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A new guy at the hangar in Mobile asked me why we still use the old test set for the nav radios.
He said, 'If it's not broken, why do we keep trying to fix the way we check it?' Has anyone else had a fresh set of eyes question a long-standing shop practice?
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noahcampbell3mo ago
Totally! Heard that question before.
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the_dylan3mo ago
That old Collins test set in Mobile probably has a calibration sticker older than the new guy. The reason we don't just check it with a modern box is because the manual's sign-off steps were written for that specific tester's output. Noahcampbell gets it, you change the test gear and suddenly you're not testing to the original spec anymore. It seems backwards until you realize the whole system was certified as a closed loop. Trying to "fix" the test method could mean re-writing the entire approval from the ground up, which costs more than just keeping the old tester running.
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sandra7152mo ago
Oh man, that's so true. My buddy works on some old factory gear and they have this one meter from like 1978. The whole work order says to check the reading on "meter serial number 4882." If that thing dies, they're stuck. They can't just swap in a new digital one, because then the paperwork is wrong. The whole job shuts down until they find another old meter just like it. It's crazy.
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