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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?
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leo_thomas26mo ago
Heavy duty zip ties are good, but they're not a permanent fix for a panel clip.
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webb.linda6mo 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.
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richardh446mo 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.
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