Extra Passengers!!!!!!

[Wayne G. O'Shea]

Hello All, Thought you might be interested in this!

In August I sold our new AULA model Rebel to a gentleman over in Coboconk, Ontario. He brought it over on Thursday past, to have me repair a small leak around the radiator drain plug and to look at why his left strobe light was not working (aeroflash nav/pos/strobe assemblies with wing tip power packs). I fixed the rad leak and then removed the left wing tip. To my surprise I found that the leading edge D cell, from the tip to seven (7) ribs in (solid top to bottom), was a mouse house and bulk food storage area. It took me almost 3 hours to clean this mess out. The nest was nice and light, built from some chair stuffing (an old chair is apparently stored in his hanger) and contained 2 dead mice. On the other hand the grain like food that the mice must have spent weeks moving in, probably weighed (without exageration) 25 lbs. More examination of the airframe found that the lower left wing to fuselage fairing was dripping of mouse urine and actually leaving a airstream stain down the side of the fuselage, from the trailing edge of the cabin/flaperon gap filler to the middle of the tail cone.(thats alot of pi--) Inside the fuselage I found only 4 or 5 mouse dropping, but with the light held at the right angle you could see their path in the dust thru the tail cone. The mice appear to be climbing up the tail spring, up the rudder post and in thru the gap where the stab bolts to the fin (or in thru the elevator push pull tube). They then go thru the fuselage up to the flaperon mixer assembly and climb the push pull tubes getting off at the top floor(Fuselage wing root). Then thru the hole around the torque tube and into the wing root fairing. Then up around the front wing attatch fittings and into the leading edge(in front of the front spar), travelling its entire length into the wing tip and then back into the leading edge rib section. Another route appeared to be along the wing and then swinging around and into the gap at the rear of the lower fairing if the flaperon is in the up position, but as I found no sign of them in the right wing I suspect the torque tube route the most. I thought maybe that they had chewed a wire for the strobes, but fortunately (or unfortunately) they had not touched any wiring and the strobe pack was found to be defective and has been sent back on warranty.

If anyone has ever done a prepurchase inspection on an older Cessna that was mouse infested for any period of time, you would know what damage the urine will do. It will actually eat a hole right thru the aluminum so watch you airframes for signs of mice very carefully. If you find even one piece of mouse SH-- in your plane, I suggest you really give it a thorough going over before its to late! I would also suggest that you tape off the extra clearance around the torque tube with tin tape so they don't have access to the wing. If you ever find yourself in this situation, to vacuum the wing out you will need a couple different lengths of abs (or similar) pipe that will fit your vacuum hose and a 90 degree elbow for same! This will allow you to get at the inner edges of each rib as you work your way in, cleaning out the wing!

Wayne