susansingh•1mo agoProlific Poster

Spent 4 hours tracking down a phantom fault in a Garmin G1000 system last Tuesday

Turns out it was a tiny break in a shielded wire behind the radio stack that only showed up when the plane hit a certain vibration frequency. Has anyone else dealt with intermittent faults that refuse to show on the bench?

3 comments

3 Comments

sage_moore371mo agoMost Upvoted

Dang, that is some truly frustrating luck with the gremlins.

juliarodriguez1mo ago

Oh man, that "only shows up when the plane hit a certain vibration frequency" line is basically my entire life as a mechanic. I swear these gremlins wait until you're three hours deep and running on coffee fumes to make their grand appearance. It's like they know exactly when you've declared the system fixed and are about to close up the panel. I once had a radio that only cut out when I was exactly 2,500 feet over a specific cornfield in Iowa. Took me four tries to figure out it was a ground wire that had nearly rubbed through. Always makes me feel like I'm chasing ghosts with a multimeter.

the_thomas1mo ago

That "only shows up when the plane hit a certain vibration frequency" line really hit home. I spent two days once chasing a intermittent stall warning in a 172 that turned out to be a loose wire behind the panel that only broke contact when I banked hard to the right. Always makes me feel like an idiot when I finally find the damn thing, but at least I can laugh about it while I'm replacing the connector.