Took a shortcut on a connector crimp and it cost a plane 6 hours of downtime

Last month at a regional airport in Idaho, I watched a guy skip using the proper die set for a D-sub pin because he was in a hurry. He squeezed it with standard pliers, told me it was fine after a quick tug test. Two days later that same connector failed mid-flight on a cargo run, no injuries but a full emergency landing. The tin had cracked under vibration from the bad crimp. Has anyone else seen a minor shortcut blow up like this later?

2 comments

2 Comments

milap3517d ago

Same thing happens with cheap extension cords used in a wet shop. People save a buck and end up with a fire.

dakotab1317d ago

And it's not just about the cords themselves either... a lot of people don't realize that the breaker in your panel is meant to protect the wiring in your walls, not the extension cord plugged into it. So a thin, cheap cord can heat up and melt long before the breaker ever thinks about tripping. I've seen it happen in garages where someone runs a space heater on a 50 foot 18 gauge cord... that's a fire just waiting to start. The real problem is that most folks think if it plugs in and works, it's safe, which is just not true with lower quality stuff.