> Did you know that Lead is Depleated Uranium!!!
> Here in S.E. Missouri is the Primary Mining Source of Lead it is refered
to as the (Lead Belt). My Pilot friend retired from being the Chief
Metallurgist there and I was surprized the learn that. When "half life" is
over for Uranium is is then refered to as Lead. Now we don't want to use
Uranium to balance control surfaces on our KR's. Imagine what attention a KR
pilot would have at the airport if the word got out the KR had Uranium
onboard.
>
When I worked at McDonnell Douglas depleted uranium was always called as
such and had special handling involved with it. McDonnell was using
depleted uranium as counterweights for DC-10 flight control surfaces as it
was supposed to be heavier than lead and therefore took up less "real
estate" in the wing. Several vendor supplied counterweights had the
corrosion protective coating (some kind of heavy paint) flaking off the
depleted uranium. They were immediately quarantined in the Material Review
Crib for return to the vendor for reprocessing. Even the through holes for
bolting to the control surface brackets were coated. No one was to touch the
bare depleted uranium in any manner to avoid contamination to the
individual.
