Rant: Worst wiring nightmare I've seen in 12 years on the bench

Had a King Air 200 come through last Tuesday that made me want to walk out. Previous shop had used speaker wire for the autopilot servo harness. Speaker wire. The insulation was rubbing through on a zip tie and shorted the roll servo to the airframe ground. Pilot said it kicked hard right on approach. Took me 2 days to trace and re-terminate the whole mess. Three splices jammed behind the radio stack with electrical tape. Who does that? Have you guys run into hack jobs this bad lately?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona33210h ago

Man I used to be one of those guys who thought "wire is wire" and cheap speaker wire couldn't be that bad for low power stuff in a pinch. But reading this totally changed my mind. That short could have killed people. I mean speaker wire insulation isn't rated for aircraft vibration or the kind of heat you get behind a radio stack, it just breaks down and rubs through way faster than proper Mil-spec stuff. The fact it shorted to airframe and kicked the yoke on approach is terrifying, that's not just a bad day that's a crash waiting to happen. Seeing you had to rip out the whole mess and it took two days really drove home how much damage a few stupid shortcuts can do.

danielwhite12h ago

Speaker wire for an autopilot servo harness." Man, that is next level stupid. I swear some people should not be allowed within 50 feet of an airplane with a screwdriver. Finding three splices taped behind the radio stack would have made me lose my mind too. It's a miracle that King Air didn't have a total failure on final approach.