Old timer told me I was wasting time on wire diagrams, then proved it on a 737

Aaron King · 2026-09-07T12:45:06.125539+00:00

Had a guy in his 60s walk up to my bench at ORD around 5am while I was tracing a intermittent fault on a flap position sensor. He said I was doing it backwards. I got defensive, told him the diagrams were clear and I was following procedure. He just laughed and said the print was from a revision that never matched the actual install. He walked me out to the plane, popped a panel we all use as a step, and pointed at a bundle that had 3 zip ties holding 4 different gauge wires together. Said the previous shop re-pinned it after a lightning strike 8 years ago and never updated the book. We found the break in 10 minutes because he knew the wire was gonna be chafed right where the bundle rubbed a bracket. Now I always ask the old heads about their war stories before I trust a print. Question is, do you trust the paper over the plane or do you spend 20 minutes asking around first?

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Old timer told me I was wasting time on wire diagrams, then proved it on a 737 | Avionics Technicians - Chatter Central