I tend to agree, but perhaps the mice quickly dried out due to the very low humidity of the cabin air at altitude. A desiccated mouse wouldn't smell very much, and even if the dead mice smelled, there's lots of terrible smells onboard that might help mask it, like airline food, lavs, and nonstop farting.
Looks like someone ratted on aa!
- Thread starter MCI transplant
- Start date
I tend to agree, but perhaps the mice quickly dried out due to the very low humidity of the cabin air at altitude. A desiccated mouse wouldn't smell very much, and even if the dead mice smelled, there's lots of terrible smells onboard that might help mask it, like airline food, lavs, and nonstop farting.
Wretched Wrench
Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2003
- Messages
- 1,626
- Reaction score
- 12
Actually, all of our airplanes reek if left without air circulation. Not just dead rodents, but lav leaks, galley spills, etc. I have literally gagged working behind galley panels. And any RV owner will tell you just how much one dead mouse can stink up an enclosed metal hull. Yes, even in dry desert areas.
Yup. The FAA is literally a paper tiger. They are a bunch of clerks and bureaucrats who are only concerned with paper. And only during "Banker's Hours". However, in fairness, I must qualify that by saying that I have known a few well-qualified and diligent FAA employees. They are gone or worn down, though.
I've been opening up MD-80's and F-100's for over 13 years on heavy lines in Tulsa and have yet to see a live or dead mouse or rat. Remnants of their existence yes, but a carcass, no. Those exterminators on the line are doing a heck of a job. I hear though there is a major infestation of rats in a building on Pine with carcass's impersonating union officers.
Yes I understand that a load of loose lab mice is a grounding item. I have 25 years as an avionics tech and have yet to see a wire nawed thru by a rodent (pit bull Yes). Ya know when those little boogers chew on a 110v 400hz wire or even a 28v dc wire their little brains say stop when the electrons pass thru their bodies. They don't get very far especially on those 60 kva generator feed cables. It's like teaching your dog not to chew on the garden hose. Ya plug in an extension cord and leave it out in the yard. When he yelps he wont chew anymore. There has never been a plane crash or a fire caused by mice. What is a critical system wire? I cant find that in the maintenance manual. You must be a heavy overhaul person. Your not the guy who through the chock into the engine to keep it from flying because the jet needed a lightning strike inspection before its departure are you?
MCI transplant
Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2003
- Messages
- 5,311
- Reaction score
- 584
<_< ---- Twenty five years avionics tech. Congratulations! You must work in a shop! I've got approx. Forty years aircraft experience, counting military! Do you have your A&P Licenses? So you know what goes on in the brain of a mouse do you? How about ten mice? How about Fifty? How about that mouse nest on top of an Oxygen Generator? What do you think that mouse would think ,if, or when, it went off? By the way, I've had a Pit Bull for a pet for quit a few years! One of the best dogs I've ever had! Wouldn't hurt a fly!!!That one about the chock is funny! Oh! Do you know what a chock is? And yes, and no, on that heavy overhaul remark! I put in about twenty five plus years working the Line, Engine Overhaul,"A","B", and "C" checks. Transfured here to MCI almost fifteen years ago and have worked both Line, and Overheal!
Had one trot down the F/C cabin after gear up. On taxi in it trotted back up. He got a stay of execution until it's arrival in Kaui(sp?) two legs later.
I think it's new home will be a step up from Mexico 😛
Wretched Wrench
Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2003
- Messages
- 1,626
- Reaction score
- 12
Wretched Wrench
Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2003
- Messages
- 1,626
- Reaction score
- 12
I will give one instance.......before you even started your career, I had a DC10 with a fault in one the warning systems for the forward cargo door. It was a big delay, as cargo door warning was a very serious issue back then, due several in-flight openings. To make a long story short, I found a chewed-through wire and a dead lab rat inside the door. The captain didn't believe me until I showed him the rat, morte a rictus sardonicus. A tech foreman averred that he had seen that before, and later several other techs mentioned same. Since the CR days, there have been write ups in the logbooks about mouse and rat sightings. It was not uncommon for a wag to sign it off as "installed cat".
I still have a screwdriver I found in a belly with the rubber cushion on the handle chewed all the way around like you would eat corn off the cob. The chew marks look like little rodent teeth, no doubt attracted by the skin oils and salt of the guy who left it there. I have also seen little piles of fuzz and bits of hardware (washers, rivet heads) that looked like a rodent had stashed them. I have seen other wires that were likely chewed by a rodent, but no deceased suspect was nearby to blame for sure.
Wretched Wrench
Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2003
- Messages
- 1,626
- Reaction score
- 12
The 707 had an automatic rodent ejection system on the underside of the belly. It was made in Austria by Strauss & Sohns, Ärztegesellschaft, I believe. Die Fledermaus was the name of the product.
Dont apologize for telling the truth.
The fact is that with people dropping food on the floor that ends up in the tracks etc there will always be a food supply for rodents, and if there is a supply there will be rodents.
Hopping on board for a ride is nothing new. Rats and mice have hopped onto ships for centuries.
I remember years ago sitting in a darkened powered down DC-10 cabin and all we could hear was a sound like Velcro, it was the sound of mice running around on the carpet. The buildings were even worse. You can keep your home clean but with thousands of people passing through each day, with different sanitary behavior, its impossible to eradicate pests, you can minimize them through the use of exterminators but its a constant process.
The four legged will take back (coach) seats. There still are the two legged in F/C 🙂 . With two less, Lay & Skilling, they'll fly ConAir from now on 😀 .
MCI transplant
Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2003
- Messages
- 5,311
- Reaction score
- 584
<_< ---- They must be having a slow news day there in STL! This is old news!!The Aircraft has been taken care of (no more mice!) and gone on to bigger and better things! 😉
EyeInTheSky
Veteran
Watch the report here regarding the mouse invasion:
http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=100017
http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=100017
