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Just realized my old trick for tracing a wire bundle in a Cessna 172 saved a 3-hour job in Boise | Avionics Technicians - Guest Forum

elizabeth_martin•6mo ago

Just realized my old trick for tracing a wire bundle in a Cessna 172 saved a 3-hour job in Boise

I was troubleshooting a nav light issue in a cramped panel, and instead of pulling the whole bundle, I used a fiber optic camera from my inspection kit to follow the single wire back to a corroded pin at the firewall connector.

3 comments

3 Comments

leoprice6mo ago

That's the kind of trick that makes you feel like a wizard. Bet the guy who designed that wire bundle never thought someone would send a tiny camera through it. Saved yourself a whole afternoon of swearing at plastic clips and skinned knuckles. Always nice when the fancy tool actually does the job you bought it for.

ruby_murphy6mo ago

Waste a whole afternoon? Nah, that's where you learn the car. Those plastic clips have a feel to them, a specific sound when they let go. You miss all that with a camera on a stick. Sure, the fancy tool works, but you also lose the chance to spot the cracked hose or the loose ground wire right next to it. Sometimes the slow way shows you more.

colesanchez5mo ago

That part about losing the chance to spot other issues while you're in there - that's actually a really good point ruby_murphy. I remember reading a post from an old airframe mechanic who said the same thing. He called it "accidental discoveries" and claimed half his diagnostic skill came from noticing something weird while he was just trying to get to the main problem. But I think there's room for both approaches. Sometimes you need the camera trick to actually get eyes on a wire that's buried behind a dozen other things, and other times it pays to just go slow and run your fingers along everything. It's like having both a flashlight and a headlamp - they're both useful but for different moments.