Pro tip: I used a cheap fiber optic inspection scope on a stubborn LRU and it saved me hours.

I was working on a Garmin G1000 display that kept failing self-test. The logs pointed to a data bus issue, but all the pins on the main connector looked fine under my regular magnifier. I had this old $80 fiber optic borescope I bought online a while back, the kind you plug into your phone. On a whim, I snaked it into the unit's internal harness path. Sure enough, about three inches back from the connector, I found a single wire with its shielding frayed and just barely touching the airframe ground. It was a tiny spot you'd never see without that camera. I fixed it with some chafe guard and the unit passed. I learned that sometimes the problem isn't at the obvious connection point. Has anyone else found a weird use for a non-aviation tool to solve a tricky fault?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryanf661h ago

That trick with a cheap endoscope saved my butt on a stubborn fuel sender once.

nora_chen55m ago

You actually stuck a camera into a fuel tank? That sounds like a good way to see a spark and a bad day. Glad it worked out for you though.