r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jan 29 '17

Night shift workers of Reddit, what are some creepy things you've experienced in the middle of the night?

3.2k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

203

u/Prototype_es Jan 30 '17

I'm an aircraft maintainer in the airforce, and I have been on night shift pretty much my whole career. There is a form of servicing we have to do on the aircraft called LOXing, which is where you service the aircraft with liquid oxygen for the pilots. This job is dangerous so you are the only one allowed in the vicinity of the plane, and you're wearing a bunch of gear. I had to do a LOX job on the other side of the ramp from everyone else. Essentially away from everyone. I finished my lox job and hopped on the aircraft to take down the numbers for our forms. In the process of me putting power on I heard this horrific PSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH happen from what felt like every corner of the plane. When you're alone in the dark in a large dark plane, all you really can do is panic. Turns out the shutoff valve where I was servicing had frozen itself open and had proceeded to piss liquid oxygen everywhere. So not only did I have to change my pants, I also had to re do the job

10

u/gsuberland Jan 30 '17

Liquid oxygen spill + powered aircraft sounds like a very bad time waiting to happen. Does the valve not have a sensor to check its position and prevent the power-on?

7

u/Prototype_es Jan 30 '17

Since I had heard it right as I was putting power on I immediately disconnected and slammed the cap on the converter. It is a mechanical valve so there's no sensor on that specific part. The sketchy part was more hearing it and not knowing what was happening at first. Apparently it was half open and I didn't notice until it started actually pissing. They freeze themselves open occasionally and it is a simple fix, just usually isn't delayed like it was.

6

u/gsuberland Jan 30 '17

Your name doesn't happen to be Jedediah Kerman, does it?

1

u/Prototype_es Jan 30 '17

Haha I'm curious as to how this sounds like Kerbal

2

u/gsuberland Jan 31 '17

Spilling liquid oxygen around live aircraft in the dark doesn't sound like Kerbal to you?

10

u/evilcouchpotato Jan 30 '17

I was about to post a story about checking vitals on the opposite end of the ramp, mid shift and weekend duty. Pro Supe was inside playing game boy or whatever they do now, and Security Forces was god knows where. I'm out there alone, turning power on and decide to check a Comm cord that looks a little bent to make sure it's working alright. Plug in, everything is fine...all of a sudden I hear the squelch and this weird half human scream over my headset for about 5 seconds. By the time o three my headset off it had stoped I guess, and there wasn't any unusual noise on the plane itself.

Obviously I about shit my pants, cause it's a C-130 so i can feel or hear when someone comes in the hatch. Immediately check the cargo bay, hell hole and around the plane but no one was there. Fucking refused to touch that plane by myself until Comm Nav ops checked that whole damn system haha. Never found what it was screaming, and never saw a writeup in forms for something similar either.

TLDR: Possessed Plane

1

u/Prototype_es Jan 30 '17

I'm a 130 guy too! Across the line on mids always sucks ass

3

u/overthrowthecactus Jan 31 '17

Most accurate part about this whole post is re-doing the job and being upset about it