Unpopular opinion: Pilots poking around avionics used to bug me, but a story from one changed my tune.
I always thought pilots should stick to flying and leave the black boxes to us techs. Then at a hangar party, this pilot Mike asked me about a weird flicker in his weather radar screen. I almost brushed him off with a techy excuse. But he shared how once, spotting a specific error code mid-flight let him call in a fix before it got worse. He said knowing just a little about the system saved a lot of hassle. That hit home for me - pilots aren't just users, they're the first line of defense when something acts up. Now I actually enjoy when they ask questions, and I keep my answers simple. It feels like we're on the same team now, which is way better.