I bought that expensive automatic wire stripper from the trade show in Phoenix last year. Thought it would save me tons of time on harness builds at the hangar. After three tries it kept nicking the shielding on 22 gauge wire, so now it just sits in my box. Anyone else drop cash on a tool that ended up being more trouble than it was worth?
Was doing my logbook for a routine harness repair on a CRJ-200 when I added up my numbers. 5 years in avionics, 14 different aircraft types, and I crossed 10,000 solder joints and crimps. Never really thought about the cumulative count until that moment. Any of you guys keep track of your lifetime terminations or am I just weird about documentation?
I was at the AEA show in Dayton last month, just walking around. This guy who looked like he had been turning wrenches since the 70s was talking to a vendor about how he never uses those expensive automated testers for basic continuity checks. He said something like "if you can't trust a $20 multimeter and a good schematic, you don't understand the circuit well enough to fly it." That hit me hard because I probably spent $4,000 on a fancy analyzer last year that I barely use for half of my daily work. I spend more time reading menus on that thing than actually troubleshooting. Now I'm looking at my bench and wondering if I got sold a bunch of gear I don't need. Made me realize the fundamentals might be slipping with all this new tech. Has anyone else gone back to simpler tools after getting buried in expensive test equipment?
When I started 5 years ago a mechanic named Hank said canned air just pushes dust deeper into components and causes intermittent faults later. I thought he was just being grumpy until I had to pull a comm panel three times in one month that kept acting up. Finally cleaned it with a proper vacuum and static-safe brush and it's been fine since. Anyone else ditched canned air for something better?
Had a 737 that kept throwing a weird INS error code, spent 4 hours chasing a ground wire that was barely frayed in the wheel well. Fixed it on the first test flight and the captain actually thanked me over the radio. Anyone else have a repair that felt way too good when it finally worked?
I've been keeping a log since I started working on Gulfstream G650s at the Savannah facility about 2 years ago. Hit exactly 10,432 pins last Tuesday on a wing harness repair, and I haven't had a single continuity issue or cold solder joint yet. I'm not sure if that's normal for experienced guys or if I just got lucky with my technique. Anyone else track their termination stats or am I just being weird about it?
Guy named Jerry at my hangar in Phoenix watched me fix a wire on a King Air panel. He said I was heating the joint too long and pulling the solder away instead of letting it flow. I got defensive but the next day I tried it his way - shorter heat, let the pad do the work. No more cold joints. Anyone else get a piece of advice that stung but turned out to be solid?
I was working on a G650 out of Atlanta back in March, running new coax for the XM antenna, and this senior tech kept insisting I was terminating the connectors wrong. He said I needed to leave a half-inch more exposed core, even though the manual says a quarter inch max. I stood there and showed him the manufacturer's spec sheet from Rockwell Collins and he just shrugged and walked off. Has anyone else dealt with a veteran tech who thinks their old way beats the manual every time?
I was troubleshooting a Bendix/King KX 155 that kept losing its com side on a 1980s King Air 200 last month. The bench shop wanted $1,200 to rebuild it with no guarantee on the old crystal oscillator. I rolled the dice on a used KX 165 off a parted-out 1990 Cessna for $450 instead. Wired it in on a Tuesday and the owner said it's the clearest audio he's had in years. Any other techs run into older nav/coms that just aren't worth the repair cost?
Was troubleshooting an intermittent G1000 altitude discrepancy for two days, then it just stopped doing it mid-air. Anyone else ever chase a ghost fault that magically fixed itself?
I used to do all my continuity checks with a simple DMM and a tone generator, like we learned in A&P school back in 2012 at Embry-Riddle. But now I'm switching to a multi-function digital autoranger, and it's cutting my troubleshooting time on a 737 panel from 45 minutes to maybe 15. Do you think the tech makes us better, or are we losing the feel for the circuit? What's your take?
My lead said it looked like a rat's nest and made me redo all 12 harnesses on that King Air last month. Anyone else have a supervisor who just points at your work and says 'fix it' without any specific reason?
I pulled an old 737 panel from a 2008 build last week and it looked like a disaster zone compared to the newer stuff coming through our shop in Denver. The real change is these pre-terminated harnesses from companies like TE Connectivity. Back in the day we were soldering half these connections on the line and it showed. Has anyone else noticed the before-and-after difference with these factory assemblies?
Picked up one of those cheap pass-through pinout testers for a 50-pin D-sub harness I was building for a King Air 350. First try showed continuity on all but pin 23 which I knew was right so I almost re-pinned the whole thing. Turns out the tester had a dirty contact on that channel and a quick shot of DeOxit fixed it. Anyone else run into false fails on budget tools or am I just being cheap?
I was at AirVenture in July, saw a booth selling this $400 USB multi-tester for troubleshooting nav/com boxes. Tried it on a King KY 97A in the shop back home, total garbage. Gave me false readings on the audio squelch and said the unit had a bad crystal when it was fine. Swapped back to my old Fluke scope and a manual wiring diagram, found the real issue in 20 minutes (a corroded pin on the backplane). Anyone else ditch those fancy plug and play gadgets after a bad experience?
He said he just plugs them in and moves on, then I spent 10 minutes explaining how one bent pin grounded a whole fleet for a day back in 2018. Made me wonder if I'm too paranoid or if the rest of the field just gets lucky. Any of you ever had a call that changed how you approach a connector check?
I kept getting a leak on the static side and swapped every fitting before I realized the test set itself had a loose connection. The whole time I was blaming the airplane and it was my own gear. Has anyone else chased a ghost leak like that for hours before finding it was something dumb?
I've been using a $15 set from the hardware store for years and never had issues... until last month when I was doing a harness on a Cessna 172 and a pin just slid right out after I crimped it. The owner saw it and made me redo the whole thing with his Snap-on tools. Now I check every crimp with a pull test before I even seal the connector. Anyone else have a close call with bad crimps?
The shop I work at was upgrading a Cessna 172 and I had to choose between these two glass retrofit units. I went with the G600 because the local avionics guy said parts would be easier to get. Install went fine but the magnetometer mount gave me a headache for 3 days. Anyone run into calibration issues with the G600 after install?
Been working on a 737 pitot-static system the last few days. When I first started training I would always mess up the bleed sequence or forget a valve, and my lead would have to walk me through it. Yesterday I finished the hookup, did my leak test, and the check came back clean with zero leaks on the first pass. It felt good to just hand him the paperwork without any notes on it. For those of you who have been doing this a while, how long did it take before your first perfect checkout without a retest?
I was wiring up a Garmin G5000 retrofit on a King Air 200 about 8 months back. The senior tech, Dave, kept insisting I use terminal strip splices for everything instead of twist-on connectors like Wago lever nuts. Said twist-ons would vibrate loose in the panel and cause intermittent faults. I followed his advice for the first few radios. Man, it took twice as long and troubleshooting a bad ground later was a nightmare because I had to unscrew every terminal to trace it. After redoing one whole section with lever nuts, I had zero issues on the next flight test. Dave still gives me dirty looks when I pull them out. Any of you guys use Wagos in certified panels or is that just me?
I had this older guy watch me tin a wire on a Garmin GNS 430 connector last week and he said I was putting way too much solder on. He showed me the right amount is just enough to wick up the strands, not form a blob. Ever since I changed my technique the connections look cleaner and I haven't had a single cold joint issue. Has anyone else had a veteran tech call them out on their soldering habits?
Took me nearly 4 hours to find a pin that was barely seated in the connector. Everything checked out on the continuity test but the ohms were just slightly off. Turned out the crimp was good but the pin wasn't fully locked into the backshell. Has anyone else gotten burned by a connector pin that looked seated but wasnt?
He showed me the backshell strain relief should go on before the pins, not after, and I've been doing it backwards for 12 years - anyone else have a basic habit they had to unlearn?
Ever since that day I check each pin with a micro-ohmmeter before pinning up the connector, has anyone else had a book value burn them on a critical system?