Caravelle's Turku team and a nice Christmas lunch

Lauantai 23.12.2023 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

On Tuesday, December 19th, the Caravelle Turku restoration group gathered for a Christmas lunch. The place was Krookila Wanha Tupa (Old Farmhouse). The history of the place goes as far back as 1490, and in the summer the farm is open to the public as a museum. We enjoyed a nice and traditional Christmas lunch in this historic and beautiful surrounding.

The group picture shows 13 members of the Turku team with Aviation Museum Society Finland chairman Janne Salonen and his mother Liisa Salonen. Liisa has participated in the Caravelle restoration project and has encouraged and cheered up the Turku team on several occasions. Our chief photographer Jouko Tarponen is missing from the picture – he was naturally behind the camera.

This team will continue its work with the Caravelle after a hopefully short winter break. If we are able to find a suitable warm workshop we will start restoring the passenger seat frames and cabin partition walls while waiting for the weather to get warmer.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen

Translation by Erja Reinikainen

Santa Claus visited Caravelle

Tiistai 12.12.2023 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

On Saturday, December 9th, we had the pleasure to welcome Santa Claus on board our Caravelle. Santa turned out to be a competent pilot and well familiar with the Caravelle’s flight deck equipment. This is understandable – after all, he has hundreds of years’ experience of flying with reindeer.

The aircraft was open to the public, too. The weather was slightly colder than during the assembly phase in the beginning of June, now it was -5 degrees Centigrade. The rear pantry was in use for the first time, serving visitors glögg and gingerbread and juice boxes to the younger ones.

During the day we had 63 visitors, including about 15 children. The visitor from farthest away came from Portugal. The visitors were genuinely excited and interested about the airliner and stayed a long time despite the cold weather.

The hydraulic system of the rear stairway had been repaired a couple of days earlier so we could have the stair open during Santa’s visit. This way the visitors could move flexibly to the aircraft’s tail and behind it, where the Rantala crane truck was parked. The truck interested especially the youngest visitors.

After the last visitors, we topped up the bags of de-icing salt to make sure the de-humidifying continues inside the aircraft. Santa’s visit was a suitable closing for this eventful year in our Caravelle.

The Caravelle team wishes our readers Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Photos by Ismo Matinlauri

Translation by Erja Reinikainen

Caravelle goes into hibernation

Torstai 16.11.2023 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

The days are getting shorter and colder even in Turku, on the south-west coast of Finland. The work period for the autumn has ended and it was time to prepare our beauty into hibernation for the winter.

The last work item for this autumn was to finish the insulation on the cabin walls. On the left-hand side of the cabin wall and ceiling the original insulation material is still there, but on the other side of the cabin the insulation has been dismantled together with the overhead shelves, other interior items, and surface material. We tidied the cut edges of the old insulation material and after analysing different new insulation material alternatives we decided to use cellular rubber, which is available from a hardware store.

It is water repelling, odourless and tasteless, and has a self-adhesive layer on one side. This makes its installation significantly simple and fast. It also acts as a vapour barrier, so no separate plastic barrier is needed, as there is on the inside of the old glass wool insulation layer.

Photo by Puuilo

An insulation thickness of 10 mm is sufficient for our needs, because the aircraft will not be heated in the winter, nor cooled in the summer. The material is sold in rolls, one metre wide, so it is a material which is easy to cut into suitable pieces.

As the airliner has no heating, a solution for controlling humidity had to be found. We discussed the problem with several experts and decided to try two possible solutions.

Ordinary road salt (calcium chloride) was packed into three bags made of fabric, which were hung in the cabin. The salt is a hygroscopic material and absorbs water vapour from the indoor air. Buckets were placed under the bags, and they will be emptied at regular intervals when the salty water drips into them.

We are also testing a small air dehumidifier, which recirculates and cools indoor air, condensing humidity from the air. We set the target and limit value to 60% relative humidity. If the indoor humidity is lower, the dehumidifier switches itself off. When the machine is running, its electricity consumption seems to be 2,6 kWh/day when it is running. This means a monthly electricity cost of 20 euros if the dehumidifier is running all the time.

Furthermore, we have blocked all openings and sealed the doors to minimize uncontrolled ventilation and reduce humidity in the cabin. After the first two weeks we can see that in this period the relative humidity of outdoor air at Turku airport has been 85–95 %. In the cabin the readings have been 62–75 % so we are within the set limits. We will follow the readings during the winter and take corrective actions if needed.

The Caravelle has now gone into hibernation, but we will see if it is possible to wake her up for some Christmas events in December.

Photos by Ismo Matinlauri

Translation by Erja Reinikainen

Gathering information for future cabin restoration work

Lauantai 11.11.2023 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

The members of the Caravelle technical design team visited Turku a few weeks ago (on October 25th) to find information for the future restoration work in the cabin. The visitors were Markku Ahokoski, Kari Nyman and Martti Saarinen and team assistant Erja Reinikainen.

All summer and autumn access to the Caravelle’s cabin has been through the right-hand side service door and aft stairway. During the assembly phase in June also the emergency exits over the wing were used. The passenger door on the left-hand side is damaged and it can’t be opened. Lately also the aft stairway has been out of use as its hydraulic pump and cylinders are under repair. The service door is smaller than the passenger door and this has caused problems when large items (e.g. plywood boards) have been taken inside for repairs in the cabin. The passenger door needs to be repaired in the spring before any major work in the cabin is started.

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 roll chains, steel cables and three bungee cords (rubber ropes), several metres long and located in the cargo space under the cabin floor. The mechanism is damaged, and the door can’t be used before the mechanism is repaired. There are no spare parts available so they will have to be made and this makes the repair work a lengthy process.

During their visit to Turku Markku and Kari opened the cabin floorboards and concentrated on the passenger door’s bungee cord system. They also disassembled the broken roll chains and now their parts can be used as models when making new ones. 

While the others were occupied with the door mechanism, Martti was working on the flight deck installing the latest additions into the instrument panel. The panel on the captain’s side looks quite good already, on the co-pilot’s side there are more still missing. Some instruments have been donated, some have been received in an exchange, some have been bought

While the others were working inside the aircraft, Erja dug herself into the storage container to find the cabin seat covers which were brought from Arlanda. According to Murphy’s law, they had been packed into the far corner of the container, in thoroughly sealed boxes which were under other boxes at the very bottom. It turned out that there is a good number of are dark green seat covers in reasonable condition and they can probably be fitted on the seat frames we have. During the winter we can start planning how to clean and repair the seat covers.

Winter is coming and there will be a break in the restoration work for the coldest months. Along with that there will also be less blogs during the winter. 

Photos by Erja Reinikainen

Translation by Erja Reinikainen

The Caravelle left Pansio

Maanantai 29.5.2023 klo 22.20 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

On Monday, May 29th, the Pansio team was finishing the last tasks on the Caravelle’s fuselage as the loading on the Ahola Special Transport trailer had been scheduled for the afternoon. And naturally there was the final rush: the last layer of lacquer was spread on the blue strip on the window line around noon. A padlock was installed on the service door. The stencil sticker for painting OH-LEA registration on the right-hand side of the fuselage was fitted into place.

Photo by Jouko Tarponen

Photos by Janne Salonen

The assembly team had arrived, and they were helping to install nets into the openings in the rear fuselage and vertical stabilizer so that birds wouldn’t nest inside the aircraft’s structures. In Arlanda there had been a whole colony of bird’s nests in the openings. Two large Aviation Museum Society Finland banners were fastened on the fuselage for the duration of the transport. This was a task easier said than done!

Photos by Jouko Tarponen

The fuselage was lifted from its supports using the bridge cranes in the hall. Then the Ahola trailer was reversed under the fuselage and the fuselage was lowered on its supports. Everything went well – and no wonder, this had already been done in Arlanda in August last year. Many thanks to the Ahola professionals for good work and co-operation!

Photos by Jouko Tarponen

An unpredictable setback occurred when the pallet with the free-turning cable pulley system was loaded on the trailer.  The cable pulley system is needed when the fuselage is lifted from the trailer and on the wing at the airport and it will be necessary to turn the fuselage around its longitudinal axis. The pallet had already been lifted from the floor, using the bridge crane, when the crane suddenly stopped and wouldn’t move. Fortunately a fork-lift from the shipyard happened to drive by at that moment and the driver kindly helped in lifting the pallet with the pulley system on the Ahola trailer. The Caravelle was ready to be pulled out from the hall.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen

Photo by Janne Salonen

Now the Pansio port hall is almost empty. Only the stabilizers, two passenger stairs and the storage container remained there. The fuselage will be transported to the Turku airport during the night and on Tuesday morning, May 30th, it will be lifted on the wing. The remaining parts and the sea container will be transported to the airport on June 1st.