TIL why my panel kept resetting mid-flight last Wednesday

Turned out a ground strap on the number 2 nav unit had a hairline crack from when I swapped out the tray 3 years ago in Tuscaloosa. Has anyone else chased a ghost fault that turned out to be something this dumb?

3 comments

3 Comments

faithbarnes10d ago

Have you ever fixed something only to find out you were the one who broke it in the first place? I spent TWO whole afternoons chasing a short in my 172 last fall, only to find a screw I dropped had wedged itself between two pins on the master relay connector. It's ALWAYS the dumbest little thing that makes you feel like a total amateur.

blakem827d ago

Ngl that screw probably felt like a tiny little victory for chaos itself.

diana_park10d ago

Three years though? I mean yeah it's frustrating when you find your own mistake, but a hairline crack on a ground strap that sat fine for 36 months? That's not really dumb, that's just bad luck or maybe normal wear and tear. A screw you dropped that same afternoon, now that's dumb because you should've caught it before buttoning up. But a crack that slowly worked its way through over years? Come on, that's just how metal fatigue works. I've had stuff way worse than a ground strap that I had to chase for weeks. A loose pin on a connector that only showed up in certain temps. That's a ghost. This sounds like a pretty straightforward fix to me.