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Spent 4 hours chasing a ground fault that was just a chafed wire behind a panel
Turned out some idiot routed a bundle too close to a sharp bracket on a 737, and it took me all afternoon to find the one bare spot. Anyone else waste a whole shift on something this stupid?
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aaronroberts15d ago
Had a similar thing happen on a Gulfstream once, spent a solid 5 hours chasing a ghost in the system. Turned out a zip tie was rubbing a bundle against a metal bulkhead, but it only shorted out when the plane hit a certain vibration frequency. Just kept failing intermittently during testing, drove me nuts. I swear sometimes it feels like the plane is messing with you on purpose.
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the_elizabeth15d ago
Oh man, that vibration frequency thing is the worst. I had a Cessna once where the radios would just cut out randomly but only during certain phases of flight. Spent three weekends swapping boxes and chasing grounds before I found a wire that had its insulation worn paper thin where it passed over a sharp edge in the panel. It only made contact when the airframe hit just the right harmonic, which was always when I was trying to show the plane off to a potential buyer lol. That zip tie thing sounds like something straight out of a nightmare, honestly. Makes you wonder how many of these issues just get chalked up to pilot error when it's really the plane being a gremlin.
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laura_wilson15d ago
Isn't it always the little stuff that nobody expects that bites you hardest?
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