Look for mouse damage

[old man emu]

During a routine periodic inspection of a country-based Pitts S1, our apprentice discovered that one of the rib lacings in a lower wing was broken. Further examination of the wing revealed that nearly all the rib lacing in that wing was broken. When the wing was opened, we found a mouse nest. The nest had been made from rib lacing cord and paper (which turned out to be the ERSA which was stored in the plane). Examination of the other lower wing revealed that the lacing was OK.

 

Why was the lacing in one lower wing OK, but the other was attacked? The good lacing was waxed, and the damaged lacing was not. We think that waxed lacing cord tastes lousy to mice.

 

This leads to two things:

 

1. If your airplane is hangared in a bush or rural area, and has been sitting for a while, make the inspection of the interior of your wing to check that the rib lacing is intact. Also check that any papers kept in your plane haven't been chewed up. That's a good indication that you've got mousy stowaways.

 

2. If you are going to do any rib lacing, use a waxed lacing cord.

 

Ceconite rib lacing cord (Spruce & Specialty Part No 09-41300-1) is waxed cord. There was no information to say if Polyfibre cord is waxed, but I only look at Spruce & Specialty.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

[winsor68]

I have heard of the same thing happening with a Jabiru... owner doing preflight... finds little flakes of foam coming from within the wing... Mice had set up shop and chewed the foam out...

 

 

[winsor68]

Most amazing (and costly) case of damage by tiny critters was when I worked for a Car dealership in nth-wst Qld... there was a locust plague which the staff tried in vain to keep from settling on the cars in the yard... I was about to deliver a new car when to my horror I noticed that the rubber seals around the whole car where all eaten away by the locusts... and every single car on the lot was the same... the damage bill was astronomical!

 

 

[Wayne T Mathews]

During a routine periodic inspection of a country-based Pitts S1, our apprentice discovered that one of the rib lacings in a lower wing was broken. Further examination of the wing revealed that nearly all the rib lacing in that wing was broken. When the wing was opened, we found a mouse nest. The nest had been made from rib lacing cord and paper (which turned out to be the ERSA which was stored in the plane). Examination of the other lower wing revealed that the lacing was OK.Why was the lacing in one lower wing OK, but the other was attacked? The good lacing was waxed, and the damaged lacing was not. We think that waxed lacing cord tastes lousy to mice.

 

This leads to two things:

 

1. If your airplane is hangared in a bush or rural area, and has been sitting for a while, make the inspection of the interior of your wing to check that the rib lacing is intact. Also check that any papers kept in your plane haven't been chewed up. That's a good indication that you've got mousy stowaways.

 

2. If you are going to do any rib lacing, use a waxed lacing cord.

 

Ceconite rib lacing cord (Spruce & Specialty Part No 09-41300-1) is waxed cord. There was no information to say if Polyfibre cord is waxed, but I only look at Spruce & Specialty.

 

Old Man Emu

Thanks for the heads up OME. If that Pitts is Col and Ryan's, then it spends a lot of its time in my hangar, and we've been laying out mouse baits for months because of the problems we've had with them. I went through my J3 with a bright light and mirrors yesterday morning after Ryan called to tell me what had been found, just in case she'd been damaged too. Luckily she hasn't. But tomorrow I'll go back in and check what sort of lacing she has. I know it's ceconite, but I don't know yet whether it's waxed or not.

 

Regards,

 

Wayne.

 

 

[Powerin]

Rats like chewing through stuff too. So far an air brake line on our truck and chewed completely through the belt on our cup elevator (for shifting grain). $2,000-3,000 damage.

 

 

[turboplanner]

This is also the start of blackbird. Indian Mynah nesting season around Melbourne.

 

Every car engine bay gets at least three nests each year.

 

An Indian Mynah will put about two fist fulls of dried grass on an engine in a day, and get through a 30 mm hole.

 

 

[winsor68]

This is also the start of blackbird. Indian Mynah nesting season around Melbourne.Every car engine bay gets at least three nests each year.

An Indian Mynah will put about two fist fulls of dried grass on an engine in a day, and get through a 30 mm hole.

We get those horrid Mynah birds up here too... never heard of one building a nest on an engine though...

 

 

[eastmeg2]

One morning in July 2005 as I was pre-flighting my trike for a morning flight I found that nearly 300mm of the seam between the undersurface and leading edge had been opened up. Closer inspection found lots of little chewed bits of dacron sail material inside the wing and little muddy mouse footprints from the nose of the trike all the way up the front profile tube to the hang point where the little critter obviously gained access into the interior of the wing. We flew a different trike that day and I took the wing to Airborne for repair.

 

Since then we have always kept rat baits and traps around the hangar and leave all front profile tubes disconnected in a near vertical position so they're much harder to climb and we place a board over the purlin in the back of the hangar that the first trike in noses up to so the little critters can't get on so easily any more.

 

We still regularly find green rat/mouse poop around the hangar and use the little chip packet style baits which seem to work very well since the little darlings love to chew through things (the packet) to get at stuff (the bait).

 

Cheers,

 

Glen

 

 

[Wayne T Mathews]

Why was the lacing in one lower wing OK, but the other was attacked? The good lacing was waxed, and the damaged lacing was not. We think that waxed lacing cord tastes lousy to mice.

Old Man Emu

Good afternoon OME. The evidence is building that you may be right about the waxed/unwaxed lacing. I checked the Cub, and for sure, the lacing is waxed.

 

Thanks again for the heads up.

 

Wayne.

 

 

[old man emu]

has this info been conveyed to casa OME?

In answer to your question, I refer you to:

 

http://www.recreationalflying.com/threads/war-has-been-declared.28201/#post-174138

 

Seriously, this type of damage is just one of the joys of operating an airplane. I realise that this damage could have lead to a catastrophic wing failure, but what could CASA or RAA do? It could have been found by a really good pre-flight, but rodent damage is something outside the normal range of experience. Having said that, I'm sure that those who know of it by personal experience, or by reading about it here, will add another step to their pre-flights.

 

Rodents aren't the only tiny things that can create unseen damage. As Spring and Summer approach, we will enter the mud dauber nest building season, and those little muddy-footed buggers love pitot tubes. Not to mention wasps, bees and other types of pluckabingees.

 

We restitched the opposite lower wing of this airplane not long ago, using waxed Ceconite. No meeces in that wing.

 

OME

 

 

[J170 Owner]

I have heard of the same thing happening with a Jabiru... owner doing preflight... finds little flakes of foam coming from within the wing... Mice had set up shop and chewed the foam out...

Hells Bells - How and where did the mice get into a Jabiru wing?

 

 

[rick-p]

Hi All,

 

Well years ago I had a snake drop out of the wing root rib opening on my Supa Pup, right into my lap.

 

I was on finals when it happened.

 

I wrote an article on the dangers in country areas of unwanted visitors entering your aircraft whilst parked and doing damage or trying to frighten you to death by appearing whilst the aircraft is in flight.

 

The snake episode was in fact published in Pacific Flyer by another who asked permission of me to do so.

 

The upshot is this, take nothing for granted and always check.

 

Mice arn't too bad basically just messy for the best part but rats are leathal and can bring you back down to the ground quite suddenly.

 

I had mice in the wings of the Lambada, my fix was to remove the wing tips and go for a fly.

 

It sucked out the little B...gars and their house and all thereafter was clean and well.

 

The idea is to leave a bit of tissue paper or soft sponge material in the aircraft and if mice are there you will know it as they will chew it up and take it for their nest.

 

A good thing to keep them out is moth balls (napthalene) they hate the smell and won't usually venture inside the aircraft.

 

I don't know if this works on rats.

 

I have often thought how many of these unexplained aircraft accidents where the pilot is killed and therefore, can't tell a story have occurred due to an unwanted hitch-hiker and after the crash they have just slithered or crawled off.

 

My advice is, just be ever vigilant and look for the signs because with all these vermin they leave some evidence one way or another of their presence in the aircraft.

 

I know as I learnt my lesson the hard way and fortunately for me that lesson was not my last.

 

Rick-p

 

 

[turboplanner]

A 410 works pretty good on rats.....and only small dents.

 

 

[Wayne T Mathews]

A 410 works pretty good on rats.....and only small dents.

Yep! Exactly true. My son used one to get rid of a rat in the kitchen of our farmhouse in the States. Needless to say, mother/wife WAS NOT amused though.

 

 

[Guernsey]

Hells Bells - How and where did the mice get into a Jabiru wing?

At the factory????? only joking.

Alan.

 

 

[J170 Owner]

I've mentioned it before in this forum, if a big hairy huntsman spider starts running around in my car I just keep driving and ignore the bugger because one day it could happen in the plane. One cannot jam on brakes and dive out the door when flying. I would however, rather a mouse run across the dash than the spider!

 

 

[rick-p]

A 410 works pretty good on rats.....and only small dents.

OMG a 410 that would only, as you say, leave small dents.

 

The local rats here are so big nothing less than a 375 magnum, I didn't say 357 I said 375.

 

Only trouble is it would perform a colonoscopy on your aircraft.

 

Rick-p:thank you:

 

 

[Guernsey]

had mice in the aircraft after being parked at temora for a few days at natfly...

What mice will do to get a free flight to Tassie.

Alan.

 

 

[Wayne T Mathews]

Alan,...its serious! they ate my cheese sandwiches for the flight home!!

Bloody hell!!... The pissy little sh*ts!!... I sure hope you shook 'em out over the strait... I'm told it's the only way to teach them not to do it again, you know. Well, that is if you haven't already shot their a*ses with a 410.

 

 

[Wayne T Mathews]

I'm gunna try to never p*ss you off... Well, not on purpose anyway.

 

Good fun but please. - Mod.

 

 

[Boaty]

For what it's worth peppermint oil is supposed to be a good way of keeping mice away. Just soak a few rags with it and drop them in.

 

 

[Geoff]

For what it's worth peppermint oil is supposed to be a good way of keeping mice away. Just soak a few rags with it and drop them in.

Snake Poo is the best :thumb_up:

 

 

[rick-p]

Snake Poo is the best :thumb_up:

:oh yeah:Is that before or after the snake has eaten the mouse?

 

 

[Geoff]

:oh yeah:Is that before or after the snake has eaten the mouse?

Hi rick I believe you can buy it {the Poo} you don't have to go flying with the live snake:no no no:like you:roflmao:still brings tears to the eyes

 

 

[Litespeed]

Ah, warm fuzzy memories of wildlife and moving machinery.

 

I have a very small long haired chihuahua dog that has killed way over 100+ big f..kin rats. Some about his size- they are vicious bastards and put up a huge fight when cornered ( I have scars to prove it). The dog however is just a flash of furr and dead rat. He snaps their neck as he hits em. He has never tried to play with em or eat em- just kills em. A lot better than some that eat em, then throw up.

 

Even had some dead and still standing- look of shock on face, eyes still open!

 

Get a good small dog for the hangar, let him spend time in the plane and he will protect his patch to the death.

 

I also don't like the idea of rat baits- they might nibble some and then back to your wing for a sleep and die in there, then body fluids can damage airframe.

 

My vote goes to a Hunter-Killer Canine, much less damage than a shot gun and heaps more accurate.

 

Found a six foot python in girlfriends undies drawer, all curled up and snoozing. Not what you expect when reaching for sexy lingerie.