The Angry Mechanic

The Angry Mechanic,

October 25th, 2024

It was the summer of 1987. I’d been working at Kenmore Air Harbor as a seaplane mechanic since 1978. I was experienced and knew the 20 seaplanes owned by the company well. These were DeHavilland Beavers and Cessna 172s and 180s.

On night shift, 4:30 PM to 1 AM, there were three of us mechanics maintaining the company planes after they’d been flying all day on charters.

I’d performed a 100-hour inspection of one of the company’s Cessna 180s the night before, so I was surprised to see a pilot’s squawk that the left rudder pedal didn’t feel quite right on 03K.

The stainless steel control cables for the rudder, elevator, and elevator trim go through the belly of the plane under the cabin floor. Behind the baggage compartment, the cables go through the rear fuselage to the tail of the plane. The cables make the elevator go up and down, and the rudder goes right and left.

The 24 volt battery is also behind the baggage compartment along with the ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter.) The rudder cables go near the posts of the battery. There’s about 4” of clearance. I was always careful when in the tail to not let the cables touch the battery posts. It would cause a short circuit and damage the LH rudder cable.

I crawled back into the tail of 03K to check the LH rudder cable. Sure enough, the cable was scorched and damaged. It had touched the positive battery post on the battery.

I also noticed a new antenna and wire in the rear fuselage. Robert, the company radio man (tweaker), had installed it that morning before I came to work.

Damn! This pissed me off. Robert must have known he shorted out the battery with the LH rudder cable but told no one. It’s a bitch to change a rudder cable on a Cessna 180. It also made the plane un-airworthy.

So, I cut Robert’s antenna wire and replaced the LH rudder cable.

The next day, the foreman asked me into the office. He asked me if I cut the antenna cable. I said yes and told him why. The foreman told me not to do it again. I don’t know if he talked to Robert.

…

Another time I got mad was down in the Amazon on that film set. Pastor Benny, a nice Canadian Pentecostal missionary from Manaus, ran away.

Pastor Benny had been hired to fly his Cessna 206 in the film, delivering the missionaries (John Lithgow, Daryl Hannah, Aidan Quinn, and Kathy Bates (and son) to the Madre de Deus movie location on the river in the jungle.

Well, Pastor Benny got to flying too slow for the flyover shot. When he turned downwind, the plane stalled and crashed into the rubbery elephant ear plants along the river bank. Pastor Benny had hit full power in the stall, but it wasn’t enough.

No one was hurt, and little damage was done to the plane. I opened the engine cowling, and the engine compartment looked like the bottom of a lawn mower from the propeller plowing into those elephant ear plants.

Pastor Benny was spooked, and he flew back to Manaus.

The movie producer had to find another float plane in the Amazon to redo all the film shooting with Pastor Benny’s plane. He hired the only float plane around. It was a Cessna 185 owned by the Brazilian Drug Enforcement Agency.

The pilot of this DEA plane was a real dick. He had the uniform, sunglasses, and arrogant attitude of a government asshole.

The movie company told me that I had to replace the battery on the C-185 when the filming was done as part of the deal with the DEA.

Now, I’m no fan of drug laws and DEA cops. So I took the new pink 24 volt battery and filled up the battery cells with brown, acidic, river water and not distilled water. I figure the battery lasted a few months at most.

I get cranky sometimes.

TJM