PSA: My old method for chasing a stubborn ground fault involved a lot of swearing and a 1998 Fluke 87, but now I just follow the 'unplug everything and add it back one at a time' logic my 5-year-old uses on the TV.

The change happened after I spent 4 hours on a King Air 350 in Wichita tracing a phantom drain, only to find it was a crew headset jack with a penny stuck in it, so what's the dumbest thing you've ever found causing a fault?

3 comments

3 Comments

leo_park211mo ago

Gotta say, the panic over a missing shop rag seems a bit much. It's just a rag, not a missing socket wrench. You find it eventually and the job gets done. People act like it's a full-blown crisis when it's just a minor hiccup in the day.

blair6261mo ago

Honestly, a forgotten shop rag in an avionics bay once had me ready to quit for the day.

paige_murphy981mo ago

Oh man, @blair626, I feel that so hard. Was it one of those red shop rags that just blends into everything? I once spent a full hour looking for a tool I swore I left on a cart, only to find it wrapped up in a greasy rag I'd tossed aside. The panic when you think something is just gone is the worst feeling.