during the weekend opening hours on May 25th – 26th.

Meanwhile, work on the flight deck was continued to have the side windows replaced. The small triangular windows had already been replaced and now the large rear windows were under work. The windows are the emergency exits for the flight deck crew, so they are easy to remove by opening the locking levers and lifting the window away.

However, this was easier said than done after the aircraft had been standing outside for almost fifty years. A lot of gun oil and some patience were needed to open the locking mechanisms but eventually they could be opened. Installing the new window on the left-hand side went smoothly but the right-hand side was more difficult. Some machining was needed and two assistants helping before the window was in its place.

Photos by Martti Saarinen except if otherwise mentioned.

Translation by Erja Reinikainen.

The right-hand side wingtip of Caravelle III "Bluebird" is delivered to Turku

Sunnuntai 26.5.2024 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The Caravelle III "Bluebird" (OH-LEA), on display in Turku, has until now been without the wing tip piece of its right-hand side wing. For about a year, the wingtip has been under repair and parts of it have been rebuilt at the Tuesday Club, working at Finnish Aviation Museum. The leading edge of the wingtip had been destroyed while the Caravelle, in SAS colours at the time and carrying registration SE-DAF, stood by the edge of Arlanda airport for decades. Probably some airport vehicle had bumped into the aircraft.

The repair work of the right-hand wingtip section was completed at the Tuesday Club, but it wasn’t taken to Turku until now. The wingtip was transported from Finnish Aviation Museum in Vantaa to Turku airport, to be assembled on “Bluebird’s” wing. The wingtip section is too large to be transported in an ordinary passenger car. It was packed properly and loaded on the Aviation Museum yard on a trailer. The journey towards Turku could begin.

The vehicle was welcomed at Turku airport by the Caravelle Turku restoration team. The team unloaded the wingtip from the trailer and carried it under Caravelle’s right-hand side wing to wait for assembly.

Right-hand photo by Reijo Siirtola.

Now all Caravelle work allocated to the Tuesday Club have been completed. The work included repairing the nose bulkhead edge and the damaged radome, refurbishing and painting the wall panels of the flight deck and the corridor leading to the flight deck, repairing the glare shield above the flight deck instrument panel, building the frame for the navigation light on the right-hand wingtip and preparing the navigation light globes by 3D-printing.

Photo by Ismo Matinlauri.

Furthermore, in 2022 we built stands for supporting the Caravelle’s fuselage and wings during the transportation from Arlanda to the former shipyard hall in the Pansio harbour area in Turku. We also restored the Caravelle III towbar, brought from Arlanda, which was in poor condition. The towbar is already in place, fastened on “Bluebird’s” nose wheel.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo except if otherwise mentioned.

Translation by Erja Reinikainen.

Caravelle's passenger door mechanism is repaired - Part 3

Tiistai 14.5.2024 - Erja Reinikainen ja Martti Saarinen

Suomeksi

The reparation procedure of the left-hand side passenger door’s complicated opening and counterbalancing system has been described in the previous blogs and the story continues in

During the previous reparation effort the door could be opened with a manual winch, but the bungee ropes which were tested, were too weak to be used for opening and counterbalancing the door. There were also problems with the new roller chain and the door seemed to be slightly tilted. The technical team thought the problems might be caused by wrong adjustment of the cables or bungee ropes, or due to some part being bent in the process. Stronger bungee ropes were ordered from the US, and when they arrived it was time to try again to make the door work.

The attachment pieces at the door end of the new roller chain had been modified a little and this seemed to help to correct the door position. It now moved down without tilting on one side. Terminals made of copper tube had been prepared for the two new bungee ropes in the lifting mechanism, to fasten the bungee ropes to the sliding carriage and to the door lifting cables. For establishing the correct length of the bungee ropes, temporary fasteners were prepared for the rear end of the ropes to fasten them to the end cable of the bungee track. In the first phase the blue bungee rope in the middle was not changed, it remained as it had been in the previous testing.

 

The day was spent adjusting the length of the bungee ropes and cables, testing the door movement every now and then, and adjusting some detail once again. Some changes were also made on the bungee rope track. Eventually the door could be opened smoothly and rather lightly but closing it fully from its down position still required a fair bit of force.

At this point terminals from copper tube were made also for the rear end of the two outer bungee ropes and the temporary fasteners were removed. The third bungee rope in the middle was replaced with a sturdier one and terminals were made for its ends. With this arrangement the door could be moved with less force but closing it fully was still difficult. After some additional adjustments the door was functioning as it should, but it was not taken into operation yet. The technical team had been working for full eight hours at this point, so it was time to call it a day. Next time the installation will be completed, and the adjustments will be checked after the bungee ropes have been under tension for a longer period when the door has been shut.

During the day there were naturally also other activities going on: The assembly of the office and visitor centre (which is a prefabricated reusable and movable small building) was continued and the space was prepared for the opening hours on the coming weekend. Tables and sales items were moved from the aircraft into the new building. The broken sealing strip on the passenger door was replaced with a new one.

On the flight deck there was a time-consuming battle to open the emergency exit windows’ locking mechanism which had rusted solid. Among the material brought from Arlanda in 2022 there are two windows for both sides of the flight deck. They are in better condition than the existing ones and they will used to replace the old ones. Eventually the rust on the mechanism began to yield and the locking of the windows can be opened.

The planning of the new padding for the passenger seats was continued. A workable solution is beginning to take shape.

Photos by Erja Reinikainen.

Caravelle right-hand wingtip is finalized with the navigation light globe

Lauantai 27.4.2024 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

When the new leading edge had been built to replace the destroyed right-hand side wingtip leading edge on the Caravelle III (OH-LEA Bluebird), we could begin the installation of the navigation light globe into its place on the leading edge.

We don’t have the original navigation light globe because it has been destroyed together with the wingtip. We could not find a globe as a spare part either, so we had to make one. We chose to do this by 3D-printing. We used the partly broken navigation light globe from the left wing as a model. A new globe was printed for the right wing and also for the left wing navigation light.

The new navigation light globe was installed on the OH-LEA Bluebird’s left-hand wing earlier in the summer of 2023. The right- hand wing, however, had to wait until March 2024 for its new globe to be put already in early into place after the new leading edge of the destroyed wingtip had been finished.

The 3D-printed navigation light globe is made of stiff plastic, and in the beginning it didn’t fit properly into place. We heated the globe with a hot air blower so that it could be moulded to fit into its mounting on the wingtip. The globe was fastened tentatively on the edges of the mounting with a couple of screws. This was necessary for holding the globe in place while making the fastening frame. The globe is fastened on the aluminium edge of its mounting with a frame. The frame has holes for screws, and it presses tightly against the sides of the globe, and the screws in the frame holes are tightened through the globe edge into the aluminium edge underneath.

Diverging from the original solution, we decided to make the fastening frame for the globe from two parts. This made it easier to build the frame. Nevertheless, the frame we made will cover the most part of the navigation globe edge. A connecting piece will be needed on the top of the globe to connect the ends of the frame.

When the globe had been fastened with a couple of screws, broad paper tape was fastened on its edge. The shape of the globe frame was drawn on the tape. Based on the drawn line, a model for the frame was made of cardboard. The model was taped on a 1 mm thick aluminium sheet, which had already been pre-cut into the frame shape. After this we began to modify the sheet with a cutter to match the shape of the cardboard model.

The aluminium frame was test-fitted into place and modified several times. Gradually the frame reached its final shape and it rested against the lower edge of the globe as §planned. When the desired shape had been reached, the blue plastic film which had protected the aluminium surface was removed from the frame.

A strip of paper tape was fastened on the surface of the finalized fastening frame for marking the location of the fastening screws at regular intervals with a pencil. Holes for the fastening screws were drilled at the marked locations, then the screws were fastened one by one. This made the navigation light globe press into its place between the fastening frame and the edge of the globe mounting. Now the navigation light globe on the right-hand side wingtip was in place.   

The last phase was to make the 5 cm connecting piece between the fastening frame ends on the top of the navigation light globe. First a cardboard model was made of the connecting piece. The connecting piece was cut and moulded from aluminium sheet, following the model. When the blue plastic covering had been removed from its surface, the connecting piece was fastened between the fastening frame ends, using two screws with washers. Finally the screws were tightened.

Under the globe, out of sight, is the socket for the navigation light bulb and its green glass globe. The socket was lathed from aluminium and installed into place at the Tuesday Club. The Caravelle’s right-hand side wingtip is ready for housing a powered navigation light, if there is need for it at some point.    

Now the Caravelle Bluebird’s right-hand side wingtip had been completed. Re-constructing the destroyed leading edge took a whole year. The wingtip can be delivered to Turku to be assembled on the Caravelle Bluebird, which is on display near the passenger terminal at Turku airport.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo.

Translation by Erja Reinikainen.

Caravelle's passenger door mechanism is repaired - Part 2

Torstai 25.4.2024 - Erja Reinikainen ja Martti Saarinen

Suomeksi

Until now access to the Caravelle’s cabin has been through the small right-hand side service door and aft stairway. The passenger door operating mechanism has been damaged, and the door can’t be used before the mechanism is repaired. This blog describes the first phase of the passenger door repairs.

When the passenger door is opened, it moves first straight inwards and then it is manually lifted along its rails up to the cabin ceiling. The door weighs 53 kilos, so opening and closing is assisted with a counterbalancing system. The system consists of roller chains, steel cables and three bungee cords (rubber ropes), several metres long and located under the cabin floor. There are no spare parts available for this system anymore, so the new parts have been designed and made by the technical team.

On its visit to Turku on April 12th, the technical team started the door mechanism repair work. The first phase was to install the new roller chains into the door rails (the broken chains had already been removed). The new roller chain is slightly different from the original one and some parts for it were made by order in a laser cutting company, and others ordered from abroad.

When the two roller chains were in their rails, their lower ends were fastened to the brackets on the passenger door and their upper ends to the counterbalancing cables. The roller chains and cables run through the door rails and down to the guides, which are located on the sides of the right-hand side service door. There are 4 guides on each side of the door.

Under the cabin floor, in the side tunnel of the baggage compartment, the cables are connected to the bungee cords on a sliding carriage. The sliding carriage and its stops allow the bungee cords to operate in sequence, as the need for counterbalancing force depends on the position of the door. When closing the door, in the beginning the strength of one bungee rope is sufficient for the required counterbalancing. When the door moves downwards on the rails and is reaching its vertical position, the need for counterbalancing increases. This is when the two other bungee cords join in. The mechanism is complicated and not very reliable. When the Caravelle was in operation, the system needed regular repair and maintenance. The original bungee ropes have become brittle and can’t be used. The technical team is still looking for suitable material to replace the original ropes as the bungee ropes in the regular hardware store are too soft and slack for the purpose.

At this point the roller chain and the door function were tested without the bungee ropes by fastening the cables and the sliding carriage to a manual winch.

It was not that simple to operate the winch in the cramped space under the floor. The lifting force was measured with the digital scales connected to the winch. The original bungee ropes and their supporting rollers can be seen on the upper right corner of the picture.

The test arrangement worked: using the winch the passenger door could be opened, but not fully. At this point the door was secured with a couple or car tyres in the doorway.

The problem appeared to be the roller chain and cable guides, located on the sides of the service door: the new roller chain didn’t move smoothly through the guides. After some discussion the team decided to disassemble and adjust the guides. As a test, the upper guide was disassembled and cleaned, and installed back into place a little bit differently. This helped to solve the problem, so the other guides will be disassembled before the next visit of the technical team when the door mechanism repair will continue.

During the day there was also other activity in the Caravelle: three new instruments were installed into the instrument panel on the flight deck. It looks quite good already but there will be some more additions later.

The cabin curtains were unfastened from their popper slides to have them out of the way when the interior work begins. Fortunately the curtains are mainly in quite good condition, but dirty. They will be washed and ironed before putting them back. This won’t be done before the interior work has been completed.

Work was going on outside, too: the SAS prints were removed from the aft stairway before repainting. The best work method has proved to be to heat the painted area first with a blower and the scrape the paint off.

Photos by Erja Reinikainen.