The funny stuff us A&Ps find

Strutwipe

Strutwipe

Pre-takeoff checklist
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May 8, 2019
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Strutwipe
In my short aviation career, I have found loads of tools, toys, change, jewelry (Don't tell the wife) and other like items. I once found a 8 D cell mag light laying in the leading edge flaps of a 727. The batteries were in a foreign to me language so no telling how long it had be up there. On a L1011 I found around hundred rusty draw celcos hold together a massive repair in the horizontal. So these have just been tales handed down through the ages that the young inspiring A&Ps yawn at.

But now I can share with all you lucky guys! This is the first time I've found a hornet's nest! It was under the shear plate for the rudder bell crank. The screw driver was under the right seat floor board. I guess it was just going a long for a ride :eek:

Has anyone else found anything interesting?Hornet.jpg
 
I’ve heard of an A&P finding a tiny, silver DC-2 charm way back in the tailcone of some Stinson or another and concluding that in every airplane there must be a tiny, silver DC-2 charm hidden somewhere. Get to looking!
 
When I bought my plane it came with a nice little AA Mag-Lite rolling around in the wing, and a couple of sockets under the floor. They probably don't count, though, because I'm not an A&P. :)
 
It's not an airplane, but it WAS in a propeller.

Friend of mine was part of the team at Boeing that developed wind generators back in the 70s and 80s. They were three-bladed, about 80 feet long for each blade.

He and a co-worker were called out when a new generator developed problems. As the propeller turned, there was a "rumble-rumble-rumble-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-BANG!" sound. They stopped the generator and opened up the blade.

There was a wrench inside.....

Ron Wanttaja
 
Strutwipe said:
Has anyone else found anything interesting?
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I found a bigger screwdriver than that in an old 172. Someone had jammed it in the joint between the baggage bulkhead cover and the top right skin, from the tailcone side (out of sight) to make a gap to feed the ELT cable through. Forgot to remove the screwdriver, which appeared to have been there a long time.

I found an inspection mirror laying in the flap cove on a Lockheed Electra. If the airplane had hit some severe turbulence it would have bounced out and fallen a long way to the ground. It had been there so long the glass had been etched with dust blowing around. Another mechanic found a bucking bar in an Electra engine cowling. Rusty. Been there a long time too.

Besides that, the usual coins and dead batteries (from GPS or flashlights or whatever), a computer game memory card of some sort, .22 shells, many, many screws, nuts, washers, rivet bucktails, and clipped-off nylon ties. Dead mice. Pens and pencils. Nothing of real value.
 
Way long a time-ago, I was walking across the hangar deck and I could hear a faint voice, help rumble rumble help.

I Secured the power, shut down the aircraft to find a sailor was in the radar dome when the aircraft was fired up. the switch had been left on.

Now that is FOD.
 
Tom-D said:
Way long a time-ago, I was walking across the hangar deck and I could hear a faint voice, help rumble rumble help.

I Secured the power, shut down the aircraft to find a sailor was in the radar dome when the aircraft was fired up. the switch had been left on.

Now that is FOD.
Click to expand...

We have to call it here. Tom wins!
 
Not finding of an object but I wish I still had my photo of someone's idea of safety-wiring an oil filter.
The twisted safety wire apparently was not tight enough after the job was done so someone added a second wire, attached midway along the first, in order to put more tension on it.
This second wire then pulled the first wire towards I think it was, a member of the engine mount frame.
"giterdone"
(hoping someone doesn't now show me this is an acceptable way lol)
 
Tom-D said:
I Secured the power, shut down the aircraft to find a sailor was in the radar dome when the aircraft was fired up. the switch had been left on.

Now that is FOD.
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I would think the sailor was a US citizen, which makes me wonder about the 'F' in FOD.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
I found an Exacto knife right in the intersection of two runways - does that count?
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Not a mechanic, but I've spent the better part of the last two decades working on airfields. I've found various tools, nuts, and bolts. Found a few gas caps, couple of flashlights, and an iPad.
 
When I worked for a Cessna dealer I found two bucking bars and an assortment of hand tools left inside the airplanes by assembly line folks. I always appreciated the free tools.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
9mm clip...17 rounds....under the pilots seat of my plane. Turns out a friend who borrowed the plane left it there. ;)
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Did it come back with stuff hanging from the landing gear after the trip into the airstrip cut out of the sugar cane field?
Just askin :p
 
midwestpa24 said:
Not a mechanic, but I've spent the better part of the last two decades working on airfields. I've found various tools, nuts, and bolts. Found a few gas caps, couple of flashlights, and an iPad.
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Spotted a large bolt of some sort laying on the runway when I was taking off. Radioed the tower about it, made a circuit, landed and stopped over it and waited until the maintenance guys drove out in a truck, then took off. Made it easier for them to find on an 8000 x 150' runway.
 
Fuel leak in an old Thrush piston ag plane. Open the access panel and try to clean the leaking corner for sealant. Something in the way. Removed the remnants of a 2 D cell flashlight, then the batteries. Put it back together and it still worked! :eek:
 
We were working on a customer’s T-6, and he had complained about a thunk in the left wing when doing rolls. Found a brand new NAA bucking bar still wrapped in wax paper two ribs in from the wingtip. Wing panel had been overhauled by NAA in the early 50’s and installed on the aircraft in around 1962.
 
Heard rumors of a well washed industrial vacuum cleaner inside of one of the fuel tanks of a Lockheed Electra. Supposedly found during the mandated beef-up of the engine mount structure. Can anybody confirm?
 
nrpetersen said:
Heard rumors of a well washed industrial vacuum cleaner inside of one of the fuel tanks of a Lockheed Electra. Supposedly found during the mandated beef-up of the engine mount structure. Can anybody confirm?
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Ha! I heard the same rumor, right down to the type (except it was an Orion by then), told by a crusty old Senior Chief. Wonder if that makes it more or less likely to be true? :cool:

Nauga,
TINS
 
USAF found an AWOL mechanic in a KC-135 wing tank a few years back. He'd been missing a couple of years....
 
Tom-D said:
Way long a time-ago, I was walking across the hangar deck and I could hear a faint voice, help rumble rumble help.

I Secured the power, shut down the aircraft to find a sailor was in the radar dome when the aircraft was fired up. the switch had been left on.

Now that is FOD.
Click to expand...
I call BS on that one. He'd be glow-in-the-dark at the end of the flight...or maybe popcorn.
 
Craig said:
USAF found an AWOL mechanic in a KC-135 wing tank a few years back. He'd been missing a couple of years....
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I'd hope for the sake of his family they rolled back his service record to say he was killed in the line of duty instead of AWOL.
 
DaleB said:
A sailor in a radome?

I keed, I keed!! Most of us do indeed know what a dummy load is.
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a EC-121 radome is 24 feet wide and nearly 7 feet high.
 

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NordicDave said:
Who remembers this:
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I was in ready one in my chair watching that when it happened.

P-3 squadron next to us @ Andrews found an 6' extension ladder in a fuel cell during an acceptance inspection on a plane out of rework from NADEP Jax.
 
I've seen 2 guys killed, and 1 survive. My plane captain "billy Span" was sucked into a F8 intake, he lost his foot. and both of his little fingers.
The pilot saw what was happening, and killed the engine, just as the Billy hit, he had the present of mind to feed the F8 a chock and his tie down bag, then he hung on to the intake. how he got turned around is still a mystery.

the other 2 was a viking (S2) the other was a AD-1 on the cat.

the mess was cleaned up by fire hose, and the launch continued

OBTW,, we lost 13 guys on the 1964-5 cruise.
 
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Tom-D said:
I've seen 2 guys killed, and 1 survive. My plane captain "billy Span" was sucked into a F8 intake, he lost his foot. and both of his little fingers.
The pilot saw what was happening, and killed the engine, just as the Billy hit, he had the present of mind to feed the F8 a chock and his tie down bag, then he hung on to the intake. how he got turned around is still a mystery.

the other 2 was a viking (S2) the other was a AD-1 on the cat.

the mess was cleaned up by fire hose, and the launch continued

OBTW,, we lost 13 guys on the 1964-5 cruise.
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People forget how dangerous non-direct combat service life is for many, especially in times of war or heightened tensions.

Tom, thank you for your service. And thank you to the other veterans participating in POA.
 
NordicDave said:
Tom, thank you for your service. And thank you to the other veterans participating in POA.
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Thank You, there was a lot of fun too. it wasn't all work, we went to the PI, Hong Kong, and Australia
 
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