It’s amazing what I’ve seen under these consoles, heart-stopping other times! The aileron and elevator pulleys have minimal clearance to the floor so anything substantial falling in there and getting jammed in the pulleys could be a life-altering event (to put it mildly!).

So far I’ve found a 1/4″ ratchet wrench, various instrument screws from the ages, interior trim screws, an old potato chip bag, shop rags, dead spiders, broken pieces of interior plastic trim and dust, lots of dust just to name a few. It’s really important that your shop follow the book and open up these panels at inspection time to not only inspect the cables and pulleys, but to thoroughly clean this area!