Just a Lil' Airplane Mechanic'in

Shawn & Robert start to take the back panel off to identify the problem. The small white cone on the top of the plane is the antenna.

Here is the tail of the plane that I climbed around in. I began to the right of this picture and ended up by that red gas tank in the back.

Last week Matthew was having a little trouble with his gps signal coming in and out. Not a major problem on a plane but something that needs to be fixed as soon as possible. We identified the problem last Wednesday evening right before Matthew took off with his last load of chemical. As you can see from the top picture Shawn and Robert (handy airplane mechanic that works next door) are removing the back panel to reset the GPS. We got it working just in time to put out that last load but Robert figured the best solution to our problem was to get a new antenna.

Early Thursday morning, the problem occurred again so Robert flew to Mississippi to get us the new part. That afternoon Matthew and Shawn began working to replace the old antenna. This proved to be a somewhat difficult task for two tall, large, husky guys. You see, to get to the antenna (shown in the first picture) on top of the airplane, you can't go through the fuselage, you have to go through the tail end of the airplane on up! (second picture)...Here lies the problem for these two strong manly men.

This tiny space in the rear part of the airplane is like a jungle gym for Keebler Elves. It was also about as hot a sauna in there on this warm, muggy day (big boys don't do well in hot tiny spaces)... So the boys call me off the bench and into the shop!

First of all, my 5'10 frame is not petite by any means. Secondly, my mechanical knowledge doesn't extend much further than "Lefty Lucy, Righty Tighty" but off I go. I kicked off my shoes and hopped on in, carefully slipping my hiney over one of the cables that Matthew told me not to touch. I was also instructed to try and not step on the bottom of the plane, metal rods only, if possible. So I weave my way up through the plane... I tried to imagine that I was involved in a really expensive jewelery heist and I was avoiding the lasers to set off the alarm, or that I was the Chinese guy in Oceans 12... Alas, I was just in a really hot greasy airplane.

I finally reached my specific destination. I balanced my two bare feet on a half inch bar, held the rest of my body up by wrapping my left arm around another beam and grabbed the designated wrench with my right. My task, you ask? "Lefty lucy, Righty tighty" (My Specialty!) I screwed and unscrewed a few bolts to secure the new antenna. Success! With sweat dripping in my eyes, I again performed my dance and exited the airplane. I was covered with grease, but man, it sure felt good to be an airplane mechanic!

Matthew's gps was ready to go and all was right with the world again at AufderHeide Flying Service. Later that day my friend in Little Rock text me and asked what was going on... "Not much", I said, "Just a lil' airplane mechanic'in." :)