Stupid stuff Mechanics find.

Isosceles said:
I have a vague recollection that acf50 can be used to treat the inside of the tube frame of the ragwing airplanes? Perhaps the extra stuff
was squeezed out to the interior? Hard to judge base without seeing it
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Inside of the tubes would not show all over the interior. no he simply followed the instructions on the can.
 
jesse said:
How are you going to verify that a mechanic didn’t leave a tool inside an assembly? Disassemble everything at the completion of the job?
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Some times that happens.
Specially with bore scoop tips.
That got so bad at one time, we were required to have CDI (collateral Duty Inspector) check our scope prior to use.
 
GlennAB1 said:
You can't be 15 places at the same time. Perform a FOD check every time you finish at one job. It only takes a minute and is better than your morning, noon and night approach.
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But 15 people working out of one work station can be working on 15 jobs at the same time.

I've seen the whole 400 division shut down to find 1/2 of a 1/4" combination wrench's broken jaw.
Just to find that it was broken on the shift before, and logged as a broken tool and the paper work was on the division officer's desk, and he was already out to lunch.
 
GlennAB1 said:
You can't be 15 places at the same time. Perform a FOD check every time you finish at one job. It only takes a minute and is better than your morning, noon and night approach.
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"only takes a minute", yeah right, Snapon's largest bench type tool box with over 500 tools in it, 150 red rags, to count, Requires a bit more that a minute to do the inventory right.
 
Tom-D said:
I've seen the whole 400 division shut down to find 1/2 of a 1/4" combination wrench's broken jaw.
Just to find that it was broken on the shift before, and logged as a broken tool and the paper work was on the division officer's desk, and he was already out to lunch.
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Aaah, the old “daycheck” screw job! I remember those days. It was always,”sorry guys....but, we had a hundred percent sortie rate though!”

Yeah, thanks!
 
I know a mechanic who tore down an IO-360 after a prop strike.

Someone, sometime, had tried to balance the engine by arc welding slag into the bottoms of the pistons and then drilling it out to achieve the balance. Left some nice, sharp corners in the metal.

Probably one of the more fortunate prop strikes.
 
Question, If the owners can keep all the tools they find in their aircraft, can the mechanics keep all the stuff they find in aircraft that is left for inspections or maintenance?
 
MauleSkinner said:
I know a mechanic who tore down an IO-360 after a prop strike.

Someone, sometime, had tried to balance the engine by arc welding slag into the bottoms of the pistons and then drilling it out to achieve the balance. Left some nice, sharp corners in the metal.

Probably one of the more fortunate prop strikes.
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It was running great -- right -- until the pilot screwed it.
 
Guess I’m just lucky,haven’t found any tools or other materials from the shops I’ve used. Now on my boat that’s another story.
 
Tom-D said:
"only takes a minute", yeah right, Snapon's largest bench type tool box with over 500 tools in it, 150 red rags, to count, Requires a bit more that a minute to do the inventory right.
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Reading can be difficult. Know the difference between a FOD check and a tool inventory check?
 
C'mon Tom and Glenn, cool it.


images
 
The aileron and rudder trim panel installed upside down so that both trims would be going in the wrong direction when pressed. Whould have been real nice if I had not seen it and lost an engine on to.
 
Baling wire wrapped around an airbox to hold it in place. It was absolutely junk. Farmer maintenance at its best!

Found the remains of what was once a plastic 2 D cell flashlight in a Thrush wet wing fuel tank, including intact batteries ... that still held enough of a charge to work in my flashlight!

PS If I have a huge mess of tools and parts going on, I will have a clean up and tool count mid way through the project. A few minutes well worth it to me and my piece of mind.
 
JAWS said:
Baling wire wrapped around an airbox to hold it in place. It was absolutely junk. Farmer maintenance at its best!

Found the remains of what was once a plastic 2 D cell flashlight in a Thrush wet wing fuel tank, including intact batteries ... that still held enough of a charge to work in my flashlight!
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At least the fuel didn't have too much conductivity.

On a pre-flight today, I saw cotter pins with one end sticking up so they could snag and scratch. They were there, in place, and locking the nuts but I felt sorry for the next person working around them.
 
We found a ballpein hammer in the wing/fuel tank on a Hawker. Boss was off that day so we took a wood burner and put his name on the handle. Next day when he saw it he was really mad.
Dave
 
Tom-D said:
Am I the only one who considers tools FOD?
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I think I understand where you both see it differently. I personally know one person in the airlines who does a tool inventory before he considers his task complete. FOD is probably more of a military term?
 
Welllllll...

I guess Tom won't mind the next time computer geek refuses to help him because he clueless on that topic.

After all, it's not the job of "pros" in any field to help those who aren't.
 
Isosceles said:
I have a vague recollection that acf50 can be used to treat the inside of the tube frame of the ragwing airplanes? Perhaps the extra stuff
was squeezed out to the interior? Hard to judge base without seeing it
Click to expand...

Tom said it was a wood-and-rag homebuilt. No tube frame. Why anyone would squirt ACF50 into a wooden airframe is beyond me. It would soak into the wood and cause debonding of the glue.
 
I often encounter stupid stuff. Some mechanics don't seem to understand that an engine moves on its shockmounts, and Dynafocal engine mounts let it move a lot. Watch one sometime, cowl off, when it starts or stops. So when you find wiring and plumbing tied firmly to both the engine and the mount with almost no slack between the tie points, you wonder how long it would have been before the wire or tube or hose would have broken. I have found drain plugs on oil sumps lockwired to the engine mount, too. Good way to destroy the mount. Nylon ties on the mount tubing that have, courtesy of grit getting under them, cut halfway through the tubing. Wheel bearings corroded way beyond belief, with nice fresh grease in them. Controls far out of rig. Magnetos 40 years old and 1500 hours without ever having been checked internally. They're BER at that point.

I once ferried a 172, and then we opened it up for inspection. No nuts on the bolts at the lower ends of the wing struts in the fuselage and they weren't all the way in. The stabilizer's forward spar was broken completely through its center, and only the skin was keeping the thing straight. That's there is from pushing down on the stab to turn the airplane; it puts WAY more force on that spar than it was ever intended to take. Study the geometry and air loads sometime to figure it out. Even Cessna forbids that in the SB addressing the cracking. The nosewheel had a huge chunk missing out of its center, under the tube. Don't know why the tube didn't fail. There was a list of 130-some snags on that thing by the time we were done looking. It was hauled away on a trailer.
 
mscard88 said:
In the Air Force I always heard it as damage. Debris makes more sense in the hope of finding it before it causes damage.
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In the Navy at least the acronym applies to both. The stuff you find on the flight deck during the preflight walk down is debris. Once the debris goes through the engine, it becomes damage.
 
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