I was reading a NASA article when I realized on the image they had a "remove before flight" tag. I've seen these many times but never understood their purpose, could anyone help me?
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4 Answers
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The "Remove Before Flight" tag is usually a red coloured tag that is placed on sensitive equipment that have been covered for protection.
On planes, sensors such as the pitot tube and AOA sensor are protected with a cover and then this tag is attached.
Similarly, on spacecraft, these tags are utilized to protect sensitive equipment.
From Wikipedia (source):
Remove before flight is a safety warning often seen on removable aircraft and spacecraft components, typically in the form of a red ribbon, to indicate that a device, such as a protective cover or a pin to prevent the movement of mechanical parts, is only used when the aircraft is on the ground (parked or taxiing)
Red tag items typically include:
- Ejector seat pins
- Gust locks
- Intake covers
- Landing gear pins
- Pitot tube covers
Other ribbons labelled "pull to arm" or similar are found on missiles.
On some spacecraft, the lens cover for cameras is marked with this tag.
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16$\begingroup$ A guess for these student built projects is that the remove before flight pin is an on/off switch that keeps things safely inert and batteries fully charged. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 10 at 12:35
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5$\begingroup$ Thank you! I love how aviation and rocketry worlds collide $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 10 at 12:58
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2$\begingroup$ @CandidMoe I was thinking about including that example... but I thought it would be better to leave that if I wasn't able to also find a space related one.. This same question on Aviation.SE would have that example in the answer. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 12 at 12:20
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2$\begingroup$ @GremlinWranger - I wonder if a Remove Before Flight flag could have helped avoid the Odysseus lunar lander anomaly back in February. It was supposed to use a laser rangefinder during landing, however the laser was dangerous if it accidentally activated on the ground, so a physical switch turned it off. The switch was supposed to be turned on prior to launch but that step got missed. With some quick thinking they figured out a workaround but it led to the sideways landing. A remove before flight tag attached to the switch would not be the normal usage but it would at least have been a reminder $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 13 at 1:33
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Yes they are attached to covers that are being used to protect things. It can be sensor covers, or the cable that is connecting the spacecraft to ground power and other ground equipment before it is being moved to the launch facility.
The removal of the covers and tags are a part of the pre-flight and pre-launch checklists. They know exactly how many flags they are using. If the counts don't match, they go back over the checklist until all have been retrieved.
The red color, and size of the tags, make them easier to spot.
answered Nov 10 at 13:15
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Red tags are used on spacecraft to ensure anything not intended to be launched into space stays on the ground. This includes items used to protect sensitive parts of the system during testing, integration and shipping, such as camera lens covers, thruster cone covers, retaining pins for deployable systems (like solar panels), safe/arm plugs, test cables, etc.
The red tags are numbered, and carefully tracked. The launch integration crew will use a "red tag board" where each of the tags is hung as they are removed from the spacecraft. All red tags must be accounted for prior to launch.
They can even play a role after launch - distributed to the team members that worked on the project as memento of the hard work they put into building, testing and launching the spacecraft.
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$\begingroup$ Anything to be removed form the spacecraft is commonly even referred to as a "red tag item", and often-times even painted red itself to signify that it doesn't belong to the spacecraft (such as the solar panel covers on JUICE in these pictures. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 13 at 19:57
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At the lab I work at, we also have green tag items. These are exactly the opposite of red tags, and have to be installed before launch but as close as possible to launch. I can't think of an example from any missions I have worked on, but FTS charges on Starship would be called a green tag item by our lab.
For each instrument I have worked with, we have an exact list of all red tag items. We carefully document each removal including taking pictures of each removed tag.
On one instrument (SDO/EVE) after the successful launch and start of mission, they chopped up the red tag covers into enough pieces to give one to everyone on the team. My piece is a plate of red anodized aluminum about 1 inch on a side. The whole plate was a square several inches on a side with the words "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" prominently printed in white.
