Serious question, has a simple ground check ever saved you a full day of work?

I was chasing a weird autopilot trim fault on a King Air for two hours, checking all the usual suspects. My lead, who's been at this hangar in Phoenix for twenty years, walked over and just said 'check pin 17 on the D-sub for corrosion before you pull the box'. It was green and crusty, cleaned it, fault cleared. How many hours do you think we waste not doing the basic visual first?

3 comments

3 Comments

hollyscott1d ago

Yeah, that's the thing, it's not really wasted time. You have to rule out the complex stuff first, or you'll just be cleaning pins for faults that need a whole new box. The visual check is basic, but you can't start there every time, you know? That lead only knew to check pin 17 because he's seen that exact failure a dozen times before.

juliaa651d ago

Ever run into that weird flicker on the old Model 4s? I got stuck on one for hours until I finally just reflowed the solder on the main power connector. Looked perfect, but that cold joint was the whole problem. Sometimes the simple fix is buried under all the complex checks.

averyc941d ago

Totally feel that, spent a whole weekend swapping caps on a 3B only to find a cracked trace under the board. You chase the ghosts until you finally spot the obvious thing. It's always the last place you look because you stop looking after.