Loading…
19
Why does the hangar at the old Spartan School in Tulsa still have its radio racks bolted in?
I stopped by the old Spartan School of Aeronautics hangar in Tulsa last month while visiting family, and the radio racks are still bolted to the wall after all these years. What got me was the hand-labeled wire bundles, still legible in pencil, with a date from 1978 on one tag. Whoever ran those harnesses took real pride in the lacing, and it held up better than most of what I see in newer airframes. Made me wonder if any of you still lace by hand or if it is all zip ties and lacing tape now.
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
grant.felix1d ago
That 1978 pencil tag on the wire bundle would have made me roll my eyes years back, I figured lacing was just old guys being stubborn about the way they learned it. Then I spent a winter chasing a chafed wire in a Cessna 172 and found the factory zip ties had sawed halfway through a bundle behind the panel, while a 1960s laced run right next to it was still tight as day one. The lace spreads the load over the whole bundle instead of one hard pinch point, and it flexes with the airframe instead of cutting into the insulation. I still use ties for quick stuff, but any run I care about gets laced now, usually flat waxed cord since real lacing tape is getting hard to find local. Takes maybe twice as long, and I've quit caring about that.
9