lee72•8d ago

That time I found a tin can shoved into an antenna cable on a Cessna in Arizona

I was working on a 172 out in Phoenix about 3 years back, doing a routine comm check. The radio kept cutting out on certain frequencies, so I traced the coax. When I got to the belly of the plane, I found someone had literally jammed a crushed soda can into the connector to bridge a broken pin. I couldn't believe my eyes. Must have been a field fix that someone just left in there for years. It took me two hours to clean out all the corrosion and replace the whole cable run. Has anyone else found something totally off the wall hiding in a panel or cable run?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliver28d ago

I've seen plenty of those shade tree fixes over the years, usually crimped hose clamps or tape jobs that turn into a science project. Best move is to just cut it all out and run new cable, like you did, saves chasing gremlins later.

johnson.daniel7d ago

This kind of stuff is everywhere if you pay attention. Found a similar thing at my buddy's house, the furnace kept blowing a fuse and someone had jammed a penny behind the old glass fuse to keep it running. People take a shortcut in a pinch, then it just sits there until someone else has to deal with a much bigger problem than if you just fixed it right the first time. It's the same pattern across every trade and hobby I've seen.