Spent 6 hours chasing a phantom static wick fault on a Citation

Kept getting a random static discharge warning on the ground. Checked all the wicks, cleaned the bonding points, everything looked good. Finally, after pulling a panel near the wing root, I found a tiny crack in a bonding strap jumper that was hidden under some conduit. The whole job should have taken an hour, not half a shift. Anyone else had a bonding issue hide in plain sight like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

josephc5927d ago

Oh man, that's the worst kind of find (the kind that makes you feel a bit silly for missing it). Spent a whole day once looking for a bad ground on a nav light, only to realize I'd been resting my elbow on the disconnected bonding cable under the wing the entire time. It was just tucked up out of sight, mocking me.

wesleyc7526d ago

Yep, those hidden bonding gremlins are the worst.

rosel5022d ago

Honestly, I see those hidden gremlins as a helpful test. They keep you honest. If you don't find every single one during a build, they show up later to point out your rushed work. It's like the plane's own quality check. Missing one forces you to slow down and trace the whole system again, which often finds other small issues you would have missed. That hidden bonding strap Joseph mentioned probably saved him from a bigger headache down the line.