Drifter Vs Possum

[kevb]

Hi Everyone,

 

During a pre flight check I found this little chap, a possum, had taken up residence behind the battery in the Drifter. After a battle, I was able to get him out with all of my fingers intact. The amount of damage that he did to the wiring was unbelievable. Had to pull pretty much the whole front end and most of the instruments out of the plane to repair the damage, he even chewed through a wiring bundle. All good though, repaired the damage and did the test flight and will be flying again tomorrow. Could have been worst I suppose, could have been covered in scales, six foot long and angry. Kev.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Downunder]

It would have been interesting if you didn't see him (and never damaged wiring) and he crawled out under your feet in flight.....

 

It would have been MORE interesting if the 6 ft scaly one did the same!!!......ha...ha.

 

 

[kevb]

Lol, thats what my mate said, he thought it would be as funny as hell, me, I'm not so sure.

 

 

[kasper]

You got off lucky. I bought a trike in the uk and it was in a hangar 100miles away. In the two weeks it sat in the hangar before I drove up to pick it up a sparrow nested on the exhaust system and when I arrived it was roped off in the back of the hangar. Went to see hangar owner to settle up and collect the trike and he said I have to leave it here till the birds hatch AND leave the nest. Said rubbish I'd take it away after lifting the nest off and putting it on the wall of the hangar. Turned around to drive trailer up to hangar and he'd locked it in and called the police to have me removed! Trike stayed for another 5 weeks and yes - he charged hangerage the full time.

 

RSPB agreed with him. It illegal to disturb any nest of a bird with eggs in it so I was stuck.

 

 

[Deskpilot]

Back in the day when I was in the RAF, we had a Lightning in the corner of the hangar on a major service. For some reason, it became a "Christmas tree" as 'presents' were removed from her to service other aircraft. Can't remember why this occurred. Anyway, come spring, a Blackbird decided to take up residence in her engine bay and so all work on it was suspended. After the birds had flown, a directive came to get her back in the air post haste and all stops were pulled out to make it happen. The story goes that the pilots had to pick the short straw as to who flew her shake out flight and no-one had volunteered. I do remember seeing the station commander doing the pre-flight check with the poor sod that drew the short stick, just to make sure he couldn't find some reason not to take her up. Of course, due to our superlative maintenance procedures:cheezy grin:, she flew with no problems at all, just like the young Blackbirds that took life in her.

 

 

[carrod01]

Too funny Kev. Better watch out the wallabies don't get any ideas about joyrides!

 

Cheers, Des

 

 

[Litespeed]

Lol, thats what my mate said, he thought it would be as funny as hell, me, I'm not so sure.

And then you could drop the snake from the Drifter into someones lap- ala Mad Max with Bruce Spence as the gyro jockey.

 

But seriously Kev,

 

I hope you understand all the little fella was doing was checking your electrics. He saw a bad wire and had to check all of them, he tried using a multimeter, but couldn't read the numbers. Naturally he then had to use his teeth and check for live wires.

 

It is amazing how clever possums are- they hold a near complete monopoly on electrical work. When that little guy grows up and finishes his trade- he will be like his old man working on the power lines. They have been having problems with import labour trying to undercut them- bloody Rats. So donations to the Cat have been increased in a effort to exterminate the competition.

 

 

[M61A1]

You got off lucky. I bought a trike in the uk and it was in a hangar 100miles away. In the two weeks it sat in the hangar before I drove up to pick it up a sparrow nested on the exhaust system and when I arrived it was roped off in the back of the hangar. Went to see hangar owner to settle up and collect the trike and he said I have to leave it here till the birds hatch AND leave the nest. Said rubbish I'd take it away after lifting the nest off and putting it on the wall of the hangar. Turned around to drive trailer up to hangar and he'd locked it in and called the police to have me removed! Trike stayed for another 5 weeks and yes - he charged hangerage the full time.RSPB agreed with him. It illegal to disturb any nest of a bird with eggs in it so I was stuck.

I reckon it might have been a good idea to make sure that everything he owned had a nest with eggs in it.

 

 

[boleropilot]

I've got a mancave full of RC aircraft - fuselages on one wall, wings on t'other, either side of a big work bench. Lifted a fuselage down to do some work on the acft, placed it on the bench - lifted down the wing and as I turned to place it on the bench Benny Brown Snake popped his head out of the fuselage, took one look at me and decided (obviously) that I was the one who had interrupted his little nap...he had a big lunge at me, I dropped the wing (as you do) and fled the mancave with Benny in hot pursuit - he followed me into open ground where I had been working with a pick and shovel to dig a hole

 

Benny then decided to get friendly and help me finish digging the hole - he stuck his head in the hole to check the depth for me and - who wooda thunk - his head got in the way of my shovel. So sad. Poor Benny - he was only about three feet long - and after the event, I recalled (as you do) that the fuselage did feel a little heavy when I picked it up off the rack....those Eastern Browns are quite slim really - perhaps why they are so damn fast!!!

 

BP