c/avionics-technicians

Tried using a borrowed Fluke 87V instead of my go-to Klein MM700 on a King Air 200 yesterday.

The Fluke was way more sensitive for reading those finicky VOR signals but I kept missing the continuity beep I'm used to lol. Anyone else stick with a specific brand even when the 'better' tool is right there?

2 comments

the_terry•16d ago

That cheap capacitor tester I was skeptical about actually saved my butt

I picked up a little ESR meter from eBay for $30 last year, figured it would be junk. Used it yesterday to track down a bad capacitor in a King radio that was giving intermittent power issues. Swapped it out and the unit fired right up on the bench, no more glitching. Has anyone else had luck with those cheap handheld testers or am I just lucky?

2 comments

schmidt.blake•16d ago

Question about locating intermittent shorts on Piper archers

Spent 3 hours last week chasing a intermittent short in the right nav light circuit on a 1978 Piper Archer. I finally found it by isolating the circuit and using a tone generator on each wire segment instead of the usual continuity test. Has anyone else had better luck with this method on older wiring harnesses?

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gavin928•18d ago

Hot take: I pick cheap multimeters over Flukes for bench work

I know everyone swears by Fluke but my $35 Innova has survived 4 years of daily use without a single issue. Has anyone else found the expensive ones just aren't worth it for basic troubleshooting?

2 comments

alice_gonzalez96•19d ago

Fixed a weird display glitch with just a firmware update

I spent two hours chasing a faulty display line in a G1000 only to find a simple firmware patch fixed it. Learned to check software version first before pulling any panels. Has anyone else run into a glitch like that?

2 comments

alice_barnes35•19d ago

That one Friday where everything in the hangar went sideways at once

Last month I had a Cessna 172 in for a radio swap and the new Garmin unit wouldn't even power up, plus the old wiring harness crumbled apart the second I touched it. Then the coffee machine died and my helper dropped a bolt down into the tailcone, which took me 45 minutes to fish out with a magnet on a stick. Has anyone else had a single shift turn into a total disaster like that?

2 comments

sanchez.blair•20d ago

Can we talk about that nightmare with the Garmin G1000 update

Last Tuesday I spent 6 hours on a single Cessna 172 because the database upload kept failing halfway through. Turned out the SD card was formatted wrong, but the manual didn't mention that anywhere obvious. Anyone else run into this or find a workaround that doesn't waste half a shift?

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amy302•20d ago

A QA guy told me my solder joints were too cold...

He said I was rushing the heat-up phase and showed me a joint that looked perfect but had a tiny crack inside. Now I hold the iron on for a solid 3 seconds longer and my rework rate dropped by half... has anyone else had a simple tweak like that change their whole process?

2 comments

the_leo•20d ago

Appreciation post: The lead who actually showed me how to read a wiring diagram right

Had a senior tech named Dave pull me aside on a 737 in Atlanta last Tuesday. He saw me struggling with a harness on a new install and just said "stop guessing and trace it from the connector back." Walked me through the whole thing step by step, even showed me how the pin numbers line up with the schematic. Has anyone else had someone take the time to actually teach them something that simple that made everything click?

2 comments

the_terry•21d ago

Walked through the avionics bay on a 787 in Seattle last week

Saw they were using these little adhesive cable tie mounts with a peel-off backing instead of drilling holes for clamps. Has anyone else tried those on a retrofit job, or do they peel off after a few flights?

2 comments

logan_schmidt•21d ago

Hit 500 wire terminations without a single rework yesterday

I've been doing avionics bench work for about 4 years now, mostly on GA stuff like Garmin panels and old King radios. Yesterday I finished up a really messy Cessna 182 panel pull and had to re-terminate like 50+ wires for the new stack. I kept a tally on my whiteboard out of curiosity and hit exactly 503 D-sub pins and ring terminals before lunch. Not a single one had to be cut back and redone. That felt huge, because I remember my first year where I'd screw up maybe 1 out of every 20 pins. It made me realize how much the feel for crimper pressure and wire strip length just becomes muscle memory after a while. Has anyone else tracked their own rework rate and noticed a big drop after a certain point?

2 comments

olivia_barnes97•23d ago

PSA: That $300 panel tester from the online auction site is a paperweight

Bought a used IFR 4000 on eBay for $300 thinking I got a steal but it fails calibration across every band and now the seller ghosted me, has anyone actually had luck getting their money back through PayPal disputes on avionics gear?

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robinl90•24d ago

Got chewed out by an inspector in Atlanta over a bad solder joint last spring

I was rushing through a nav radio install on a King Air and left a cold joint on the backshell ground, he caught it right away and made me redo the whole harness. Has anyone else had an inspector save them from a dumb mistake that couldve grounded an aircraft?

2 comments

ninam86•25d ago

That $200 pin removal kit was a lifesaver on a King Air harness swap

I was rebuilding a harness section in a King Air 200 last month and had about 15 pins that were completely stuck from corrosion. My cheap screwdriver method was just mangling the contacts so I caved and bought a proper extraction tool set from Cinch for around $200. Got every single pin out clean in under 20 minutes without damaging the connector. Has anyone else found a cheaper brand that works as well for those old crimp-style pins?

2 comments

lucaslane•26d ago

Overheard a guy at the Orlando avionics conference say he never uses a schematic to trace faults, just pokes wires until something sparks

He said he's been doing it 15 years and never had a fire, but I can't help wondering how many boards he's fried or how many hours of troubleshooting he's wasted compared to just pulling up the pinout, anyone else run into techs who refuse to read drawings?

2 comments

schmidt.blake•26d ago

Took me 2 years to realize I was wrong about crimp tools

I always thought the cheap ratcheting crimpers were fine for D-sub pins. But after 8 consecutive pull-test failures on a 1553 harness last Thursday, I borrowed a Daniels M22520 from a buddy. Zero failures since. Anyone else switch to a better brand and see a night and day difference?

2 comments

grant.kevin•26d ago

Unpopular opinion: old school analog test gear is better than digital for finding intermittent faults

Was talking to a retired avionics guy named Pete at the hangar last Tuesday. He said when he worked on F-16s in the 80s, he'd use a Simpson 260 meter to chase down glitches in the wire bundles. Told me digital stuff filters out the noise you actually need to see. I've been thinking about that all week with a PFD that keeps dropping out in turbulence, analog meter showed a bad ground pin in 10 minutes that my Fluke missed after 3 hours. What do you guys use for intermittent stuff, old school or all digital?

2 comments

kevin_murray88•27d ago

Overheard a lead tech say we should skip the bonding jumpers on composite panels

He was talking to a new guy in the break room, said it saves 20 minutes per panel and nobody checks anyway. That can't be right for lightning protection, can it?

3 comments

sam_harris68•28d ago

Switched my crimp method after a pitot tube failure during preflight

For about 8 years I used the same cheap crimper on D-sub pins without a second thought. Last April I was doing a preflight on a Cessna 172 and noticed the pitot heat was intermittent. Tracing it back I found a pin that looked fine but the wire pulled right out with barely any effort. I switched to a proper ratcheting crimper like the Danielson DAK-95 and started using a pull test on every single pin. Now I won't let anyone on my crew touch a connector without checking their crimps first. Has anyone else had a bad crimp cause a weird avionics gremlin you couldn't find for days?

2 comments

anthony165•28d ago

Finally figured out that nagging autopilot disconnect after 6 hours of troubleshooting

Had a King Air come in with a random AP disconnect that only showed up in mild turbulence. Turned out to be a corroded pin in the pitch servo connector that passed all bench tests. Anyone else run into gremlins that only appear under specific flight conditions?

2 comments

grant.kevin•29d ago

Walked into a hangar in Phoenix and saw something I still can't explain

I was doing a routine check on a King Air 200 at a small FBO near Phoenix Sky Harbor last Tuesday. So I pop open the avionics bay and find this bundle of wires held together with what looked like zip ties and a piece of an old t-shirt. The guy before me must have used it as a temp fix for a chafing issue and just left it for three months. Anyone else run into a DIY hack job that made you just stop and laugh?

2 comments

avery721•29d ago

Wasted $200 on a fancy crimper that couldn't handle shielded wire

I bought this expensive crimper from a booth at the Vegas show back in March. Figured it was worth the money since I do a lot of Mil-spec connections. First time I tried it on some shielded twisted pair the crimp came out loose and the connector fell off. Tried adjusting it 5 times, same result. Ended up going back to my old $50 one from Grainger. Don't fall for the hype on those specialty tools if they don't let you test them first. Anybody else get burned by a tool that looked good on paper?

2 comments

dylan124•1mo ago

PSA: That FAA repair station in Phoenix messed up my whole workflow

I used to think following the manual to the letter was the only way to go. But after a job at a repair station in Phoenix last spring, I changed my mind. They insisted on replacing an entire wiring harness on a Cessna 172 per the book, even though a simple splice would have saved 6 hours of labor. The customer was billed $3,200 for the harness and 8 hours of work. I told the lead tech it felt wasteful, but he just shrugged and said 'that's what the FAA wants.' Now I push back more on those calls when safety isn't at risk. Has anyone else pushed back on a shop that was too strict about replacing vs repairing?

2 comments

val_taylor•1mo ago

Why does nobody talk about intermittent faults on the G1000 autopilot servo?

I just spent a full week, 40 hours of my life, chasing a single autopilot disconnect issue on a Cessna 182. The pilot said it would randomly drop out for a second and then reconnect. Everyone in the shop said it was probably a bad connector or a software glitch, the usual suspects. I swapped the servo, checked every pin on the connector, and ran the diagnostic a dozen times. The real problem? A tiny, almost invisible crack in the flex circuit inside the control head itself. It only opened up when the panel got warm after an hour of flight. I finally found it by wiggling the harness with a heat gun on low. That one little crack cost the owner over 3 grand in labor and downtime. Has anyone else had a G1000 issue that just would not show up on the ground?

3 comments

the_terry•1mo ago

Rant: That 'universal' coax crimper set was a total waste of $45

The jaws were too soft to hold the connector right, so every crimp was either too loose or crushed the center pin. I had to redo six antenna connections on a Cessna 172 before I just went and bought the proper tool. Anyone have a go-to brand for RG-400 crimpers that won't bend on you?

2 comments