An old bench tech in Wichita told me to stop chasing the fault and watch the wire instead

Vera Burns · 2026-10-25T17:55:05.494122+00:00

I was stuck on an intermittent radio squawk in a King Air for most of a Tuesday and this guy who's been on the bench 30 years walked over and asked what I was doing. I said I was checking the coax, and he said "don't test the wire, look at where it bends." Sure enough there was a tiny wear spot right where the harness rubbed a bulkhead clamp, about 4 inches from the connector, and it only broke contact when the airframe flexed. He spent maybe 90 seconds on it after I'd already burned 3 hours chasing the pinout. He told me he learned that in the Air Force in 1989 and never forgot it. Now I spend a minute just looking before I pull a meter out, and it has paid off twice since. Any of you got a bench vet who handed you a trick like that?

Babble Community

Loading…

An old bench tech in Wichita told me to stop chasing the fault and watch the wire instead | Avionics Technicians - Babble Community