Used to chase every wire by hand with a tone generator, now the fault finder does it in 20 minutes | Avionics Technicians

Sarah Nelson · 2026-10-07T06:05:04.187845+00:00

Three years ago I spent most of a shift on a King Air tracing an intermittent bus fault with a tone generator and a homemade breakout box, and I still missed one chafed wire behind the baggage bulkhead. These days I hook up a fault finder on the same runs and it usually points me to the bad leg in about 20 minutes, which felt like cheating the first few times. The old way taught me how the loom is actually laid out though, and I think that is why I trust the new tool instead of just following it blind. Last month in Wichita it flagged a connector I would have skipped right past on a visual. Anyone else find the new gear makes you lazy on the manual stuff, or do you still tone it out just to stay sharp?

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Used to chase every wire by hand with a tone generator, now the fault finder does it in 20 minutes | Avionics Technicians - The Community Guide