A retired Navy avionics guy corrected my wire routing and I still think about it

Back in 2015 I was working at a small repair shop outside of Norfolk and this old timer, 25 years Navy, comes over while I'm lacing up a harness on a King Air. He didn't say anything at first, just watched, then pointed at a bundle I had running near a hydraulic line and said, "that'll chafe through in 500 hours, kid. Reroute it or sleeve it twice." I was annoyed at the time, but he was right, I had to redo it three months later after a squawk. I ended up buying him coffee for a week after that and he taught me more about vibration zones than any manual. Anyone else have a salty vet drop knowledge like that on you out of nowhere?

2 comments

2 Comments

grayc2724d agoMost Upvoted

That "that'll chafe through in 500 hours" line is the kind of specific warning you don't forget, but what stuck with me is how he knew the exact number. Did he ever explain how he calculated that, or was it just pure experience talking? I feel like that kind of precision only comes from seeing the same failure over and over.

henrycooper24d ago

@grayc27 that 500 hour number feels way too exact to be guesswork, that's wild he just knew it cold lol.