Shoutout to the ground crew who caught my bad bond on a 737NG inspection

So I was doing a routine bond and ground check on a 737NG last Wednesday out at the hangar in Phoenix, and I found a braided ground strap that looked fine from the top but was actually corroded halfway through underneath. The thing had maybe 3 strands still holding it together. I almost skipped it because the visual check was clean, but the meter showed a 0.5 ohm reading where I expected 0.01. I dug into it and sure enough, the inside was green and flaking apart. The ground crew had flagged a weird static discharge during fueling the week before, and nobody could figure out why. Turns out this was the culprit. Has anyone else run into hidden corrosion like that on those flex braids near the wheel well area?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard13720d ago

You said 'looked fine from the top' and man, that hit home. I did the same thing last year on a 737NG in Denver, but I was being lazy and almost skipped the meter check because the strap looked brand new from the outside. Only reason I caught it was I dropped my flashlight and bent down to pick it up, and from that angle I saw a little green crust on one edge. Pulled the whole thing off and half the braid crumbled in my hand. I felt like an idiot for almost missing it, but I still tell that story to every new guy I train. Your mileage may vary, but I swear those wheel well flex braids are cursed with hidden rot.

wadea5318d ago

Wait, you dropped your flashlight and that's how you caught it? That's wild. I'd still be kicking myself if I missed something like that because of a lucky accident.