Vent: Had a talk with a 20 year avionics vet that made me rethink my whole checklist process

I was working on a King Air 200 last Tuesday and this old timer named Dave walks over while I'm running through my pre-install checks. He points at my laminated checklist and says "you're trusting that thing more than your eyes, kid." I asked what he meant and he showed me how he marks every single wire and connector with a sharpie dot as he goes, even if the checklist doesn't call for it. He told me he caught three bad crimps that way last year alone, stuff his meter would have missed because they passed continuity but failed under vibration. I've been using that same printed checklist for 5 years and never thought to add my own visual cues. Has anyone else had to adjust their go-to workflow after watching a senior tech work?

2 comments

2 Comments

jason1121mo ago

That thing over your eyes" is rich coming from a guy who probably learned to wire planes with a bic lighter and a prayer. I swear, these old guys want us to ditch everything but a butter knife and some hope. But I get it, I've been burned by a crimp that tested fine on the bench but started acting up in the air, so now I double check every terminal with a tug test before I even touch a meter. Still, watching a 20 year vet do his thing is humbling, like watching a dad replace a tire in 10 minutes after you spent an hour on it. Just don't let Dave catch you using a digital micrometer or he'll tell you it's just a "fancy slide rule" and hand you a piece of string.

oliver_ward141mo ago

Here's the thing nobody's talking about though. That "fancy slide rule" Dave hands you? It's not about the tool. It's about knowing the material so well you can feel a thousandth of an inch in your fingers. That tug test you do, that's great. But those old guys developed a sixth sense for wire fatigue. They can tell a bad crimp just by the sound it makes when it seats. That's not nostalgia. That's muscle memory from before we had testers bailing us out. We're not better or worse than them. We're just using different crutches.