Today I scored some of Hal Lyons' time to help me with a few rivets I didn't want to attempt solo. The first two were the aft most rivet in each of the right and left F-772B floor stiffeners where they attach to the F-783B cover support ribs (photo 1). I was able to reach the first two rivets in this area on 2/14/15 with the squeezer, but the only way I could get to the aft most ones was with the gun and an offset set without the retainer. I haven't had much luck in the past using an offset set solo, so I waited for Hal. I'm glad that I did!
The other area where Hal bucked for me was along the lower edge of the right F-773 aft fuselage skin between the F-707 and F-708 where I had attempted to rivet solo. I hadn't noticed at the time, but Scott Liefeld, my tech counselor, noticed that about half of these rivets had been clinched. I drilled out the offending rivets back in December, but again waited for a bucking partner to set these rivets (photo 2).
Rivets Today: 2
Rivets Total: 11219
Used an offset set without a retainer to set this rivet and its counterpart on the other side.
Replaced mis-set rivets in the right aft lower fuselage.