Narrative:

Up almost completing my walk-around I noticed something different in the lh main gear wheel well. It was a towel wrapped around the flight control cables. It was obvious that it had flown at least one leg like this; the towel was tight wrapped around the cables inside the pulley. I took a pic with my cell phone and immediately conferred with the ca. We both went back and saw it and then made the proper calls to have it looked at. At first the mx personnel stated that he could not free the towel from the cables. I went and told the ca. By then more people had arrived including a chief pilot; mx supervisor and other mx personnel. 15 minutes later mx told me they were able to finally shake the towel loose and that we were good to go. I walked back up to the cockpit and told the ca; he said we weren't going anywhere; mx had already taken the plane out of service. The chief pilot said he said he saw no reason why we shouldn't go (this is what the ca told me he said). The ca informed him mx had taken the plane OTS before him. This was not a good feeling by me from I what I found; my stomach turned at the thought of what could have happened. I would like to know (based on the pic I included) what exactly these cables control. We ended up getting a newplane; were late; I missed my commute flight home by 10 minutes; but am glad this was caught. Please notify me as what exactly these cables control.checklist for mx to use anytime a tangible object is inside the wheel well; verification by a second person that nothing has been left behind.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A MD-80 First Officer discovered towels wrapped around cables in the wheel well which maintenance was able to remove with some difficulty. It was discovered the towels were paper; but the aircraft remained grounded for an inspection.

Narrative: Up almost completing my walk-around I noticed something different in the LH main gear wheel well. It was a TOWEL wrapped around the flight control cables. It was obvious that it had flown at least one leg like this; the towel was tight wrapped around the cables inside the pulley. I took a pic with my cell phone and immediately conferred with the CA. We both went back and saw it and then made the proper calls to have it looked at. At first the MX personnel stated that he could not free the towel from the cables. I went and told the CA. By then more people had arrived including a Chief pilot; Mx Supervisor and other mx personnel. 15 minutes later MX told me they were able to finally shake the towel loose and that we were good to go. I walked back up to the cockpit and told the CA; he said we weren't going anywhere; MX had already taken the plane out of service. The Chief pilot said he said he saw no reason why we shouldn't go (this is what the CA told me he said). The CA informed him MX had taken the plane OTS before him. This was NOT a good feeling by me from I what I found; my stomach turned at the thought of what could have happened. I would like to know (based on the pic I included) what exactly these cables control. We ended up getting a newplane; were late; I missed my commute flight home by 10 minutes; but am glad this was caught. Please notify me as what exactly these cables control.Checklist for MX to use anytime a tangible object is inside the wheel well; verification by a second person that nothing has been left behind.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.