Vent: Overheard a manager talking about skipping wire checks on purpose

I was getting coffee near the hangar office last Friday and heard one of the lead techs joking about how they 'saved 2 hours' by only spot-checking wiring bundles on a recent retrofit. I know that plane went out before I could flag anyone about it. It got me thinking about how some guys will cut corners just to hit a deadline, and it scares me how easy it is to hide bad work. Has anyone else run into pressure to skip safety steps like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

amy1544d ago

Oh wow, I gotta say something about this. The way you described it with spot-checking instead of full wire checks, that's actually a standard practice on some jobs but it sounds like they took it way too far. Spot checks are meant to be random but complete checks on a sample, not just skipping the rest 'cause you're in a hurry. I've seen guys run a continuity test on one bundle and call it done, but that is not the same as verifying every single connection for tension and routing. If they joked about saving 2 hours, they probably skipped a bunch of critical inspections like checking for chafing near sharp edges or making sure all the tie wraps are snug. That plane going out before you could flag it is a nightmare situation, really makes you wonder what else gets ignored when nobody is watching.

the_piper4d ago

Honestly, is it really that bad though? I mean, planes fly all the time with stuff not perfect. My buddy works on cargo planes and says half the inspections are just making sure things aren't literally falling off. Spot checking on a wire bundle sounds like a shortcut, sure, but unless they skipped a main power line or something, the odds of a major issue are tiny. Plus, those planes go through a million checks before they even start the engine, so one guy missing a tie wrap isn't gonna bring it down. Feels like people get too worked up about minor stuff when the reality is most of these planes are built tough enough to handle a lot of slop.