One day in Oakland that made me question every crimp I've done

Got called out to a 737 in Oakland last Tuesday for an intermittent autopilot issue. Found a loose ground lug on the No. 2 FCC that was barely hanging on - looked like someone rushed it during a C check. Had to re-terminate three wires in that tray, and the crimper I borrowed from the shop there made mine feel like a toy. Has anybody else had a day where one bad connection makes you wonder how many others you've missed?

2 comments

2 Comments

terry_carter1510d ago

Buddy of mine works line maintenance up in Seattle and had a similar thing happen on a 777. He found a faulty crimp on an EEC harness that was barely making contact, just enough to cause this weird intermittent surging on climb-out. He spent the whole night re-doing every crimp in that entire panel from a previous heavy check. Said he couldn't sleep for a week after because he kept thinking about all the other planes they'd "fixed" and how many connections were just sitting there waiting to fail. Now he keeps his own crimper in his box and double-checks every single termination before he button's anything up. Kinda makes you wonder how many "ghost" squawks are really just bad crimps from a rushed shift somewhere.

pat_coleman10d ago

Does your buddy think there's a specific shift or station that seems to have more of these bad crimps? Like, is it a training issue or just people rushing at the end of a 12 hour shift? I'm curious if he ever tried to track down who actually did the original heavy check to see if it was one guy having a bad night or if it's a whole system problem at that facility. Because the way he's talking, it sounds like it's not just one bad batch but maybe a culture thing where nobody feels they have time to do it right. Did he ever report it up the chain or just fix it and move on?