The tech who triple-checked my work and saved an antenna install

I was working a late shift at a regional hangar near Burbank about 6 months ago, helping swap out a VOR antenna on a King Air. A younger guy I'd never worked with before came over and asked if he could watch. I said sure, figured he was just killing time. But he kept asking questions about the coax routing and the torque specs on the fasteners. Not in a pushy way, just really paying attention. When I finished and went to close up the panel, he stopped me and pointed out a tiny nick in the dielectric on the cable. I missed it because the light was bad and I was hurrying. He handed me his flashlight and said "you'll thank me later." He was right, that nick would've caused a SWR issue inside a year. I swapped the cable, took extra time to dress it cleaner, and the install passed inspection first try. Ever had a junior tech catch something that saved you a headache down the road?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray13622d ago

Wait, "wrong drill bit"? That's wild. Like, a bit that's clearly too big or too small for the job? I gotta hear that story sometime, seems like it could've gone real bad real fast.

burns.jenny22d ago

Honestly, is it really that big of a deal? I've grabbed the wrong size bit plenty of times and it just makes a sloppy hole or chews up the screw head a bit. Unless you're drilling into something super critical like a load bearing beam or a gas line, it's more of an annoyance than a disaster. Sounds like this story might be blown way out of proportion, but I'd still hear it for the laughs.

kim_johnson5123d ago

Man that brings back a memory of a kid who caught me using the wrong drill bit once.