Wonwings diary-Part 5 of preserving history-Radium threats.
There is no hard-and-fast law in the U.S. for maximum levels of radon gas, merely guidelines. For your home, 4 pico-curies per liter of air is the EPA-recommended limit. If that level is reached, the solution is to ventilate the area. For industrial buildings, 100 pico-curies/liter of air is the OSHA limit. In the warehouse in North Hollywood, a site one would certainly consider "other than residential," the level never exceeded 100 pico-curies per liter of air, even without forced ventilation.
For your consideration, there are those who feel that radon exposure has some health benefits. I express no opinion, but I do note that our government allows the Merry Widow Health Mine to operate in Basin, Mont., where folks pay good money to enter the mine and be exposed to 1,300 pico-curies/liter of air.
It just seems to me that there ought to be some definitive standards, based on science, to keep bureaucrats from arbitrarily and capriciously deciding that aircraft instruments are now some sort-of hideous national menace. That is especially important when the government has asserted in court that painting radium-dial instruments does not provide enough exposure to cause cancer. One would think that there should be consistency on the part of the government, especially when it caused these instruments to be manufactured in the first place. Further, federal and state codes specifically exempt intact, radium-dialed instruments from regulation when in their intended use. By the same token, radium-dial watches, clocks and even granite counter tops are unregulated.
Government Production
Those surplus instruments were used in the manufacture of new general aviation airplanes well into the 1980s. I am told that a widely used, WWII-vintage, temperature indicator is still the basis of an instrument currently installed on some general aviation airplanes.
At no time did our government tell the pilots and mechanics involved with these instruments (as used by our armed forces) that there was anything dangerous about them. Further, it then sold the instruments on the open market as safe for use in aircraft that carried, and were maintained by, human beings.
Radium-dial instruments were built to government specs well into the 1970s and were sold as surplus into the '80s. My sources were not clear as to whether such surplus sales continue to this date, although it may be the case.
Next Generation
Jeff bought some "rope." Legally. Legitimately. He had no idea that the government was going to decide that about 5% of the rope was illegal to own and then confiscate every foot of it and use it to hang him.
Shortly after Jeff acquired the instruments and the warehouse lease, I visited. I was utterly overwhelmed. It was an aviation treasure-trove. I spent hours and hours exploring. I was a kid in a candy store. I saw instruments from the 1920s that I'd only read about; my gawd, I held an earth-inductor compass in my hand. Lindbergh used one to navigate across the Atlantic. No one knows what they are today. It was as if I'd died and gone to aeronautical heaven. There were instruments from immediately after WWI in original boxes. I went back to visit the magic warehouse as often as I could, even though I lived 1,500 miles away. During one of my visits a customer came in needing period instruments for his 1943 Boeing Stearman. The customer had the manuals for his airplane, with pictures and part numbers of the instruments. He wanted originals. Jeff had them. In their original boxes! . Preservation Aviation was able to outfit both cockpits precisely as they were when the airplane rolled out of the factory in Wichita. (Once the instruments were selected, Jeff sent them out for overhaul and calibration because they'd been sitting in the boxes for decades.)
Preservation Aviation acquired a reputation for being able to supply original instruments for even the most rare airplanes. As its reputation grew and because Jeff had to commute from his home not far from Chino to North Hollywood, he moved a portion of his inventory to his hangar at Chino to keep from having to go to the warehouse every day. (I was there. Drive time for the commute was about 2.5 hours one way; if he flew the 195 to Burbank and then used the '68 Ford Country Squire Wagon -- which was also part of the warehouse inventory -- for the drive from Burbank airport to the warehouse, he could make it in about 30 minutes.)
There is no hard-and-fast law in the U.S. for maximum levels of radon gas, merely guidelines. For your home, 4 pico-curies per liter of air is the EPA-recommended limit. If that level is reached, the solution is to ventilate the area. For industrial buildings, 100 pico-curies/liter of air is the OSHA limit. In the warehouse in North Hollywood, a site one would certainly consider "other than residential," the level never exceeded 100 pico-curies per liter of air, even without forced ventilation.
For your consideration, there are those who feel that radon exposure has some health benefits. I express no opinion, but I do note that our government allows the Merry Widow Health Mine to operate in Basin, Mont., where folks pay good money to enter the mine and be exposed to 1,300 pico-curies/liter of air.
It just seems to me that there ought to be some definitive standards, based on science, to keep bureaucrats from arbitrarily and capriciously deciding that aircraft instruments are now some sort-of hideous national menace. That is especially important when the government has asserted in court that painting radium-dial instruments does not provide enough exposure to cause cancer. One would think that there should be consistency on the part of the government, especially when it caused these instruments to be manufactured in the first place. Further, federal and state codes specifically exempt intact, radium-dialed instruments from regulation when in their intended use. By the same token, radium-dial watches, clocks and even granite counter tops are unregulated.
Government Production
In the process of trying to make a good-faith estimate as to just how long World War II and the Korean War would last, and the number of airplanes that would be needed -- as well as the number of spares required -- our government bought far more aircraft instruments than it turned out to need, especially during World War II. I'm glad, I'm very glad, that we over-estimated, rather than under-estimated. It helped us win.
At some point our government recognized that it had far more aircraft instruments than it could ever use, and began to sell them off to the general public at auction. It made sense: They were perfectly good aircraft instruments that could be used on civilian airplanes for the predicted general-aviation boom, as well as the surplus military airplanes being sold, and it helped the government recoup some of the cost of designing and making the instruments. This, too, is significant. The government not only specified how the instruments would be made, with radium dials for night operations, but then sold them to the public in conditions that ranged from new-unused to disassembled or repairable "core." They also sold tons upon tons of parts that, you guessed it, included brand-new radium dials and pointers. Those surplus instruments were used in the manufacture of new general aviation airplanes well into the 1980s. I am told that a widely used, WWII-vintage, temperature indicator is still the basis of an instrument currently installed on some general aviation airplanes.
At no time did our government tell the pilots and mechanics involved with these instruments (as used by our armed forces) that there was anything dangerous about them. Further, it then sold the instruments on the open market as safe for use in aircraft that carried, and were maintained by, human beings.
Radium-dial instruments were built to government specs well into the 1970s and were sold as surplus into the '80s. My sources were not clear as to whether such surplus sales continue to this date, although it may be the case.
Next Generation
By the 1990s, Mr. Fulks had a huge inventory of instruments and was feeling his age. He sought out Jeff Pearson as a possible buyer. After negotiations, he sold them to the company Jeff had formed, Preservation Aviation. Preservation also took over Mr. Fulks' lease for the North Hollywood warehouse facilities.
Preservation Aviation became what is known as a "buyer in good faith." Jeff's company didn't manufacture the radium-dial instruments that made up about 5% of the inventory he bought, and our government hadn't put out any sort of word that these instruments were about to become persons-non-grata. The instruments were sold legally to Mr. Fulks and he sold them legally to Preservation Aviation. Jeff bought some "rope." Legally. Legitimately. He had no idea that the government was going to decide that about 5% of the rope was illegal to own and then confiscate every foot of it and use it to hang him.
Shortly after Jeff acquired the instruments and the warehouse lease, I visited. I was utterly overwhelmed. It was an aviation treasure-trove. I spent hours and hours exploring. I was a kid in a candy store. I saw instruments from the 1920s that I'd only read about; my gawd, I held an earth-inductor compass in my hand. Lindbergh used one to navigate across the Atlantic. No one knows what they are today. It was as if I'd died and gone to aeronautical heaven. There were instruments from immediately after WWI in original boxes. I went back to visit the magic warehouse as often as I could, even though I lived 1,500 miles away. During one of my visits a customer came in needing period instruments for his 1943 Boeing Stearman. The customer had the manuals for his airplane, with pictures and part numbers of the instruments. He wanted originals. Jeff had them. In their original boxes! . Preservation Aviation was able to outfit both cockpits precisely as they were when the airplane rolled out of the factory in Wichita. (Once the instruments were selected, Jeff sent them out for overhaul and calibration because they'd been sitting in the boxes for decades.)
Preservation Aviation acquired a reputation for being able to supply original instruments for even the most rare airplanes. As its reputation grew and because Jeff had to commute from his home not far from Chino to North Hollywood, he moved a portion of his inventory to his hangar at Chino to keep from having to go to the warehouse every day. (I was there. Drive time for the commute was about 2.5 hours one way; if he flew the 195 to Burbank and then used the '68 Ford Country Squire Wagon -- which was also part of the warehouse inventory -- for the drive from Burbank airport to the warehouse, he could make it in about 30 minutes.)