PSA: Old timer told me to always check the bonding jumper before troubleshooting a fault

Had a guy named Pete who's been doing avionics since the 80s tell me last month that 90% of intermittent fault issues are actually bonding or ground problems, not the box itself. I figured he was just being old school and blowing smoke. Then I spent three hours chasing a comm fault on a King KX 155 at the shop near Denver. Replaced antennas, checked wiring, even swapped the radio tray. Nothing worked. Finally gave in and checked the bonding jumper from the tray to the airframe. It was corroded and had like 2 ohms of resistance. Cleaned it up and the problem went away. Now I'm doing a bonding check on every single install before I touch anything else. Has anyone else had a fix that simple that they fought for way too long?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordan18412d ago

Nah, I think chasing bonding first can waste time when the box is actually toast.

paul_lane8012d ago

Same here... I used to skip bonding checks until a simple one bit me too.