Warning: that cheap inspection camera from harbor freight gave me bad info on a control cable

I was checking a rudder cable on a Cessna 172 last weekend and used one of those little $30 borescopes. Picture looked clear so I thought the cable was fine. Then my lead mechanic ran his actual ATS scope on it and we found internal corrosion in three spots the cheap one completely missed. Almost signed off a cable that was one hard deflection away from snapping. Anybody else had a cheap tool give them bad data?

3 comments

3 Comments

amy97518d ago

Oh man, I gotta push back on this one hard. The issue isn't the tool, it's how you used it. Those little cameras are fine for a quick eyeball, but you can't expect a $30 scope to have the same resolution or lighting as a $2000 professional unit. If you're relying on a cheap toy to make safety calls on flight controls, that's on you, not the tool. The picture looked clear to you, but that's because you didn't understand the limits of what you were looking at. Your lead mechanic used the right gear for the job, and that's the lesson here, not that cheap tools are garbage.

willow_garcia18d ago

That seems like an awful lot of blame to put on the guy for a $30 camera. Not everyone has a couple grand lying around for the perfect tool, and a lot of these cheap ones work fine for basic stuff.

-1

kais6717d ago

Blame the camera not the user, classic. Guess my $20 flashlight is also trash for not doubling as a welding torch.