Found a cracked connector pin after a 14 hour shift, my error log caught it

Was doing a routine continuity check on a CRJ-700 last Tuesday around 11pm, third aircraft that night. Everything tested fine until I hit pin 23 on the EICAS connector, intermittent drop that only showed up when I wiggled the harness just right. Pulled the backshell and there it was, a hairline crack running down the pin. If that had let go mid-flight, the crew would've lost a display with no warning. The weird part is I almost skipped the wiggle test because I was wiped, but my old log from 2 years ago showed a similar issue on a different airframe. That's why I keep a plain notebook on my cart, every odd reading goes in there. Took 20 minutes to swap the pin and re-check. Has anyone else found that sticking to a written log catches stuff your memory just can't hold onto after a long day?

2 comments

2 Comments

kaih361d agoMost Upvoted

Saw a study once that said our brains dump like 90% of details after 12 hours of work. That notebook is doing what your head can't. Smart move keeping it on the cart.

annaw739h ago

Oh, paper beats memory every time, that's for sure.