Spent 4 hours tracking down a pinhole leak in a King Air brake line last week

3 comments

3 Comments

4 hours on one pinhole leak in a King Air brake line? That sounds like a victory lap for the troubleshooting book, not a headache. I actually think that's a perfect use of time because you know for a fact there's no other hidden issue now. Those systems are so tight that chasing a tiny leak can save you from a bigger failure mid-flight. Plus, that's four hours of billing or shop time you can justify to the customer or the boss. It's way better than patching something fast and having it come back next week with a bigger problem.

logan_mitchell10d ago

Jumped into this thread because I read somewhere that King Air brake systems have like six or seven potential leak points in the caliper area alone, so four hours actually makes Total sense to me. @sean854 mentioned flat rate, but honestly I'd rather take the time upfront and pressure test the whole system from the start like you're suggesting. I heard a story from an old-timer who skipped a thorough test on a similar leak and ended up with a complete brake failure on a short hop because a secondary O-ring blew out a week later. Those four hours feel expensive but they're nothing compared to pulling a plane out of service for an unplanned fix or worse. Plus pinching a tiny leak with a quick patch just kicks the can down the road and that's not a gamble I'd take with brakes.

sean85410d ago

Actually a victory lap is a good way to look at it, but four hours on a King Air brake leak is still borderline excessive if you're working on a flat rate. Those systems are pretty straightforward once you know the common failure points like the O-rings at the caliper connections. Would you have done anything different to speed up the process, like using a pressure test rig from the start?