One thing leads to another...

Did you ever notice that fixing one thing often seem to break something else
in the old airplanes most of us fly?

We just had our new Directional Gyro installed today (just six weeks after
our Attitude Indicator failed), and lo and behold, our autopilot works
again! The gyros erect immediately, and no precession of the DG was
noticed in our test flight -- all was right with the world again!

Well, almost. It immediately became obvious that something was amiss with
our Com 1 radio. Depressing the PTT produced a nasty, high-pitched hum that
didn't sound good, and it didn't seem like we were hearing much of anything
on Unicom, despite several planes working the pattern. After a few minutes
of futzing around, we determined that we could just barely receive the AWOS
broadcast, despite being parked right next to the transmitter!

We switched to Com 2, which was working normally, and proceeded with our
test flight.

Since Com1 is our newest radio (the digital Narco 820R), we figured it
couldn't be a problem with the radio itself (although, of course, you never
really know). And, of course, the panel had JUST been ripped apart to
install the new DG (And I had them replace ALL the vacuum tubing from the
vacuum pump back, as long as we had everything open. It was the ORIGINAL
tubing, dated 1975!) So, we pretty much knew that SOMETHING had been
accidentally disconnected during the installation -- but what?

So, it was back to my A&P's shop, where they resignedly (but good-naturedly)
started trouble-shooting the issue. Of course, it meant taking the seats
out again, and climbing up under the panel with a shop light -- no easy task
for two heavy-weight guys approaching 60 years old.

The radios in our plane have probably been replaced six times since 1974.
Worse, every guy that put in a new radio seemed to string new wires, simply
cutting off the old antenna wires. This meant that there are several
"antenna wires to no where" under the panel -- making determining which one
was disconnected an exercise in frustration.

Well, after almost two hours the bugger was found, and reconnected -- but
what a pain, for all concerned! Somehow during the installation of the
instruments, vacuum hoses, filters, and hose clamps, this one wire was
accidentally detached, leading to a long wild goose chase.

This isn't the first time this has happened to me. Anyone else have a
similar experience?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"