Unboxing a PT6A-34

So today myself and a few other students had the opportunity to un-box a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-34 from  an Embraer Bandeirante. The exercise was extremely valuable in that seeing the components of a turbine is usually limited to an overhaul facility. The parts were unboxed with the intention of cataloguing in preparation for assembly to be used as a training aid for TAFE. The engine had been in a prop strike and had suffered major damage, it had been sitting since Qantas engineers stripped the engine in 2002.

The PT6 parts were taken from various boxes and organised IAW ATA chapters to make assembly easier. We had tried to organise parts in sections of a turbine (picture taken from page 3-36 A&P Technician Powerplant Textbook published by Jeppesen Sanderson Inc., 1997) which sounded great until we realised that there were more parts (each bag had a nut or a bearing or something of some significance 1, 2) to a turbine than just the sections, leading us to do it in ATA sections.

Accessory gearbox and combustion chamber. Hard at work, Later in the afternoon, we got a bit complacent.

This should also count towards Sheet 3 experience for my potential future Casa awarded Licence!

Hopefully the next post will be of us assembling it!