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Still don't get the obsession with fiber optic scopes in our line of work
I was out at a regional hangar in Wichita last Wednesday helping a buddy trace a flickering nav light on a King Air 200. Every other tech there popped out a $600 borescope looking for chafed wiring inside the wing root. I spent 20 minutes using a dental mirror and a shop light from three different angles and found the cracked insulation right where it passed over a stiffener. They all laughed until I had the fix done while they were still fussing with camera angles. Am I the only one who thinks we lean too hard on expensive inspection tools when a simple mirror and patience does the same job?
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tyler_white423mo ago
And another thing, @wadeg92, it's not just about being old school. Those borescopes have their place on turbine blades and combustion liners where you can't get a mirror in there. But for something like chasing chafed wires in a wing root, sometimes a good eyeball and a light from the right angle beats a grainy camera video every time. The real skill is knowing when the gadget actually helps and when it just slows you down.
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wadeg923mo ago
Man it's like everyone's forgotten how to just look at stuff with their own eyes and figure it out without a gadget. Same thing at the hardware store, people buy laser levels to hang a picture straight when a bubble level from the 80s works fine.
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