The 3 foot rule saved me a 6 hour sign off, stop running wires tight as guitar strings
Three years back a grizzled lead in Wichita told me to leave every harness a little slack, and I brushed him off because tight looks clean. Last month I was buttoning up a King Air panel and found chafing on a bundle I zip tied snug two inches from a rib, insulation rubbed down to bare copper on three wires. That bird had maybe 80 hours on it since my install, and the vibration ate through because I gave it zero room to move. I spent the next four hours rebuilding that run while the crew waited on me, and the lead from Wichita was standing right there in the hangar watching. Shop rule now is a minimum three fingers of slack at every standoff and a chafe sleeve on anything crossing structure. Yes it takes longer and looks looser, but I have not cut a wire on a follow up inspection since. Question for the group, what slack spec does your shop actually enforce, or is it still whatever the tech feels like that day?