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Frightening

Weasel

Well Known Member
Found this during an inspection. No names :eek:

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This is the same wing bay

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Vans will need to pre-pend the heavy wing troubleshooting procedure:

1) Confirm there are no more than 2 pounds of forgotten tools and equipment in the heavy wing.

Seriously though, I can see how easily this could happen to any of us. You get distracted between what you opened the inspection cover for and when you're done and ready to put the inspection cover back on.

So just being reminded that this can happen is helpful. A simple rule when working on our aircraft would be:

"Prior to replacing any inspection cover or fairing, confirm all tools removed and accounted for."
 
It happens more often than you'd care to know..even on the big planes.As others have said, it's always a good idea to make a final look with a mirror and light before any closing of panels. I personally have a fairly organized tool box and tote that is inventoried after each use, and plane is a no go if a tool is missing. If a friend comes by when I'm working, I stop what I'm doing, as the "help" is often a distraction that leads to something overlooked.
 
I found a bucking bar in the right wing of my Rocket when I opened it up the first time. Also found a 7/16 combination wrench in the aft fuselage on the RV-8 on first inspection.
 
I've found everything from clecoes to torque wrenches during inspections.
 
The first thing I learned in Navy aircraft maintenance school was tool control. The plane should never be flown until all tools are accounted for. We had special tool boxes with inventory sheets to make sure this didn't happen.
 
Tool control

That is why the Air Force labels and accounts for every tool that goes out to work on a jet and won't release the aircraft until all the tools are accounted for after the work is done. It is a real PITA but works. BTW, same here as for my experience with finding tools. I've add a few good tools to my collection.
 
My first reaction was, "Bonus tool!" I found a nice little Mag Lite in my wing the first time I opened it up. Then I saw it was in the same bay as the aileron bellcrank. Yeah, not good.
 
I seem to remember that when we took the rear-most inspection cover off of the RV-1's tail cone, we were able to add a couple of small tools to Jay Pratt's collection. So this is a phenomenon that goes WAY back..... (Not saying they were Van's tools, probably a subsequent owner!).
 
The log books for my old C-152 indicated that a bucking bar was found inside the wing after a repair was made which bounced around and damaged the skin.
 
I see the problem in the first photo (landing lights should be mounted to the *front* of the wing), but I don't see it in the second... Can someone summarize?
 
I seem to remember that when we took the rear-most inspection cover off of the RV-1's tail cone, we were able to add a couple of small tools to Jay Pratt's collection. So this is a phenomenon that goes WAY back..... (Not saying they were Van's tools, probably a subsequent owner!).
I seem to recall reading about a pair of pliers or something that was found wedged into the Spirit of St. Louis when they poked around some of the recesses with a camera. It could have been something else, but I thought it was the NYP.
 
I see the problem in the first photo (landing lights should be mounted to the *front* of the wing), but I don't see it in the second... Can someone summarize?

Just a guess but I'm thinking he was showing that the aileron bell crank was in that same bay and that the flashlight could potentially jam it some how.
 
A D-cell flashlight (not mine) in the flap motor bay of our 172. A combo wrench atop #s 1and 3 at the subsequent -7 oil change (Absolutely no idea who's that might be. Not my fault. Won't happen again.) I've become paranoid enough to undress whatever was open until I find every tool. And then there are times I forget I've forgotten something which fortunately appears as if by magic somewhere in the hangar where I never went. Un huh.

John Siebold
 
One time I was flying a chopper in Vietnam. (Marines) Began to notice the flight controls were getting awfully stiff. After landing, went up and started inspecting. Found a screw driver wedged between a flight control bell crank and the floor. Couldn't even get the darn thing out. Crew chief had to disassemble the bell crank to get it out.:eek:
 
Hammer

Non RV related, but a few years ago I had an engine failure on 747-200, when the engineers opened the engine cowlings a hammer fell on the ground. Traced back with the serial nr to a mechanic who had worked on the plane on the last inspection a few weeks before. It was not the cause of the engine failure though.
So it happens everywhere, on every kind of airplane...
 
Not sure what model RV that is...

but my first thought was that the pic was meant to point out that someone had jerry-rigged a bellcrank connection with a tall standoff and bolt that put tremendous bending load on the bolt and wasn't to plans. Apparently I would be wrong in that assumption. I will defer to the materials engineers on this. Still gives me the heebie-jeebies to look at that set-up, though.

-Stormy
 
but my first thought was that the pic was meant to point out that someone had jerry-rigged a bellcrank connection with a tall standoff and bolt that put tremendous bending load on the bolt and wasn't to plans. Apparently I would be wrong in that assumption. I will defer to the materials engineers on this. Still gives me the heebie-jeebies to look at that set-up, though.

-Stormy

That is a spacer. The bolt goes thru the steel bell crank on both ends. The actual pivot point of the bell crank is not shown in that pic.
 
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I had heard about a mattress left in a fuel tank from a worker taking a nap, that's the first I've heard of a vacuum cleaner...

It's all fun and games till you hear the heart surgeon asking the nurse if she has seen his Porsche keys wile you are coming out of anesthesia.
 
An AP/IA buddy of mine found a nice cordless drill inside the tailcone of a plane he was doing an annual inspection on a couple years ago.
He had to buy a battery charger for the drill off Amazon.com, but still uses that drill to this day.
 
On the shop floor at the company where I work the mechanics no longer use their own tools. There are official tool boxes with marked places to put every tool. At the end of every shift they are checked. If there is one missing the airplane in question is not released until they have found the tool or at least searched the airplane. Foolproof? No, humans are too resourceful. But a step in the right direction.
 
On the shop floor at the company where I work the mechanics no longer use their own tools. There are official tool boxes with marked places to put every tool. At the end of every shift they are checked. If there is one missing the airplane in question is not released until they have found the tool or at least searched the airplane. Foolproof? No, humans are too resourceful. But a step in the right direction.

At many power plants there is a strict protocol to be followed any time the main steam path is opened up, especially during turbine overhauls. Usually there is a controlled perimeter such that anyone crossing it must have a full inventory of everything they are carrying performed. Only essential tools and safety gear are allowed in. Everything is then inventoried again when the person exits the perimeter. If there is a mismatch all works stops and a FOD check is done.

Additionally special FOD plugs are installed in pipes to prevent items from falling in. Often tools are required to have lanyards to prevent them from falling or being left behind.

This would be hard and possibly silly to do in a small hangar with one or two people working on a plane but it is good practice to eliminate nonessential items from your pockets and establish a practice of putting tools away in an organized fashion when the job is done. Keeping a list of the tools you have used on a critical job may be a good idea.
 
Missiles

On the shop floor at the company where I work the mechanics no longer use their own tools. There are official tool boxes with marked places to put every tool. At the end of every shift they are checked. If there is one missing the airplane in question is not released until they have found the tool or at least searched the airplane. Foolproof? No, humans are too resourceful. But a step in the right direction.

It was even stricter in the FACO (Final Assembly and Check Out) bunker for working on live cruise missiles. Each tool was signed out and two workers were always present :)

I almost got assigned there during a union dispute at Raytheon. :eek:


PS they are the bunkers you see near the end of the runway when you take off from Tucson International (KTUS)
 
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