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That conversation with the old Delta guy about bonding straps
Was talking to a retired Delta tech at the shop last week and he said he never trusted a DMM reading without checking the bond first. Said he'd seen three different flight control issues traced back to a single loose strap on the tailcone. Does anyone else check bonding before you start chasing voltage drops?
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the_blair2mo ago
Man, grounding issues are like leaky tires, they'll mess with everything until you fix the little thing first.
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jamiekim2mo ago
Yeah, yeah, that's exactly it! @the_blair you nailed it with the leaky tire comparison. I had a buddy who used to say the same thing about bonding straps, he called them the "silent killers" of electrical systems because everyone gets so focused on components and never checks the path. That old Delta guy sounds like he was old school but absolutely right. You literally have to start at the bond or you're just guessing, a bad ground will make even a perfect part look broken. I've seen guys swap out expensive flight computers all because they skipped checking a strap that was just dirty or loose. It's one of those things that sounds too simple but it's usually the simple stuff that bites you.
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wendy_park761mo ago
Whoa, hold up. I gotta disagree a bit here. I respect that old Delta guy's experience, but checking bonding first every single time feels like looking for your keys under the streetlight instead of where you dropped them. @the_blair your leaky tire example is good for grounding in general, but not all voltage drops are bonding issues. Sometimes a wire is just corroded or a connector is bad, and you can waste a bunch of time crawling around checking straps that are fine. I've fixed plenty of flight control gremlins by just looking at the pin contacts on a cannon plug instead of the ground path. Starting at the bond is a good rule of thumb, but it's not the only place to start.
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