The day a zip tie saved a 737's panel

Back at my first shop, we'd wait for the proper panel clips. Could take days. One Friday in Miami, a plane needed to go. Boss looked at me, said 'get creative'. Grabbed a heavy duty zip tie from my bag. Did the job. Now I keep a whole pack in my toolbox. Anyone else have a weird 'temporary' fix that just became standard?

3 comments

3 Comments

leo_thomas219d ago

Heavy duty zip ties are good, but they're not a permanent fix for a panel clip.

webb.linda2h ago

It's like that with so many stuff now. My kitchen drawer handle broke off two years ago. The replacement part was some special order thing. A couple of zip ties hold it on just fine. You start to forget it was ever broken the right way. The temporary fix just becomes the way the thing is.

richardh4419d ago

Yeah, Leo's right about them not being permanent... but sometimes the line gets real blurry. Seen a zip tie on an access panel for over a year because the "real" part was always on backorder. It's not about choosing it, it's about the fix outlasting the problem. You stop seeing it as temporary after a while.